From Treaties to Reserves: The Federal Government and Native Peoples in Territorial Alberta, 1870-1905

How divergent understandings of treaties contributed to a heritage of distrust.

Though some believe that the Indian treaties of the 1870s achieved a unity of purpose between the Canadian government and First Nations, in From Treaties to Reserves D.J. Hall asserts that - as a result of profound cultural differences - each side interpreted the negotiations differently, leading to conflict and an acute sense of betrayal when neither group accomplished what the other had asked.

Hall explores the original intentions behind the government's policies, illustrates their attempts at cooperation, and clarifies their actions. While the government believed that the Aboriginal peoples of what is now southern and central Alberta desired rapid change, the First Nations, in contrast, believed that the government was committed to supporting the preservation of their culture while they adapted to change. Government policies intended to motivate backfired, leading instead to poverty, starvation, and cultural restriction. Many policies were also culturally insensitive, revealing misconceptions of Aboriginal people as lazy and over-dependent on government rations. Yet the first two decades of reserve life still witnessed most First Nations people participating in reserve economies, many of the first generation of reserve-born children graduated from schools with some improved ability to cope with reserve life, and there was also more positive cooperation between government and First Nations people than is commonly acknowledged.

The Indian treaties of the 1870s meant very different things to government officials and First Nations. Rethinking the interaction between the two groups, From Treaties to Reserves elucidates the complexities of this relationship.

Reviews

“This excellent study analyzes Canadian treaty making and its results in the province of Alberta during the last third of the nineteenth century.The author’s direct prose and thoughtful analysis help explain the tragedy the Albertan Indians experienced.” Western Historical Quarterly

“The author's arguments and numerous examples drawn from treaty interpretation, economics, health, education, and law enforcement are lucid, measured, and convincing. Several maps and 80 pages of unusually helpful notes supplement this excellent work. Highly recommended” Choice

“Hall's detailed, straightforward narrative can be read rather like a detective story. Even though the end result is known, we are given the tools to dissect, critique, and interpret for ourselves the process of getting there. We as readers become our own historians, reaching our own conclusions as to whether Indigenous peoples' displacement from lands they knew as their own was or was not justified, and on what basis.” Canada’s History

Author

D.J. Hall is professor emeritus of Canadian history at the University of Alberta.