Treaty #3 Today
The First Nations communities at Lake of the Woods work within the Grand Council, The Government of the Anishinaabe Nation in Treaty #3. The Council’s jurisdiction includes protection, preservation and enhancement of Treaty and Aboriginal rights, traditional governance, inherent jurisdiction and self-determination. The Grand Council Treaty #3 supports National councils, the National Assembly and the Chiefs Assembly. The Council provides program development, policy planning, analysis and design, research and law-making.

Origins of the Treaty: In 1870, the government of Canada purchased vast lands south of Hudson’s Bay to the Lake of the Woods region and west, from the Hudson’s Bay Company, to strengthen their claim to the land against potential annexation by the United States. Simon J. Dawson surveyed and constructed the road known as the Dawson Trail from Lake Superior to the Red River Valley, following the native’s traditional water and portage routes, routes that had been used by the Europeans for a few hundred years.

As settlements grew, the railroad approached, and the government sought more control over the valuable timber and mineral wealth of the land. After Confederation, during a bitter conflict between Ontario and Manitoba concerning their respective provincial borders, Dawson, as a Member of Parliament, worked with the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, Alexander Morris, and Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Provencher, to settle a new treaty with the Lake of the Woods area natives.

On October 3, 1873, after much negotiation between the parties and among the various native bands represented, Treaty #3 was signed between Her Majesty the Queen, represented by government officials, and the Grand Council Ojibway Chiefs, representing all of the native people in the designated area. The Chiefs spoke for the 2,500 men, women and children living in the country from the watershed of Lake Superior to the North West Angle of Lake of the Woods, and from the American border to the land heights where streams flow towards Hudson’s Bay.

Treaty Details: The treaty stated that the natives “do hereby cede, release, surrender and yield up to the Government of the Dominion of Canada for Her Majesty the Queen and Her successors forever, all their rights, titles and privileges whatsoever, to the lands…”. In return, they were promised hunting and fishing rights across the territory, and reserves for settlement and agriculture, specifically allowing them to remain in their traditional areas.
Also, the Treaty allowed for:

- 4 suits of clothes and flags for the Chiefs;
- $6,000;
- $12 for each family not exceeding five members (in goods, provisions and money);
- $5 per head per year;
- a present of $12 for each man, woman and child;
- maintenance of schools in the reserves;
- no liquor on reserves;
- ammunition and twine for nets ($1,500 value per year);
- to encourage farming, 2 hoes and 1 spade per family, 1 plough for every 10 families, 5 harrows for every 20 families;
- for each band, 1 axe, 1 hand saw, 1 grind-stone, 1cross-cut saw, 1 auger, files, wheat, barley, potatoes and oats for cultivation, 1 yoke of oxen, 1 bull and 4 cows;
- each band’s Chief received a set of carpenter’s tools;
- native leadership payments, Chiefs received a $25 annual salary, and each subordinate officer (not more than 3 per band), earned $15 per year.

Reserves: 75 reserves were created totaling about 363,000 acres (tiny portions of the vast treaty area), to be used for farming or other activities, allowing one square mile for each family of five (a census was promised within a reasonable time.) Upon signing the treaty, the Anishinaabe appreciated their freedom to hunt and fish, to maintain riverfront and lakeshore villages on prime agricultural land, and to continue to engage in trade, expecting to benefit from mining, timber-harvesting and fishing. The reserve lands could be appropriated by the government under unspecified circumstances, but only with the consent of the natives.

Consequences of Nationality: In the last 30 years, some native claims have been made and settled that resolve land use, ownership and other rights in the treaty. Native communities still struggle, persevere and succeed. They had much to repair.

For 100 years following the 1873 signing of Treaty #3, through a series of government acts and the imposition of an industrialized and commercialized society, the Anishinaabe of Lake of the Woods lost control of their land and their culture. For example, in 1884, laws were passed that banned any native gathering where gifts or money were exchanged. (This ban was lifted in a 1951 Indian Act amendment.)

As a result of the Ontario/Manitoba border dispute, when Ontario took over the Lake of the Woods jurisdiction at the end of the 19th century, the province negotiated with the federal government for control over reserved lands. Over the years, land was appropriated (generally the valuable timber, mineral and shoreline areas) and entire villages moved, without the requisite native consent. The economic gain to the province of Ontario was great, but the financial, emotional, cultural and societal loss to the Ojibway people was devastating.

In the early 1900’s, many Lake of the Woods Ojibway people were farmers, preserving their fishing and hunting heritage. However, their children were taken by law to Residential Schools, live-in religious and academic training centres located many miles from their homes. They were not allowed to speak their language at the schools. Over the decades of this school administration, it has been reported that many children were assaulted by staff.

Rights Asserted: Native rights and land claims have dominated aboriginal activities in recent years, part of the on-going struggle for human rights that has been moderately successful since the 1960’s. The Anishinaabe of Lake of the Woods won a shoreline land claim settlement in the 1990’s, reasserting control over their lands that were relinquished by Canada to Ontario in 1931. The Ontario government established Lake of the Woods Provincial Park on this land in 1951. The Chiefs of Big Grassy and Onegaming presented a Claim to Shoreline in 1977 to Canada and Ontario. By 1998, though land claim negotiations continue, the Assabaska First Nations took control of that section of the park, renaming it Assabaska Ojibway Heritage Park.