Treaty Six In Canada

Treaty six was introduced in September 1876 and it lasted until 1898 with the addition of its’ last adhesions. It was signed by Crown representatives and Cree, Assiniboine and Ojibwa leaders on August 23, 1876 at Fort Carlton, Saskatchewan and Fort Pitt, Saskatchewan. The treaty boundaries extend across central portions of present-day Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1876, the Medicine Chest was offered within Treaty 6. It had promised medicine chests on every reserve for those bands that sign Treaty 6. The clause was offered in order to convince uncooperative chiefs whose territories were suffering ongoing TB and smallpox outbreaks. The Indian Act was also passed on in this year. It was an oppressive colonial legislation that restricted Status Indians to their reserves under the control of Indian Agents. …show more content…
By 1886, John A. MacDonald ordered the NWMP to carry out ecocide meaning that the police are now authorised to entirely wipe out the few remaining buffalo to force the First Nations in signing the Treaty as dependence on the government. When Treaty 6 was signed between 1886 and 1890 however, the Canadian government continued to withhold food to entire communities as punishment, and also delivering rotten meat to the starving communities as a penalty. The main importance of the treaty to indigenous Canadians was that it provided them the services of the medicine chest. The medicine chest would be kept at the home of the Indian agent for use by the people. Another important factor of the treaty was the guarantee of assistance for famine and pestilence relief. First Nations understood they would receive assistance to the transition of a new lifestyle, maintenance of their cultural and spiritual rights, right to hunt, trap, and fish, education, medical assistance, reserve land, agricultural tools and support, and peaceful co-existence with the