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A portrait of Sir Adams George Archibald.
CA-K275Indigenous peoples & reconciliation

Adams Archibald, Métis land rights and Treaties 1 and 2

Adams George Archibald (1814–1892), first lieutenant-governor of Manitoba and the North-West Territories (1870–1872), was charged with administering the Manitoba Act’s guarantee of Métis land rights, which proved difficult amid settler encroachment and while Canadian militia subjected Métis people to a “reign of terror.” In 1871 he represented the Crown in negotiating Treaties 1 and 2, but several promises he made were not written into the treaties.

Factual accuracy review: No recorded challenge

Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-26↗
Photo: User Magnus Manske on en.wikipedia · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Citadel Hill in Halifax, Nova Scotia, photographed in 2011.
CA-K180History

The Jamaican Maroons in Nova Scotia, 1796–1800

After the Maroon War of 1795–1796, Britain exiled more than 500 Maroons of Trelawny Town, Jamaica, to Nova Scotia. They kept a strong sense of community despite pressure to assimilate and demands for their labour, including at the Halifax Citadel; most were resettled in Sierra Leone in 1800, while a few remained.

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Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-26↗
Photo: Moneywagon · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 · Credit & context
Onondeyoh (Frederick Ogilvie Loft) with soldiers, as published in the French magazine Le Miroir in August 1917.
CA-K177Indigenous peoples & reconciliation

Onondeyoh (Frederick Ogilvie Loft) and the League of Indians

Onondeyoh (Frederick Ogilvie Loft, 1861–1934) founded the League of Indians of Canada in 1919, the first pan-Indigenous political organization, advocating for land rights and better education. He lobbied for self-government and day schools in place of residential schools, and protested forced enfranchisement and the expropriation of reserve lands.

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Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-26↗
Photo: Unknown · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
The Peguis monument in Kildonan Park, Winnipeg, erected in 1923, photographed in 2011.
CA-K176Indigenous peoples & reconciliation

Chief Peguis and the Selkirk Treaty of 1817

Chief Peguis (1774–1864), a skilled hunter and diplomat, worked to protect the rights and interests of the Anishinaabeg of Red River and stepped in to save lives when fur trade hostilities threatened the Selkirk Settlement. He was one of five First Nations negotiators of the Selkirk Treaty of 1817, the first agreement permitting limited farmland access to settlers in western Canada.

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Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-26↗
Photo: Wtshymanski · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 · Credit & context
Kenora, Ontario, on Lake of the Woods, from the air in 2026; the photo does not show the former school.
CA-K175Indigenous peoples & reconciliation

Chanie Wenjack (1954–1966)

Chanie Wenjack was an Anishinaabe boy from Marten Falls First Nation who lived for three years at Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School near Kenora, Ontario, and died after escaping. His story represents thousands of children driven by loneliness, abuse and desperation to run away from residential schools, and was amplified at the time by official procedures and national news coverage.

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Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-26↗
Photo: Quintin Soloviev · Photo licence: CC BY 4.0 · Credit & context
pīhtokahānapiwiyin (Poundmaker), around 1884 (Library and Archives Canada).
CA-K158Indigenous peoples & reconciliation

pīhtokahānapiwiyin (Poundmaker), nēhiyaw chief

pīhtokahānapiwiyin (Poundmaker, ca. 1842–1886), a nēhiyaw (Plains Cree) chief, sought better terms for his people and called on Canada to fulfil its obligations under Treaty 6. In 1885 he repulsed Lieutenant-Colonel Otter’s attack on his reserve at Cut Knife but restrained his followers; imprisoned as a rebel, he died after his early release.

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Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-26↗
Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Fort Anne National Historic Site at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, from a drone in 2023.
CA-K137Indigenous peoples & reconciliation

The Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1726

On 4 June 1726, Mi’kmaw, Wəlastəkokewiyik and Peskətəmohkatewey leaders gathered at Annapolis Royal to ratify a treaty with the British Crown. It affirmed peaceful coexistence and was the first treaty between the Crown and these Nations, the basis for all their later treaties.

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Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-26↗
Photo: WayeMason & John Van Gurp · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credit & context
York Factory, Manitoba, photographed in 2017.
CA-K105Economy & trade

York Factory, a fur trade hub for over 250 years

York Factory, a Hudson’s Bay Company depot on Hudson Bay in Manitoba, was a vital fur trade hub for more than 250 years. It served as the gateway to the vast interior for British trade goods, settlers and soldiers, and lies on Treaty 5 territory.

Factual accuracy review: No recorded challenge

Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-26↗
Photo: Travel Manitoba · Photo licence: CC BY 2.0 · Credit & context
Lava beds in the Nass Valley, British Columbia, photographed in 2017; a landscape in the region, not a depiction of the treaty.
CA-K095Indigenous peoples & reconciliation

The Nisg̱a’a Treaty took effect on 11 May 2000

The Nisg̱a’a Treaty, British Columbia’s first modern treaty, took effect on 11 May 2000. It recognizes about 2,000 square kilometres of Nisg̱a’a Lands and was the first treaty in British Columbia to provide constitutional certainty for self-government.

Factual accuracy review: No recorded challenge

Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-26↗
Photo: Darren Kirby · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 2.0 · Credit & context
An Orange Shirt Day walk in Edmonton, Alberta, on 30 September 2024.
CA-K094Indigenous peoples & reconciliation

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: 30 September

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is observed each year on 30 September, honouring Residential School Survivors, their families and communities. It became a federal statutory holiday through Bill C-5, which received royal assent on 3 June 2021; Orange Shirt Day, which began in Williams Lake, British Columbia, in 2013, is observed the same day.

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Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-26↗
Photo: Joli Rumi · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credit & context
A residential-school memorial in Vancouver on 30 May 2021; an illustration of commemoration, not the NCTR building or its archival collection.
CA-K032Indigenous peoples & reconciliation

The NCTR preserves the TRC’s records

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation officially opened in 2015. Statements, documents and other materials gathered by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission became a central part of its work of preserving residential school history.

Factual accuracy review: No recorded challenge

Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-26↗
Photo: GoToVan · Photo licence: CC BY 2.0 · Credit & context
A residential-school memorial in Vancouver on 30 May 2021; an act of commemoration, not a historical residential-school scene.
CA-K029Indigenous peoples & reconciliation

The residential school system

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation reports that more than 150,000 children attended Indian Residential Schools. The system separated Indigenous children from their families and cultures and caused lasting harm.

Factual accuracy review: No recorded challenge

Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-26↗
Photo: GoToVan · Photo licence: CC BY 2.0 · Credit & context
A modern view of Lower Fort Garry, where Treaty 1 was concluded in 1871; not a photograph of the signing or an illustration of every treaty.
CA-K028Indigenous peoples & reconciliation

Treaties as continuing relationships

Treaties establish continuing rights and obligations between Indigenous signatories and the Crown. Historic and modern agreements form part of Canada’s treaty relationships; their particular terms and circumstances differ.

Factual accuracy review: No recorded challenge

Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-26↗
Photo: Shahnoor Habib Munmun · Photo licence: CC BY 3.0 · Credit & context