Historical Indian Treaties

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Abstract

The geographical extent of the historical Indian treaties from 1725 to 1923 are shown on this map. Indian treaties have been generally classified into two groups: Pre-Confederation and Post-Confederation. Pre-Confederation treaties were made with the Crown through representatives of the British Government. Post-Confederation treaties were made with the Government of Canada. Peace and Friendship Treaties did not involve the transfer of land title and are therefore not individually represented on the map. Also, available is the historical Indian Treaties Timeline, which briefly describes chronologically the major treaties including the individual Upper Canada treaties.

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Historians classify Indian treaties into two major groups:

Pre-Confederation Treaties

• Peace and Friendship Treaties
• Upper Canada Treaties
• Province of Canada Treaties
• Vancouver Island Treaties

Post-Confederation Treaties

• Numbered Treaties
• Williams Treaties

There are still vast areas of land in regions of Canada that have never been formally surrendered or ceded by Aboriginal peoples. Only the treaties (or agreements) that were negotiated in the period from 1725 to 1930 are mapped. All boundary lines are approximate, and do not represent the actual surveyed treaty boundaries. Until recently, the term "Indian" was used to describe all the Indigenous people in Canada who were not Inuit or Métis. More recently, the term First Nation is now commonly used instead of "Indian". The term "Aboriginal peoples" is the collective name for all the original peoples of Canada and their descendants.

Many of the historical Indian treaties have been transcribed from the original documents and can be accessed directly on the Internet. Refer to References and Links to access these treaty texts. In addition, they can be accessed directly from the map, when you click on a treaty area using Get Statistics.

A special feature of this mapping module is the Historical Indian Treaties Timeline, which briefly describes the major treaties, including the Upper Canada treaties.