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The Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario, preserves canoes, kayaks and other paddled watercraft. It is on the traditional territory of the Williams Treaties First Nations.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: P199 · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Algoma University was established in 1965. It is located on the former Shingwauk Indian Residential School site in Sault Ste. Marie. Its special mission includes cross-cultural learning between Indigenous communities and other communities in Northern Ontario.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: Fungus Guy · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 · Credit & context
On a visit to the United States on January 16 and 17, 1961, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker signed the Treaty on Cooperative Development of the Water Resources of the Columbia River Basin.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: White House Photo Office · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Wapusk National Park in northern Manitoba covers 11,475 square kilometres where boreal forest gives way to Arctic tundra, and protects one of the world’s largest polar bear maternity denning areas. It is on Treaty 5 territory and lands traditionally used by the Cree, Dene, Inuit and Red River Métis, and visits are made through licensed tour operators in Churchill.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: Peterfitzgerald · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 · Credit & context
Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba is home to a striking diversity of life: windswept grasslands and deep forests, wolf packs, orchids and lilies, and lakes and wetlands. The park is in Treaty 2 Territory, and Parks Canada works there with Anishinabe First Nations from Treaties 2, 4 and 1.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: Norm Andreiw · Photo licence: CC BY 3.0 · Credit & context
Elk Island National Park lies about 48 kilometres east of downtown Edmonton, in Treaty 6 territory and the Métis homeland. Its rolling hills, lakes and dark skies form a landscape Indigenous Peoples have long used for sustenance, ceremony, trade and travel. The park supports bison, elk and more than 250 bird species.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: Khoshhat · Photo licence: CC0 · Credit & context
Pitikwahanapiwiyin (Poundmaker), a nehiyaw (Plains Cree) chief and spokesman, sought better terms for his people and pressed Canada to honour Treaty 6. In 1885 he was drawn into the North-West Resistance when Lieutenant-Colonel Otter’s troops attacked his peaceful camp near Cut Knife Hill. Though he worked to prevent bloodshed and surrendered on May 26, he was imprisoned; he died soon after release and was exonerated in 2019.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: Prof. Buell, O.B. · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
George McDougall was an influential Methodist missionary in the Prairie West from 1860 until his death in 1876, founding the Victoria mission in 1862 and leading others as part of colonization efforts. He urged First Nations to abandon traditional ways, removed the sacred stone Manitou Asinîy in 1866 with damaging results, and carried word of the coming Treaty Six talks in 1875. Missions linked to him at Norway House and Morley later developed residential schools.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: Unknown author · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
As Minister of the Interior from 1873 to 1876, David Laird helped shape policies that treated First Nations as wards and sought their assimilation, and was the main figure in consolidating earlier laws into the Indian Act of 1876. He negotiated Treaties 4, 7 and 8, whose meaning remains disputed. As Indian commissioner he restricted ceremonies and at times worked to dispossess First Nations of promised reserves. He also founded the Charlottetown Patriot.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: Unknown photographer · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
As Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs from 1913 to 1932, Duncan Campbell Scott aggressively pursued policies meant to assimilate First Nations, banning cultural practices and restricting political activity, which did widespread, lasting harm. He was the chief federal official responsible for expanding and running the residential school system, whose neglect and abuse caused hunger, illness and death. In his day he was also celebrated as a Confederation poet.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: Photographer not named. · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Joseph Trutch, a British-born engineer who believed Indigenous Peoples inferior, was British Columbia’s chief commissioner of lands and works from 1864 to 1871. Representing settler interests, he cut existing reserves, allotted minimal land to new ones, denied Aboriginal title and refused treaties, denying First Nations access to their territories; he became the province’s first lieutenant-governor in 1871.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: William James Topley (June 1870); Library and Archives Canada · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Frank Oliver, owner and editor of the Edmonton Bulletin from 1880, championed a West shaped for white British and American settlers. As Minister of the Interior from 1905 to 1911 he promoted immigration policies aimed at excluding Black and Asian immigrants, and as superintendent of Indian Affairs he oversaw an expansion of residential schools and amended the Indian Act to allow forced surrender of reserve lands near towns.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: Alfred Biyth · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Modeste Demers, a Catholic priest in the Pacific Northwest from 1838, worked in part to convert Indigenous Peoples, part of the region’s colonization, and in 1847 became the first Bishop of Vancouver Island, New Caledonia and Haida Gwaii. The practices of Demers and his Church, together with colonization and assimilation, had drastic consequences for later generations of Indigenous Peoples.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: J.E. Livernois · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Philip Francis Little, elected to Newfoundland’s Assembly in 1850, campaigned for responsible government and united the Liberal Party behind it. In 1855 he became the colony’s first premier under responsible government, and he advanced Newfoundland’s interests through the Reciprocity Treaty with the United States.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: Unknown author · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Isapo-Muxika (Crowfoot), born Kainai and raised among the Siksika (Blackfoot), became a leading chief known as a warrior, orator and peacemaker. Convinced that peace served his people best, he made peace with the Plains Cree, adopting Poundmaker as his son, and persuaded the Siksika to sign Treaty 7 in 1877.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: Alex Ross · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Red Crow, warrior and statesman, became a head chief of the Kainai (Blood) in 1870. After first boycotting the negotiations, he signed Treaty 7 in 1877 on behalf of his people and chose the site of the Blood Reserve, the largest in Canada; his leadership helped the Kainai keep their proud and independent spirit.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: Unknown author · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Alexandre-Antonin Taché, Bishop and then Archbishop of St. Boniface from 1853 to 1894, was the foremost Catholic leader in the West and oversaw missions, day schools and residential schools that sought to convert and assimilate Indigenous Peoples. He helped secure Catholic and French education rights in the Manitoba Act of 1870 and fought in vain to restore them after they were eroded from 1890.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: William Notman · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
As Indian Commissioner (1879–1888) and Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Territories, Edgar Dewdney withheld rations from starving First Nations until they settled on government-selected reserves, causing malnutrition, disease and death. After 1885 he helped impose the extralegal pass system and helped shape the residential school system, with devastating consequences for Indigenous children, families and communities.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: Topley Studio / Library and Archives Canada / PA-027070 · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Sir Hector-Louis Langevin, a Father of Confederation, attended all three conferences leading to 1867, helped draft the 72 Resolutions and led the Quebec Conservatives for nearly two decades. As Minister of Public Works, he called in 1883 for Indigenous children to be removed from their homes for assimilation and announced three industrial schools in the Northwest, part of the residential school system’s devastating expansion.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: William Notman · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Alexander Morris, a supporter of Confederation and lieutenant-governor of Manitoba and the North-West Territories, negotiated Treaties 3, 4, 5 and 6 with First Nations from 1873 to 1876. First Nations sought a reciprocal relationship that safeguarded their autonomy, while Canada’s main goal was territorial expansion for settlers; Morris pressed the government to keep its spoken promises.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: William James Topley · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
From 1852, Oblate priest Albert Lacombe spent over 60 years seeking to convert Indigenous Peoples in western Canada to Christianity, founding missions such as St. Albert with Métis and Cree help and acting as a go-between during Treaty 8 talks. He was the first principal of the High River Industrial School in 1884–1885 and advocated separating children from their families and suppressing Indigenous languages.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: Unknown author · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Seven Oaks House in Winnipeg, in the Métis homeland and on Treaty 1 territory, includes a cabin of about 1831 built in Red River frame style and a Georgian house of 1851–1853. Home to the Scottish and Métis Inkster family, it shows the centrality of Métis families in the Red River community and the shift from the fur trade to farming and town life.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: Jessica Losorata · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credit & context
At the Portage la Prairie Indian Residential School in Manitoba, built in 1914–1915 and open until 1975, Indigenous children endured abuse, severe discipline, punishment for speaking their languages and isolation from their families. Operated by the Presbyterian and United Churches for the federal government, it was part of a policy the Truth and Reconciliation Commission called cultural genocide; Long Plain First Nation took ownership in 1981 and has made it a place of commemoration and resilience.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives · Photo licence: CC BY 2.0 · Credit & context
The Shingwauk Indian Residential School in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, opened by the Anglican Church in 1875 and closed in 1970, was part of the residential school system that sought to assimilate Indigenous children by separating them from their families, cultures and languages. Named for Chief Shingwaukonse, whose vision of education was lost, it was a Shingwauk school “in name only”; its main building, Shingwauk Hall, is one of the few remaining residential school buildings in Canada.
Contributor: Citizen.ca
Photo: Fungus Guy · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 · Credit & context