The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the North-West Territories Including the Negotiations on Which They Were Based, and Other Information Relating — A Reader’s Guide

Negotiation as Recorded Dialogue

The excerpts reveal that Morris's account preserves extended exchanges between commissioners and chiefs, often in reported speech. At Fort Pitt, for instance, the Cree chief Sweet Grass addresses the assembled leaders, urging unity: “Let there be no barrier, as it is with great difficulty that this was brought about.” The text includes not only the final treaty terms but the back-and-forth of demands and refusals. Big Bear (the Great Bear) arrives late, having been hunting buffalo, and insists on discussing two issues: the abolition of hanging as a punishment and the protection of the buffalo. Morris records his own firm refusal on the first point and a noncommittal answer on the second. These passages show that the negotiations were not one-sided impositions but contested dialogues, even if the power imbalance was stark. The reader should attend to who speaks, when, and what is conceded or denied.

The Role of Ceremony and Provision

Morris details the logistical and ceremonial framework of treaty-making. Before negotiations, the commissioners arranged for the distribution of provisions—food for the attendees—and for religious services. At Fort Pitt, the Rev. Mr. McDougall held a service in Cree, while Bishop Grandin and Rev. Mr. Scollen conducted services for Crees and Chippewayans. These details indicate that the treaty process was embedded in a broader ritual of alliance, including Christian worship. Payments and the distribution of goods followed the signing. Morris also notes the presence of the North-West Mounted Police, whose role in maintaining order and providing protection is mentioned explicitly. The reader should note how these non-negotiation elements—food, police, clergy—shaped the atmosphere and expectations of the meetings.

Voices of Dissent and Conditional Acceptance

Not all chiefs accepted the treaty immediately. Big Bear’s late arrival and his refusal to sign because his people were absent illustrate the fractured nature of Indigenous decision-making. He tells Morris, “I am not an undutiful child, I do not throw back your hand, but as my people are not here I do not sign.” Yet he later returns to assure Morris that he accepts the treaty “as if he had signed it” and will come the next year with his people. This episode reveals that acceptance could be conditional and delayed, and that Morris’s account does not erase Indigenous agency entirely. Other chiefs, like Sweet Grass and The Fish, express solidarity: “We do not because Sweet Grass has spoken, and what he says we all say.” The reader should observe how Morris records both consensus and resistance, and how the text frames the latter as a problem to be resolved through further negotiation.

The Author’s Position and Purpose

Morris writes as a participant and advocate. He dedicates the book to the Earl of Dufferin, praising his interest in “obtaining the relinquishment of the natural title of the Indians to the lands of the Fertile Belt on fair and just terms.” The preface states that the collection is intended to aid the Dominion in carrying out treaty obligations and in devising means to rescue the Indian population from the “hard fate” awaiting them after the buffalo’s disappearance. This language reveals Morris’s belief in the necessity of assimilation to agriculture and civilization. The book is thus both a historical record and a policy document. Readers should approach it as a primary source that reflects the assumptions and goals of a Canadian official, not as an objective chronicle. The text’s value lies in what it includes—speeches, treaty articles, procedural details—and in what it omits, such as Indigenous perspectives not filtered through Morris’s pen.

Morris’s compilation rewards readers who pay close attention to the interplay between official treaty language and the recorded words of Indigenous leaders. The excerpts show that the treaties were not simply imposed but were the product of extended, often tense, face-to-face encounters. For a first reading, focus on the moments of disagreement and the specific phrasing of demands and refusals. These details offer a window into the complexities of cross-cultural diplomacy in the 1870s, even as they are mediated by a colonial administrator’s perspective.

Reading Morris’s careful transcripts reminded me of my grandfather’s old copies of treaties, underlined in pencil. That same fascination with legal language shaping lives returned when I found The neutral merchant in relation to the law of contraband of war and blockade under the order in Council of 11th March, 1915 — Themes and Context. Both feel like listening to distant voices deciding someone else’s quiet future.