Treaties Recognition Week in Ontario: Understanding Treaty Rights and Responsibilities

Under Ontario’s Treaties Recognition Week Act, 2016, the first Sunday in November marks the beginning of Treaties Recognition Week. This year, Treaties Recognition Week is taking place from November 3 to 9, 2024.

Treaties Recognition Week highlights the importance of treaties and provides an opportunity to learn about treaty rights, responsibilities and relationships. To celebrate Treaties Recognition Week, Aird & Berlis LLP has prepared this overview to help us all understand our obligations as treaty partners and learn more about the treaty agreements that cover most of Canada.

What Are Treaties?

A treaty is an exchange of sacred, solemn promises between Indigenous Nations and the Crown (the legal name for the British and, later, Canadian federal, provincial and territorial governments). Historically, treaties were the means by which Europeans reached agreements with Indigenous Nations to live in peaceful co-existence and to share the land and resources in what is now Canada.

Following the Supreme Court of Canada’s 1973 decision, Calder et al. v. Attorney-General of British Columbia, the Crown has begun entering into “modern treaties,” including comprehensive land claim agreements, with Indigenous Nations. Both modern and historic treaties are protected under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. As the Supreme Court of Canada has observed: “Today’s modern treaty will become tomorrow’s historic treaty.”

Are There Different Kinds of Treaties?

Throughout history, there have been different types of treaties entered into with Indigenous Nations. A few examples of these different kinds of treaties are listed below:

• Pre-Contact Treaties: Long before Europeans arrived in North America, Indigenous Nations made treaties and had agreements with other Indigenous Nations for the purposes of trade, peace, neutrality, alliance, the use of territories and resources, and protection.
• Two Row Wampum (1613): The Haudenosaunee extended the Two Row Wampum to the Dutch, which bound them together in respect for autonomy, peace and friendship. Wampum belts, intricate belts woven together with knotted string and beads made of coloured shells, are used by the Haudenosaunee to memorialize significant events and agreements with other nations. In contrast to the European tradition of recording history by written word, the Haudenosaunee rely on oral and visual representations as a way to transfer knowledge from generation to generation; the details incorporated into a Wampum belt serve as a visual aid to facilitate the transmission of these oral histories.
• Peace and Friendship Treaties (1700s): Power struggles between European Nations, particularly the British and French, resulted in vital military alliances being formed with First Nations. These “Peace and Friendship” treaties sought to re-establish peace and commercial relations primarily between the British and Indigenous Peoples from the Mi'kmaq, the Maliseet and the Passamaquoddy Nations as the struggle for settlement lands and conflicts between France and Britain’s North American colonies continued.
• Upper Canada Land Treaties and the Williams Treaties (1764-1862/1923): This period of treaty-making followed the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which held that because of various problematic, purported “land sale” agreements involving Indigenous Peoples, only the Crown could enter into treaties with Indigenous Nations regarding Indigenous lands. A number of treaties were entered into during this period between Indigenous Peoples and the Crown throughout what is now southwestern Ontario.
• Robinson Treaties and Douglas Treaties (1850-1854): The Robinson-Huron and Robinson-Superior treaties were signed in 1850 between the Anishinaabe and the Crown, in response to the increasing push for land by settlers and mining activity taking place north of the Great Lakes. During this same period, James Douglas, the second governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island, negotiated 14 treaties on the southern part of the island (between 1850-1854) that included protections for Indigenous village sites and the right to hunt and fish.
• The Numbered Treaties (1871-1921): A total of 11 numbered treaties were negotiated between Indigenous Peoples and the Crown in what is now Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, northern British Columbia and southern Northwest Territories. The numbered treaties all include similar terms, such as establishing reserve lands, preserving hunting and fishing rights, promises for agricultural and other supports, etc.
• Modern Treaties: Negotiated after 1975, modern treaties take various different forms and can include terms about consultation and participation requirements, ownership of lands, harvesting rights, financial settlements, self-government, land stewardship and resource revenue sharing (among other things).

What Are Treaty Obligations?

Treaties define specific rights, benefits and obligations that vary from treaty to treaty. Once made, treaties need to be kept alive, honoured and are not “frozen” in time but can adapt to changing circumstances. Canadian courts have emphasized that treaties are living documents, not one-time transactions, and that the Crown must diligently fulfil treaty promises consistent with the honour of the Crown.

The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples identified the principles of mutual recognition, mutual respect, sharing and mutual responsibility as a framework for understanding treaties, treaty rights and the treaty relationships. With those principles in mind, treaties should be a central part of our national identity.

To honour these treaty relationships and your place within them, start by learning more about the treaty rights and obligations where you work and live.

Where Can We Find More Information About Treaties?

• Native-Land.ca: Explore an interactive map of treaties by searching for any address.
• Government of Canada Aboriginal and Treaty Rights Information System (ATRIS): Find information on treaties and treaty rights across Canada based on map layers from Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.
• Government of Ontario Map of Treaties and Reserves: Learn more about treaties and other land agreements in Ontario.
• Government of Ontario Indigenous Voices on Treaties: Listen to Indigenous elders and knowledge keepers on the importance of treaties, treaty relationships and treaty rights in Ontario.
• Government of Canada, “About Treaties,” Date modified: 2024-06-26.
• Historica Canada and Heritage Minutes, “Treaties in Canada: Education Guide.”
• Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Volume 1 - Looking Forward, Looking Back, October 1996.
• Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Volume 2 - Restructuring the Relationship, October 1996.