Treaty 6 is an agreement between the Canadian monarch and the Plain and Wood Cree Indians and other tribes of Indians at Fort Carlton, Fort Pitt and Battle River. The area given up by the Plain and Wood Cree represents most of the central area of the current provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. One Manitoba band would also sign on to the treaty by adhesion in 1898. The treaty signings began in August, 1876, with adhesions added in 1889 in central Saskatchewan in the Montreal Lake area.
At this time, the buffalo, the staple of the people that lived on the plains, was disappearing at an alarming rate. The chiefs realized that if they didn't sign a treaty with the government, they might starve to death or have to attack more of the forts and settlements within the area. A second major reason for the signing of the treaty was that a smallpoxepidemic had recently gone through the area, killing many of the Cree.
Terms of the treaty
Each Native family of five covered by Treaty 6 received 2.5 square km of land, which they could sell back to the Government of Canada for compensation. Each person immediately received $12 and an additional $5 a year. The chief would receive one horse, one harness, and one wagon or two carts. The people would also receive $1500 a year for ammunition and fishing net twine. One of the selling points of the treaty was that a medicine chest would be kept at the home of the Indian Agent for use by the people. Another of the selling points was the guarantee of assistance for famine or pestilence relief.
One of the famous chiefs who signed this treaty was Poundmaker.
1958, the Michel Band is "enfranchised" by the Department of Indian Affairs, and the reserve is dissolved. This is the only case of an entire band (save a few individuals) being involuntarily enfranchised.[1]
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