"A War without Bombs": The Government's Role in Damming and Flooding of Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation By Howard Adler A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Canadian Studies Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario August 18, 2010 2010, Howard Adler Library and Archives Biblioth&que et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de Edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-71599-4 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-71599-4 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Nnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. •+• Canada "The loss of land, and the loss of [wild] rice, and the loss of the livelihood that we had there, that I guess, and the loss of family connections, relationships, extended family, [it's] just almost like there was a war, we don't have those family connections. Yeah it's just, almost like there was a war... without bombs, but other ways, things happened. Yeah, it's almost like it was a war but without bombs and rifles, because families were taken away and they're separated and you don't know who and your land is devastated, things are lost, and you don't know whether you should turn left or right, and you have to go to a new place to live where you're not wanted there either, it's devastating, it's a catastrophe" Respected Elder Shirley Churchill Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation ii CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF ILUSTRATIONS MAP SHOWING TREATY 3 Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION Theory and methods They Argue [a poem] Literature Review The need for critical analysis of the Shebandowan Adhesion Government politics, policies, and procedures Notes on terminology 2. "OUR LANDS WILL BE OVERRUN AND OURSELVES MURDERED": THE SHEBANDOWAN ADHESION AND THE POLITICAL CONTEXT OF THE DAWSON DAM Political unity among the Shebandowan Ojibwa Chief Blackstone - "the most troublesome of the whole tribe" "[I]t is not possible for us to treat with Mr. Dawson" Standard explanations for the absence of the Shebandowan Chiefs "[Perfectly willing to enter into treaty"? Shebandowan Adhesion Conclusion 3. "LAC DES MILLE LACS INDIANS LIVE EXCLUSIVELY BY HUNTING AND TRAPPING": DAMMING, FLOODING, AND THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT St. Catherine's Milling case The 'Indian removal' policy iii Chapter "A nefarious character" "[I]f their means of livelihood is taken away... I do not know what they will do for a living" "[D]eprived of part of their living" A 'cat and mouse' policy 4. "RETURN TO OUR LANDS" Chapter 2: The Dawson dam Specific Claims Chapter 3: The Backus dam The war SOURCES CONSULTED iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AO Archives of Ontario CAS Children's Aid Society CPR Canadian Pacific Railway HBC Hudson's Bay Company INAC Indian and Northern Affairs Canada LAC Library and Archives Canada LDMLFN Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation MNR Ministry of Natural Resources OC Order in Council SC Statutes of Canada TARR Treaty and Aboriginal Rights Research v LIST OF ILUSTRATIONS Figure 1 Map Showing Treaty No. 3, 1908 vii Figure 2 "Plan of Indian Reserve 22A1" 4 Figure 3 Lieutenant Governor and Indian Commissioner, Alexander Morris 8 Figure 4 "Station at the Head of Lake Shebandowan", December 7, 1872 30 Figure 5 "The Great Blackstone (Ojibway Indian) laying down the Law at the Landing", 1881 36 Figure 6 "Simon James Dawson, April 1879 43 Figure 7 "Thunder Bay to Fort Francis", the Eastern Portion of the Dawson Route, 1872 60 Figure 8 "Camp on Lac des Mille Lacs with Chief Peter [Metsaoqueneshauk]" 1892 64 Figure 9 "Indian Grave, Shebandowan Lake", 1891 66 Figure 10 Sir John A. McDonald, June 1, 1858 78 Figure 11 John Alexander Boyd 81 Figure 12 Edward Wellington Backus 94 Figure 13 Map of Pithers Point showing land overflowed by water at El. 500 97 Figure 14 Souzay Ratt, the last hereditary Chief of Lac Des Mille Lacs First Nation (Grandfather of the Sawdo Family) 112 Figure 15 Portage Bay, Lac des Mille Lacs", 1891 119 Figure 16 "View of Savanne River", July 2009 145 vi ^v^ ^r ^/v / 1 Figure 1 Map Showing Treaty No3D 1908 ^AC, RG10, Volume 2313, Fate 62509-3A, pt. 1, Microfiche NMC82696,1908. vii 1 CHAPTER ONE Introduction "It's like a war, but without bombs", are the words that respected Ojibwa Elder Shirley Churchill used to describe what it has been like for her to live in Canada as a member of Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation. During war, people can be separated from family members, lose their homes and everything they have ever owned, be dispossessed from their land, become refugees, and forced to leave for another country where they don't know the language or culture. In a word, people can loose the ability to determine their own future, and I suppose, there are even some people who might benefit. In this respect, war is an apt metaphor for the community of Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation and their experience under the colonial rule of Canada. This thesis argues that Ontario's Ministry of Lands and Forests, and/or Canada's Department of Indian Affairs, were indifferent, complicit, negligent, and ultimately responsible for the construction of dams that flooded and damaged the Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation's traditional territory, resources, and reserve lands, resulting in the dispersal of their community. It is also argued that the federal government failed in its treaty obligations to manage reserve lands for the benefit of the Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation. In order to fully understand how governments have been responsible, and how the federal government has breached its treaty obligations, it is necessary to examine the context in which the Lac des Mille Lacs dams were built. For that reason, this thesis will identify and examine the political environment, and the events that are related to, or led to, the construction of these dams. This thesis also aims to determine the roles of the federal and provincial governments in the construction of these dams, the regulation of 2 water levels, and the ways that each level of government acted in response to knowledge that damage might occur to reserve lands and Ojibwa resources, or knowledge that damage was occurring to reserve lands and Ojibwa resources. In order to understand the importance of this history, it is necessary to have a rudimentary knowledge of how the contemporary Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation has been affected by the dispersal of their community. As a result, this thesis will address the diasporic nature of the contemporary Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation community. This thesis also uses, and discusses, an Indigenous methodology, and will be situated within the decolonial discourse. In terms of the scope of this thesis, it will focus on the context in which two dams were built on the outlet of Lac des Mille Lacs, at the headwaters of the Seine River. A dam was constructed in the 1872 - prior to the Treaty 3 agreement in 1873 - for the purposes of navigation along the Dawson Route1. Accordingly, this thesis will examine the pre-treaty political climate, and the manner in which Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation adhered to Treaty 3 through the Shebandowan Adhesion. An Industrialist named Edward Wellington Backus, for the purposes of generating hydro electricity further downstream, constructed another dam in 1923. Consequently, this thesis will discuss companies owned by Backus that built dams and flooded other Ojibwa reserves, prior to the damming and flooding of Lacs des Mille Lacs First Nation. It was Ontario's Ministry of Lands and Forests that issued waterpower leases and licenses of occupation, permitting Backus's company's to build dams and control water levels on the Seine River. Therefore this thesis will also examine the St. Catherine's Milling case, and its implications, as it resulted in the systemic failure of the constitutional division of powers between provincial and federal governments to consider Treaty rights. 1_The Dawson Route, or the Red River Route, will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter 2.