First Nation land surrenders on the Prairies, 1896-1911 : Cessions de terres des Premières Nations dans les Prairies 1896-1911

In the Kahkewistahaw 1907 surrender report, and in the Moosomin 1909 surrender report2 (whose recommendations to accept the claims for negotiation have since been adopted by the Minister of Indian Affairs3), the Commission found it critical to consider whether the Crown breached its statutory and fiduciary duties towards the First Nation in relation to the particular surrender in the broad light o [...] In the 1870s, the Government of Canada negotiated various treaties with the aboriginal peoples of the prairies in order to protect them and their way of life in the face of an incoming tide of settlers from the east. [...] The reported request came through the Inspector and was not in the words of any band representative, leaving unanswered the question of who made the request to Markle on behalf of the Band. [...] Superintendent General Oliver defended the Peigan surrender in the House of Commons on the basis of the former interpretation, notwithstanding the fact that this view was unsupported by the text of the Act and effectively negated the treaties’ requirement of collective band consent. [...] In that case, when the Band protested the failure to raise the distribution rate from the lower rate stipulated in the text of the surrender to the higher rate that had been promised verbally, the Department consented to amend the agreement in 1910 to more closely reflect Marlatt’s promise.