Why were the numbered treaties signed?

The numbered treaties were signed to open the prairie and northern lands to European settlement and the Canadian Pacific Railway by securing Indigenous consent. In exchange the Crown promised reserves, schools, agricultural assistance, continued hunting and fishing rights, small annual treaty payments, and other benefits. Eleven numbered treaties (Treaties 1 through 11) were signed between 1871 and 1921, covering most of the prairies, Northern Ontario, and a large area of the Northwest Territories. The numbered treaties were a key component of Canadian westward expansion and remain in force today as part of the constitutional framework of Indigenous-Crown relations.

The legal foundation for the treaties was the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which prohibited private acquisition of Indigenous land and required that only the Crown could obtain Indigenous land and only through public treaty. The transfer of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory from the Hudson's Bay Company to Canada in 1870 made the federal Crown responsible for Indigenous treaty-making across the prairies and the North. The Manitoba Act of 1870 and the Constitution Act, 1867 had assigned 'Indians and Lands reserved for the Indians' to federal jurisdiction (section 91, head 24).

The eleven numbered treaties were signed in this order: Treaty 1 (Stone Fort Treaty) at Lower Fort Garry, Manitoba on August 3, 1871; Treaty 2 (Manitoba Post Treaty) on August 21, 1871; Treaty 3 (North-West Angle Treaty) on October 3, 1873; Treaty 4 (Qu'Appelle Treaty) on September 15, 1874; Treaty 5 (Lake Winnipeg Treaty) on September 20, 1875; Treaty 6 (Forts Carlton and Pitt Treaty) in August and September 1876; Treaty 7 (Blackfoot Treaty) at Blackfoot Crossing on September 22, 1877; Treaty 8 in June 1899; Treaty 9 (James Bay Treaty) in 1905 to 1906; Treaty 10 in 1906 to 1907; and Treaty 11 in 1921. About 240,000 Indigenous people were directly affected.

The numbered treaties remain enormously contested. Indigenous oral traditions about treaty negotiations often differ substantially from the written texts. Indigenous parties typically understood treaties as agreements to share the land peacefully (a 'living relationship' for as long as the sun shines and the rivers flow), while Crown negotiators viewed treaties as land surrenders. The Canadian government has been chronically slow to honour treaty obligations on reserve creation, education, agricultural assistance, and other commitments. Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 constitutionalised existing Aboriginal and treaty rights. Modern court decisions including R. v. Badger (1996) and Mikisew Cree First Nation v. Canada (2005) have interpreted the numbered treaties broadly to protect Indigenous interests. Treaty Day commemorations are held annually in many treaty regions.