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"I Smooth'd Him up with Fair Words": Lntersocietal Law, from Fur Trade to Treaty

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"I smooth'd him up with fair words": lntersocietal Law, from Fur Trade to Treaty Janna Promislow A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN LAW OSGOODE HALL LAW SCHOOL, YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO December 2012 ©Janna Promislow, 2012 Abstract History is an essential part of aboriginal law. The two disciplines, however, may produce incompatible narratives of indigenous-settler relations. In addition, indigenous legal traditions and the fur trade in the old North West have been under-represented in Canadian legal history, a gap that demotes over two centuries of working relationships to a brief preface to the numbered treaties and confederation. This dissertation seeks to bring under-observed normative relations between indigenous and European traders into Canadian legal history. It further considers the relevance of fur trade law to the jurisprudence on aboriginal treaty rights and the significance of history in overcoming historical injustice in settler states. Using an ethnohistorical methodology, three case studies are presented on the law of the fur trade followed by a chapter connecting the interpretation of the intersocietal law of the fur trade to the interpretation of treaties in history and law. Focussing the fur trade as conducted by the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company, the case studies investigate the normative expectations of the indigenous and company traders around particular aspects of the trading relationship. These aspects include institutions of leadership, the formation and maintenance of friendships, negotiations of trading post location, and the exchange of provisions and support in times of famine and illness. In these case studies, the intersocietal law of the trade is interpreted as incomplete and often laden with misunderstanding. It involved competition between normative systems and harboured persistent disagreements, even while sufficient shared obligations and occasional shared meanings emerged to support robust working relationships. This interpretation of the intersocietal law of the fur trade demands a shift in the characterization of treaties in history and law. I argue that to better serve the aims of justice and reconciliation, both the classification of treaties in history and the interpretive focus of the treaty rights jurisprudence must change to allow the complexity of the historical relationship - including the disagreements and injustices buried in simpler narratives - to emerge. 11 Acknowledgments This dissertation has accompanied me through the better part of a decade. Along that journey, there have been numerous people who have inspired and supported me to see it through to this final product. The original motivations for this project must be credited to the Dene peoples living in the Sahtu region of the Northwest Territories. My brief time working and living with them inspired me inquire into native-newcomer relations, and reconsider anything I thought I knew about indigenous peoples and Canadian history. I have been lucky to have Kent McNeil as my supervisor. He has been fabulous mentor, providing feedback that has both challenged me and helped me move forward. I am grateful for his guidance and friendship. My supervisory committee members, Susan Drummond and Brian Slattery, have also provided insightful direction and encouragement when I needed it. The additional members of my examining committee, Carolyn Podruchny, Shin Imai, Mark Walters, asked me excellent questions and have pointed me in new directions that I am excited to explore in future. I am honoured by their interest - I could not imagine a better group of advisers and reviewers for this project. Friends and colleagues have also helped me see this project through, some by sharing the time spent in coffee shops and libraries, some by feeding and supporting me, and many by listening patiently while I figured out what I was trying to say and then helping me say it, or pointing out avenues of research and reading that would help me get there. Val Napoleon, Kelly Gallagher-McKay, Anna Zalik, Benjamin Berger, Hamar Foster, Jeremy Webber, Lisa Ford, Tim Rowse, David Yarrow, James Ingram, Sharon Mascher, Mark Crawford, Karen Aird, Nicole Schabus, and Freya Kotlar - you have all been an incredibly important part of this process. Thank you. And finally, my family. You have seen it all-the ups and downs, the many moves, and the many visits when I arrived with a bag full of books. Josie, Miki, and Alan: Thank you is not enough. Its time to celebrate! ! 111 Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. iv List of Illustrations ........................................................................................................... vi Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 · 1. The Backdrop: Literatures and Debates ..................................................................... 3 2. The Content: Overview and Methodologies ............................................................. 14 3. The Results: Arguments, Contributions, and Directions ........................................... 26 Chapter 2: One Chief, Two Chiefs, Red Chiefs, Blue Chiefs Newcomer Perspectives on Indigenous Leadership in Rupert's Land and the North-West Territories ... .................................................................................................................... 33 1. One Chief, Two Chiefs: Radisson, The Bearded, and the Settling of York Factory . .43 2. Red Chiefs, Blue Chiefs: HBC Trading Captains, Cree Chiefs, and Symbols of Authority ........................................................................................................................ 57 3. The Lessons of History: Revisiting the Sawridge Case ............................................ 64 4. Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 71 Chapter 3: "Thou Wilt Not Die of Hunger ... for I Bring Thee Merchandise" Consent, Intersocietal Normativity, and the Exchange of Food at York Factory, 1682-1763 ........................................................................................................................ 73 1. Striking A Bargain Along the Hayes River ............................................................... 73 2. Interpreting the Bargain ............................................................................................. 77 3. Hunting, Fishing, and Starving? Local Exchange at York Factory ........................... 86 4. The Language of Intersocietal Normativity ............................................................. 105 5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 122 Chapter 4: "It would only be just": A Study of Territoriality and Trading Posts Along the Mackenzie River, 1800-1827 ....................................................................... 127 1. Fort Good Hope and the Fur Trade in the Mackenzie River District ...................... 129 2. Setting Up Shop: Welcoming Strangers Into Dene Lands ...................................... 132 3. Location, Location: Subsistence and Territoriality ................................................. 137 IV 4. Territoriality and Governance Along the Deh Cho ................................................. 142 5. Conclusions ............................................................................................................ 149 Chapter 5: Treaties in History and Law .................................................................... 151 1. The Promise of Treaties: Treaties as Constitutional Narrative ................................ 158 2. Treaties in History ................................................................................................... 176 3. Treaties in Law ........................................................................................................ 214 4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 260 Chapter 6: Conclusions .............................................................................................. 265 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 275 Appendix A: Archival Research .................................................................................. 307 v List of Illustrations Map 1: Early trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company ............................................. 44 Map 2: York Factory Region ............................................................................................ 46 Map 3: Upper Mackenzie District trading posts, 1800-1827 .......................................... 131 VI Vll Chapter 1: Introduction History is an essential part of aboriginal law. In Canadian jurisprudence, aboriginal rights are premised on historical rights and relationships. Any attempt to establish
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