Office Re-Opening Notice

The Treaty 8 Edmonton Sub Office is now open during regular business hours:
Monday- Friday 8:30-4:30 pm

However, the office will not be open to the public due to COVID-19.

Please call our office at 780-444-9366 or our toll free line at 1-888-873-2898 if you have any questions or require more information.

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Articles of Treaty No. 8

ARTICLES OF A TREATY made and concluded at the several dates mentioned therein, in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine, between Her most Gracious Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, by Her Commissioners the Honourable David Laird, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Indian Commissioner for the said Province and the Northwest Territories; James Andrew Joseph McKenna, of Ottawa, Ontario, Esquire, and the Honourable James Hamilton Ross, of Regina, in the Northwest Territories, of the one part; and the Cree, Beaver, Chipewyan and other Indians, inhabitants of the territory within the limits hereinafter defined and described, by their Chiefs and Headmen, hereunto subscribed, of the other part:

WHEREAS, the Indians inhabiting the territory hereinafter defined have, pursuant to notice given by the Honourable Superintendent General of Indian Affairs in the year 1898, been convened to meet a Commission representing Her Majesty's Government of the Dominion of Canada at certain places in the said territory in this present year 1899, to deliberate upon certain matters of interest of Her Most Gracious Majesty, of the one part, and the said Indians of the other.

AND WHEREAS, the said Indians have been notified and informed by Her Majesty's said Commission that it is Her desire to open for settlement, immigration, trade, travel, mining, lumbering and such other purposes as to Her Majesty may seem meet, a tract of country bounded and described as hereinafter mentioned, and to obtain the consent thereto of Her Indian subjects inhabiting the said tract, and to make a treaty, and arrange with them, so that there may be peace and good will between them and Her Majesty's other subjects, and that Her Indian people may know and be assured of what allowances they are to count upon and receive from Her Majesty's bounty and benevolence.

AND WHEREAS, the Indians of the said tract, duly convened in council at the respective points named hereunder, and being requested by Her Majesty's Commissioners to name certain Chiefs and Headmen who should be authorized on their behalf to conduct such negotiations and sign any treaty to be founded thereon, and to become responsible to Her Majesty for the faithful performance by their respective bands of such obligations as shall be assumed by them, the said Indians have therefore acknowledged for that purpose the several Chiefs and Headmen who have subscribed hereto.

AND WHEREAS, the said Commissioners have proceeded to negotiate a treaty with the Cree, Beaver, Chipewyan and other Indians, inhabiting the district hereinafter defined and described, and the same has been agreed upon and concluded by the respective bands at the dates mentioned hereunder, the said Indians DO HEREBY SHARE*, RELEASE, SURRENDER AND YIELD UP to the Government of the Dominion of Canada, for Her Majesty the Queen and Her successors for ever, all their rights, titles and privileges whatsoever, to the lands included within the following limits, that is to say:

Commencing at the source of the main branch of the Red Deer River in Alberta, thence due west to the central range of the Rocky Mountains, thence northwesterly along the said range to the point where it intersects the 60th parallel of north latitude, thence east along said parallel to the point where it intersects Hay River, thence northeasterly down said river to the south shore of Great Slave Lake, thence along the said shore northeasterly (and including such rights to the islands in said lakes as the Indians mentioned in the treaty may possess), and thence easterly and northeasterly along the south shores of Christie's Bay and McLeod's Bay to old Fort Reliance near the mouth of Lockhart's River, thence southeasterly in a straight line to and including Black Lake, thence southwesterly up the stream from Cree Lake, thence including said lake southwesterly along the height of land between the Athabasca and Churchill Rivers to where it intersects the northern boundary of Treaty Six, and along the said boundary easterly, northerly and southwesterly, to the place of commencement.

AND ALSO the said Indian rights, titles and privileges whatsoever to all other lands wherever situated in the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, or in any other portion of the Dominion of Canada.

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the same to Her Majesty the Queen and Her successors for ever.

And Her Majesty the Queen HEREBY AGREES with the said Indians that they shall have right to pursue their usual vocations of hunting, trapping and fishing throughout the tract surrendered as heretofore described, subject to such regulations as may from time to time be made by the Government of the country, acting under the authority of Her Majesty, and saving and excepting such tracts as may be required or taken up from time to time for settlement, mining, lumbering, trading or other purposes.

And Her Majesty the Queen hereby agrees and undertakes to lay aside reserves for such bands as desire reserves, the same not to exceed in all one square mile for each family of five for such number of families as may elect to reside on reserves, or in that proportion for larger or smaller families; and for such families or individual Indians as may prefer to live apart from band reserves, Her Majesty undertakes to provide land in severalty to the extent of 160 acres to each Indian, the land to be conveyed with a proviso as to non-alienation without the consent of the Governor General in Council of Canada, the selection of such reserves, and lands in severalty, to be made in the manner following, namely, the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs shall depute and send a suitable person to determine and set apart such reserves and lands, after consulting with the Indians concerned as to the locality which may be found suitable and open for selection.

Provided, however, that Her Majesty reserves the right to deal with any settlers within the bounds of any lands reserved for any band as She may see fit; and also that the aforesaid reserves of land, or any interest therein, may be sold or otherwise disposed of by Her Majesty's Government for the use and benefit of the said Indians entitled thereto, with their consent first had and obtained.

It is further agreed between Her Majesty and Her said Indian subjects that such portions of the reserves and lands above indicated as may at any time be required for public works, buildings, railways, or roads of whatsoever nature may be appropriated for that purpose by Her Majesty's Government of the Dominion of Canada, due compensation being made to the Indians for the value of any improvements thereon, and an equivalent in land, money or other consideration for the area of the reserve so appropriated.

And with a view to show the satisfaction of Her Majesty with the behaviour and good conduct of Her Indians, and in extinguishment of all their past claims, She hereby, through Her Commissioners, agrees to make each Chief a present of thirty-two dollars in cash, to each Headman twenty-two dollars, and to every other Indian of whatever age, of the families represented at the time and place of payment, twelve dollars.

Her Majesty also agrees that next year, and annually afterwards for ever, She will cause to be paid to the said Indians in cash, at suitable places and dates, of which the said Indians shall be duly notified, to each Chief twenty-five dollars, each Headman, not to exceed four to a large Band and two to a small Band, fifteen dollars, and to every other Indian, of whatever age, five dollars, the same, unless there be some exceptional reason, to be paid only to heads of families for those belonging thereto.

FURTHER, Her Majesty agrees that each Chief, after signing the treaty, shall receive a silver medal and a suitable flag, and next year, and every third year thereafter, each Chief and Headman shall receive a suitable suit of clothing.

FURTHER, Her Majesty agrees to pay the salaries of such teachers to instruct the children of said Indians as to Her Majesty's Government of Canada may seem advisable.

FURTHER, Her Majesty agrees to supply each Chief of a Band that selects a reserve, for the use of that Band, ten axes, five hand-saws, five augers, one grindstone, and the necessary files and whetstones.

FURTHER, Her Majesty agrees that each Band that elects to take a reserve and cultivate the soil, shall, as soon as convenient after such reserve is set aside and settled upon, and the Band has signified its choice and is prepared to break up the soil, receive two hoes, one spade, one scythe and two hay forks for every family so settled, and for every three families one plough and one harrow, and to the Chief, for the use of his Band, two horses or a yoke of oxen, and for each Band potatoes, barley, oats and wheat (if such seed be suited to the locality of the reserve), to plant the land actually broken up, and provisions for one month in the spring for several years while planting such seeds; and to every family one cow, and every Chief one bull, and one mowing-machine and one reaper for the use of his Band when it is ready for them; for such families as prefer to raise stock instead of cultivating the soil, every family of five persons, two cows, and every Chief two bulls and two mowing-machines when ready for their use, and a like proportion for smaller or larger families. The aforesaid articles, machines and cattle to be given once for all for the encouragement of agriculture and stock raising; and for such Bands as prefer to continue hunting and fishing, as much ammunition and twine for making nets annually as will amount in value to one dollar per head of the families so engaged in hunting and fishing.

And the undersigned Cree, Beaver, Chipewyan and other Indian Chiefs and Headmen, on their own behalf and on behalf of all the Indians whom they represent, DO HEREBY SOLEMNLY PROMISE and engage to strictly observe this Treaty, and also to conduct and behave themselves as good and loyal subjects of Her Majesty the Queen.

THEY PROMISE AND ENGAGE that they will, in all respects, obey and abide by the law; that they will maintain peace between each other, and between themselves and other tribes of Indians, and between themselves and others of Her Majesty's subjects, whether Indians, half-breeds or whites, this year inhabiting and hereafter to inhabit any part of the said shared* territory; and that they will not molest the person or property of any inhabitant of such shared* tract, or of any other district or country, or interfere with or trouble any person passing or travelling through the said tract or any part thereof, and that they will assist the officers of Her Majesty in bringing to justice and punishment any Indian offending against the stipulations of this Treaty or infringing the law in force in the country so shared*.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF Her Majesty's said Commissioners and the Cree Chief and Headmen of Lesser Slave Lake and the adjacent territory, HAVE HEREUNTO SET THEIR HANDS at Lesser Slave Lake on the twenty-first day of June, in the year herein first above written.

[Treaty No. 8 was concluded with signatures from all the communities of Treaty No. 8]

*As passed on from our Elders, the term cede was not used when Treaty No. 8 was described to the signatories, the term share was used. Therefore we have amended this document to reflect that.

Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta

To Protect, Promote, Bring to Life, Implement, and Sustain the True Spirit and Intent of Treaty No. 8 as long as the sun shines, the grass grows, and the waters flow.

c/o Santa Fe Plaza
18178 – 102 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta T5S 1S7
Telephone: (780) 444-9366
Fax: (780) 484-1465

WE CANNOT HAVE RECONCILIATION WITHOUT THE TRUTH

June 22, 2021 (Treaty 8 Territory) – We, the Sovereign Chiefs of Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta, mourn the recent discovery of the mass grave of 215 children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School built on the Tk 'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation.

Not long after, we felt the pain and trauma again after the discovery of more than 100 children buried at the former Brandon Residential School near Sioux Valley Dakota First Nation. The discoveries continue and the numbers grow, reconfirming the truth of the stories told by residential school survivors.

Presently, the federal government continues to fight residential school survivors in court. The federal government has deflected, shifted blame, and refused to acknowledge its responsibility in creating, funding, and facilitating this program of genocide. In their own words, the federal government continues to refer to what they did to our people as “cultural genocide.” A safe statement that is not punishable in the colonial court system.

The highest concentration of residential schools in Canada were in Treaty 8 territory. Of the 25 residential schools in Alberta, 11 were in Treaty 8. What has not been considered is that many schools were relocated during their operation – there could be multiple burial sites. Residential schools are not the only sites we should be looking to for our kin. Day schools, where Indigenous children faced similar horrors, were also in operation across this country and of course, the Charles Camsell hospital. The hospital is located in Edmonton, where members of Treaty 8 were sent for ‘medical treatments.’ Many Indigenous Peoples were instead experimented on, sterilized, tortured, murdered and buried in unmarked graves.

We, the Sovereign Chiefs of Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta, will not let the federal government avoid accountability in their role of genocide – the deliberate, systemic mass murder of our people. We call upon:

• Provincial and Territorial governments to release all information regarding cemetery/burial sites.
• The Roman Catholic Church to release all information or records, which would assist in the discovery of any of our missing children.
• The Anglican Church to release all information or records, which would assist in the discovery of any of our missing children.
• The federal government to provide all means necessary to support and fund the search for our missing children.
• Municipal, provincial, federal governments and the denominations of Christian churches, who operated residential schools, to accept responsibility for their role in the genocide of our people.

We will develop a plan to search our own lands for our children. There is no trust in the levels of government and churches to assist us; we fear they would contaminate the findings or claim no remains found. The federal government announced $27 million, over three years, to bring our children home. It is insufficient and will not cover the costs to uncover the lost children across the country. We need a better plan to repatriate our relatives and give them the proper burials they deserve. We want the full cooperation and support of all levels of government, the churches, landowners, and industry to work with us as we develop and implement our plan for healing.

The United Nations has joined us in our request to uncover and disclose residential school records. Canada is a founding member of the United Nations and has stated, “since the foundation of the UN, Canada has been firmly committed to the promotion of human rights within Canada and around the world.” The federal government must be held accountable to their own standards. Canada has projected an image of peacekeeping and humanitarianism around the world. Yet, simultaneously, they fight the victims of residential schools in court, destroy records of government funded genocide, and dismiss their responsibility in perpetuating genocide in their own country.

The 11 residential schools within Treaty 8 Territory are:

• Assumption (Hay Lakes) - Assumption, AB
• St Martin’s Roman Catholic – Desmarais, AB
• St John’s Anglican – Wabasca, AB
• St Henry’s – Fort Vermillion, AB
• St. Bernard’s – Grouard, AB
• St. Bruno’s – Joussard, AB
• Holy Angel’s – Fort Chipewyan, AB
• St. Peter’s – Slave Lake, AB
• St Augustine – Smoky River, AB
• St Francis Xavier – Calais, AB
• St. Andrew’s – Whitefish First Nation

Although this list does not include the day schools, industrial schools, or Indian Hospitals, they are on the radar.

Media Contact:
Arthur Noskey
Grand Chief
Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta
Chiefs of the Sovereign Nations of Treaty 8

Head Office:
Kee Tas Kee Now Tribal Council
P.O. Box 360
Red Earth Creek, Alberta T0G 1X0
TEL: 780-649-3103 Fax: 780-649-2841

Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta

To Protect, Promote, Bring to Life, Implement, and Sustain the True Spirit and Intent of Treaty No. 8 as long as the sun shines, the grass grows, and the waters flow.

c/o Santa Fe Plaza
18178 – 102 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta T5S 1S7
Telephone: (780) 444-9366
Fax: (780) 484-1465

An important message from the Grand Chief of Treaty 8

Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta

To Protect, Promote, Bring to Life, Implement, and Sustain the True Spirit and Intent of Treaty No. 8 as long as the sun shines, the grass grows, and the waters flow.

c/o Santa Fe Plaza
18178 – 102 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta T5S 1S7
Telephone: (780) 444-9366
Fax: (780) 484-1465

What is the UCP’s Philosophy on Reconciliation?

June 3, 2021 (TREATY 8 TERRITORY) – As the original Cree and Dene Peoples, we affirm our connection to our lands, waters, air, animals, environment, and resources since time immemorial. Our Inherent rights and jurisdiction were given to us by the Creator and our ancestors through sacred affirmations and ceremony. Our natural laws are based on our people’s relationship with our unceded lands, waters, plants, animals, ceremonies, spirituality, customs, languages, and traditions. Despite many aCempts to assimilate us, extinguish our identities and way of life, our nationhood is stronger than ever.

On June 1, 2021, Jason Kenney spoke in admiration about “his founding forefather,” John A Macdonald. It is this founder who created the plan to “kill the Indian,” the architect of Residential Schools who imposed the Indian Act upon First Nations. Everything imaginable was done to annihilate our peoples who entered an International Treaty with the Queen so her seClers could share our lands. The veering leadership under John A MacDonald stems from the Doctrine of Discovery, emanated from a series of Papal Bulls, used to impose a ‘legal’ and ‘moral’ justification for colonial dispossession of our lands and our Sovereign Nations in what is now called Canada. This presumed racial superiority was used to exploit and subjugate our peoples and is contrary to the Sovereign Relationship between our Treaty 8 Nations and the Queen. The ‘cancel culture’ Kenney speaks of in regards to ‘Canadian history’ may in actuality be the cause of his own eventual demise.

John A MacDonald championed this work and if you hear anyone fondly refer to their founding forefathers who enacted such horrific policies, they are speaking from a perspective of being on a ship coming towards our own ancestors. Jason Kenney perpetuates a narrative that is laced in racism, domination, denial and manipulation of the true history, a colonial system that has implemented such horrific actions into policy that still exists today. Let us not forget the 60’s Scoop and how they continued this legacy, and how this policy is still practiced today through their Children’s Services Ministry.

On May 31st, 2021, UCP representative Rick Wilson announced Alberta’s intentions to fund research and to find “the burials of hundreds of Indigenous Children who did not make their way home.” This is a disgraceful, opportunis:c, blanket statement from a government disinterested in reconciliation. There was no meaningful dialogue with the Sovereign Nations of Treaty No. 8 to discuss any of this work despite the fact that there were 11 Residential Schools within Treaty No. 8 [AB].

UCP representative Adriana LaGrange issued a similar statement on Twitter and writes that she “can’t begin to imagine the horrific feeling of losing a child.” These children were not lost, they were stolen.

These 215 Indigenous children were murdered, buried, and forgotten; their parents were never told - victims of white settler colonialism. The insincere and hypocritical statement from a minister who rewrote and stands by a provincial curriculum drafted in the name of ethno-eurocentrism. The same minister who has supported the erasure of information about the residential school system in Alberta’s drad K-12 curriculum.

“We all know that the extermination policies of the federal government, such as the residential schools, stems from the Indian Act; if we are to right the wrongs that this is the place to start” stated Grand Chief of Education Billy Joe Laboucan speaking to Alberta Education’s Curriculum.

Chris Champion, who was appointed by Jason Kenney and instrumental in developing the new curriculum, is the editor of The Dorchester Review – a self-proclaimed “authoritative and contrarian” journal. The Dorchester Review, in a tweet here, supports TRC recommendations as long as “the discoveries are not hijacked by fanatics in support of some deranged far-left claim of deliberate murder and genocide.” The Dorchester Review also replied to Sean Carleton, editor at Active History, that “the cause of death (in residential schools) was usually tuberculosis or some other disease.” These statements show the ignorance and racist views staff and leadership at the Government of Alberta have of our Indigenous communities, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and our truths. Chris Champion has never been disavowed by the UCP.

Instead of actively confronting the problem and working with Treaty partners, the UCP government continues to employ people who would rather confront and demean the experiences of the victims of the residential school system. Jason Kenney issued a single statement on Twitter about the atrocities committed, while Matt Wolf, the Executive Director of Issues Management, managed to retweet a single news article – without making a statement himself. It is disgusting and hurtful to see these words come from the Premier, Ministers, and their staff when they do not call out others who make excuses for genocide. Their actions do not align with their statements.

Yet on Monday, the UCP government celebrated 91 years since the Dominion of Canada illegally transferred our Natural Resources to the province through the Natural Resources Transfer Act. Again, celebrating the exploitation of our way of life and subjugating our peoples. The citizens of the Treaty No. 8 Sovereign Nations question the UCP’s ethics and philosophy. Their actions including their recent Legislation, Bills, Regulations, and media statements are once again opportunistic and contradictory to their actions.

Media Contact:
Arthur Noskey
Grand Chief
Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta
780-444-9366
reception@treaty8.org

Head Office:
Kee Tas Kee Now Tribal Council
P.O. Box 360
Red Earth Creek, Alberta T0G 1X0
TEL: 780-649-3103 Fax: 780-649-2841