One of every five square kilometres of treaty-protected reserve land in Western Canada was given up by First Nations while Laurier was prime minister, as Liberal associates enriched themselves
Cheated: The Laurier Liberals and the Theft of First Nations Reserve Land.
“We are gathered today to right a wrong from the past,” an apologetic Mr. Trudeau said, “to start rebuilding trust between us.” In August, 1876, at treaty negotiations at Fort Carlton, in what is now Saskatchewan, Indian commissioner Alexander Morris gave the Cree what sounded like a considerate warning: Thousands of prospective homesteaders would soon invade the country, so the Cree needed to select their reserves and have them surveyed by the government, to prevent white settlement.
Still, Morris urged the Cree to select their reserves quickly. “Now unless the places where you would like to live are secured soon,” he counselled, “there might be difficulty. The white man might come and settle on the very place where you would like to be.” But reserves quickly assumed an importance to First Nations that few probably anticipated at treaty time. Reserves provided security of tenure, sanctuary in the face of settler encroachment, but above all a sense of identity and community. They were places where First Nations always returned, where families gathered to share stories, where traditional cultural and spiritual practices were observed, and where the dead were buried.
This policy shift was justified on the grounds that First Nations didn’t make proper use of their reserve land and, consequently, it should be taken over by settlers. But there was no need at the time to pursue surrenders. Non-reserve land could have been easily secured for settlement elsewhere in the Prairie west.
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