TREATY No 4

The Signing of Treaty 4

Treaty 4 is the fourth of the Numbered Treaties in Canada which was negotiated and signed between the Canadian Crown and the Nêhiyawak (Plains Cree) Cree, Assiniboine (Nakota) and Anishinaabek (Saulteaux or Ojibwe) Nations. Treaty 4 was signed on September 15, 1874 at Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan. Later adhesions were signed, with other bands later joining the Treaty. The land encompassed by Treaty 4 spans into present-day southern Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba.

Motivations & Negotiations for Treaty 4

Since Treaties 1, 2, and 3 had provided settlement and movement through the western interior, the Canadian government did not feel the need to negotiate further Treaties. However, the decline of buffalo, food scarcity, and growing tensions among settlers and Indigenous communities added pressure for Treaties further west. Indigenous dissatisfaction also rose over the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) selling their lands without consultation or compensation. The Anishinaabe were particularly upset at HBC which was evident during the Treaty 4 negotiations when they refused to meet at the HBC post where the commissioners decided the site of the negotiations would be. The Indigenous nations also requested more time to meet intertribally amongst themselves and tensions mounted when the Anishinaabe cut down the tent pole of Nehiyawak chief to stop them from attending a meeting. They knew that such a Treaty would have immense impacts on future generations.

Treaty 4 Terms

The written terms of Treaty 4 included: reserves of one square mile for every five persons; annuities of $25 for a chief, plus coat and medal, a $15 annuity per headman, and a $5 annuity for each individual; a suit of clothing every three years per chief; blankets, calicoes and British flag (given once); $750 worth of powder, shot and twine annually; two hoes, a spade, scythe, axe and seed per family; a plough and two harrows per ten families; oxen, a bull, four cows, carpenter’s tools, five hand saws, five augers, a crosscut saw, a pit saw and a grindstone per chief; there was to be a school on the reserve; no liquor was to be allowed; and hunting, fishing and trapping rights would be respected.

Ongoing Questions About Treaty 4

A year after the Treaty was signed, uncertainty arose about its validity. Chief Piapot urged expansion of Treaty terms, seeking farm instruction, machinery, gristmills, medicines, stores, and blacksmiths. Implementation of the Treaty was very slow. Ottawa believed that the First Nations would continue to survive by hunting the buffalo for another decade, while the chiefs expected agricultural help immediately and were disappointed when told that the Treaty said they had to be settled on their reserves first. In 1876, surveyor Wagner began laying out reserves for Gordon, Pasqua, Kawacatoose, Day Star, and Sakimay.

Treaty grounds were part of the negotiations and Indigenous nations petitioned for grounds that would be set aside and safeguarded for Treaty business and other meetings. The government stopped the practice as they did not want large populations of Indigenous peoples to gather. A century later, the government agreed to a settlement where Indigenous nations in Treaty 4 could reclaim the land for their purposes.

It is contended by Treaty 4 elders and knowledge keepers that Treaty 4 is not yet completed, as the absence of a pipe ceremony denoted that the Treaty was not finished. Oral histories mention that pipe ceremonies were included between the Anishinaabe and Nehiyawak during the negotiations, but did not occur between Indigenous nations and the commissioners.

Further Reading

• Treaty 4 Transcript

• Treaty 4 by Dr. Blair Stonechild - Indigenous Saskatchewan Encyclopedia

• Historical pictograph exhibit tells story of Treaty 4 signing - Regina Leader Post