JOHN L. TOBIAS Canada'sSubjugation of thePlains Cree,ß 879- 885 ONEOF THE MOST PERSISTENT MYTHS that Canadianhistorians perpetuate is that of the honourableand just policyCanada followed in dealing with the PlainsIndians. First enunciatedin the Canadianexpansionist literature of the 187os as a means to emphasizethe distinctive Canadianapproach to and the uniquecharacter of the Canadianwest, 1 it hasbeen given credence by G.F.G. Stanleyin his classicThe Birth of WesternCanada, • and by all those who use Stanley'swork as the standardinterpretation of Canada'srelationship with the PlainsIndians in the period 187o-85. Thus studentsare taughtthat the Canadian governmentwas paternalistic and far-sightedin offeringthe Indiansa meansto becomecivilized and assimilatedinto white societyby the reservesystem, and honest and fair-minded in honouring legal commitmentsmade in the treaties.• The PlainsIndians, and particu- larly the PlainsCree, are saidto be a primitivepeople adhering to an inflexiblesystem of traditionand custom,seeking to protectthemselves againstthe advanceof civilization,and takingup armsin rejectionof the reservesystem and an agriculturalway of life.4 This traditional Doug Owram, Promiseof Eden: The Canadian Expansionist Movement and the Idea of the West,•856-•9oo (Toronto •98o), •3•-4 G.F.G. Stanley,The Birth of WesternCanada: A Historyof theRiel Rebellions(Toronto •96o) Ibid., 2o6-• 5 Ibid., vii-viii, • 96, 2 • 6-36. It shouldbe noted that the traditionalinterpretation of a Cree rebellionin associationwith the Metis hasbeen challenged by R. Allen, 'Big Bear,' SaskatchewanHistory, xxv (•972); W.B. Fraser,'Big Bear, Indian Patriot,'Alberta Historical Review, x•v 0966), •-• 3; Rudy Wiebe in his fictional biography,The Temptations ofBig Bear (Toronto •973) and in hisbiography of Big Bear in the Dictionaryof CanadianBiography [r•cB], x•, •88•-9o (Toronto •982), 597-6o •; and NormaSluman, Poundmaker (Toronto • 967). However,none of these ${protocol}://www.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/CHR-064-04-04 - Tuesday, June 25, 2019 11:21:10 AM University of Saskatchewan IP Address:128.233.10.173 CanadianHistorical Review, Lx•v, 4, • 983 ooo8-3755/83 / • 2oo-o 5 • 9 $o•. 25/o¸ Universityof TorontoPress 520 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW interpretation distortsthe roles of both the Cree and the Canadian government,for the Cree were both flexibleand activein promoting their own interests,and willing to accommodatethemselves to a new wayof life, while the Canadiangovernment was neither as far-sighted nor asjust as tradition maintains.Canada's principal concern in its relationshipwith the PlainsCree wasto establishcontrol over them, and Canadianauthorities were willing to and did wagewar upon the Cree in order to achieve this control. Those who propagatethe myth would haveus believethat Canada beganto negotiatetreaties with the Indiansof the Westin • 871 aspart of an overall plan to developthe agriculturalpotential of the West, openthe land for railwayconstruction, and bind the prairiesto Canada in a networkof commercialand economicties. Although there is an element of truth to these statements,the fact remains that in •87• Canadahad no planon howto dealwith the Indiansand the negotiation of treatieswas not at the initiativeof the Canadiangovernment, but at the insistenceof the OjibwaIndians of the North-WestAngle and the Saulteauxof the tiny provinceof Manitoba. What is ignored by the traditionalinterpretation is that the treaty processonly startedafter YellowQuill's band of Saulteauxturned backsettlers who tried to go westof Portagela Prairie, and after other Saulteauxleaders insisted uponenforcement of the SelkirkTreaty or, moreoften, insisted upon makinga new treaty. Also ignored is the fact that the Ojibwaof the North-West Angle demanded rents, and createdthe fear of violence againstprospective settlers who crossed their landor madeuse of their territory, if Ojibwa rights to their lands were not recognized.This pressureand fear of resultingviolence is what motivatedthe govern- ment to begin the treaty-makingprocess. 5 Canada'sinitial offer to the Saulteauxand OjibwaIndians consisted onlyof reservesand a smallcash annuity. This proposalwas rejected by the Ojibwain •87 • and againin • 872, while the Saulteauxdemanded, much to Treaty CommissionerWemyss Simpson's chagrin, farm animals,horses, wagons, and farm toolsand equipment.Simpson did not include these demands in the written treaty, for he had no authority to do so, but he wrote them down in the form of a memorandumthat he entitled 'outsidepromises' and whichhe failed to sendto Ottawa. Thus, the originalTreaties • and 2 did not include thoseitems the Saulteauxsaid had to be part of a treatybefore they authorsdeals with Canada'sIndian policy,and noneexamines what the Cree were doing in the period • 876-85. 5 AlexanderMorris, TheTreaties of Canadawith the Indians of Manitoba and the North-WestTerritories (Toronto • 88o), 37; PublicArchives of Manitoba,Adams G. ArchibaldPapers (hereafter cited as •,^M Archibald Papers, letters) ${protocol}://www.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/CHR-064-04-04 - Tuesday, June 25, 2019 11:21:10 AM University of Saskatchewan IP Address:128.233.10.173 CANADA'S SUBJUGATION OF THE PLAINS CREE 521 would agreeto surrendertheir lands.Only in •874, after the Indian leadersof Manitoba becameirate over non-receiptof the goodsthat Simpsonhad promisedthem, wasan inquirylaunched, and Simpson's list of 'outsidepromises' discovered and incorporatedin renegotiated treatiesin 1875.6 It was only in 1873, after the Ojibwaof the North-West Angle had twice refused treaties that only included reservesand annuities,that the governmentagreed to include the domesticanimals, farm tools, and equipment that the Ojibwa de- manded. After this experienceCanada made suchgoods a standard part of later treaties.7 Justas it waspressure from the Indiansof Manitobathat forcedthe governmentof Canadato initiatethe treaty process,it waspressure from the Plains Cree in the period 187•'-5 that compelled the governmentof Canadato continuethe processwith the Indiansof the Qu'Appelleand Saskatchewandistricts. The PlainsCree had inter- fered with the geologicalsurvey and preventedthe constructionof telegraphlines through their territory to emphasizethat Canadahad to dealwith the Creefor Creelands. 8 The Creehad learned in 187o about Canada'sclaim to their lands, and not wanting to experience what had happened to the Indians in the United Stateswhen those peoplewere facedwith an expansionistgovernment, the Cree made clear that they would not allow settlementor use of their landsuntil Creerights had beenclearly recognized. They alsomade clear that part of anyarrangement for Creelands had to involveassistance to the Cree in developinga new agriculturalway of life? 6 PublicArchives of Canada,Record Group • o Indian Affairs Files,vol. 357•, file •'4-2, alsovol. 36o3, file 2o36 (hereafer cited as P^c, •tc;•o, vol. file). See also Morris, Treatiesof Canada,25-43 and • 26-7, for a printed accountof the negotiationsand the textsof the originaland renegotiatedtreaties, pp 3 •3-2o, 338-42. Two articlesby John Taylor, 'Canada'sNorthwest Indian Policyin the •87o's:Traditional Premises and NecessaryInnovations' and 'Two Viewson the Meaningof TreatiesSix and Seven'in TheSpirit of Alberta Indian Treaties (Montreal • 98o), 3-7 and 9-45 respectively,provide a goodaccount of the Indian contribution and attitude towards the treaties. 7 Morris, Treatiesof Canada,44-76; on pp • 2o- 3 Morris demonstrateshow he had to makeTreaty 3 the modelfor the Qu'AppelleTreaty to get the Saulteauxand Creeof the Qu'AppelleRiver region to acceptwhat he originallyoffered them. CompareTreaties •-6 to seewhat the governmentwas forced to concede.Also seeTaylor's 'Traditional Premises'for Indian contributionsto the negotiation process. 8 Pt,c, •tc •o, vol. 3586, file • •37, Lieutenant-GovernorMorris to Secretaryof Statefor the provinces,•3 Sept. •872; P^c,•tc •o, vol. 3576, file 378 entirefile; vol. 36o9, file 3229; vol. 36o4, file 2543; vol. 3636, 6694-• 9 v^c, •tg •o, vol. 36•2, file 4o•2, entire file; v^MArchibald Papers, WJ. Christieto GeorgeW. Hill, 26 Apr. • 87 •; Archibaldto Secretaryof Statefor the Provinces, 5_Jan. •872; alsoletters in note •; WilliamFrancis Butler,. The Great Lone Land ${protocol}://www.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/CHR-064-04-04 - Tuesday, June 25, 2019 11:21:10 AM University of Saskatchewan IP Address:128.233.10.173 522 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW In adoptingthis position, the Creewere simply demonstrating a skill thatthey had shown since their initialcontact with Europeansin x67 o. On numerousoccasions during the fur tradeera, they had adapted to changedenvironmental and economiccircumstances, beginning first ashunters, then asprovisioners and middlemenin the Hudson'sBay Companytrading system, and finallyadapting from a woodlandto parkland-prairiebuffalo hunting culture to retaintheir independence and their desiredties with the fur trade.•ø Having accommodated themselvesto the PlainsIndian cultureafter x8oo,they expanded into territoryformerly controlled by the Atsina,and asthe buffaloherds began to decline after x85o, the Cree expandedinto Blackfoot territory.• Expansionwas one responseto the threat posedby decliningbuffalo herds;another was that somePlains Cree bands beganto turn to agriculture.•2 Thus, whenthe Cree learnedthat Canada claimedtheir lands, part of the arrangementthey were (Rutland,v•r •97o), 36o-2,368; v^c, ManuscriptGroup 26A,John A. Macdonald Papers,vol. •o4, entire volume(hereafter