The First Numbered Treaties 1871-1875

The purpose of these treaties was to secure land from the Aboriginals for European settlement and agricultural and industrial development. In the wording of these treaty documents, the Aboriginals were to give up their rights to the land "forever."

Typically, the government would provide farm supplies and new clothes to help transform Aboriginal society from what Europeans viewed as a simple hunting and gathering basis, into independent pioneer farmers like their European counterparts. Government saw this as a way to assimilate he First Nations and help them advance. Te government would start building roads, the railway, and other infrastructure in the west.

In return for giving up their land rights, the Aboriginals would receive:

• Reserve lands to live on.
• Cash, the amount of which differed between each treaty.
• An allowance for blankets and hunting/fishing tools.
• Farming assistance.
• Schools on reserve land, whenever desired by the Aboriginals.
• A census to keep track of how many Aboriginals there were in each band, mainly for financial compensation purposes.
• The right to hunt and fish on all ceded land not used for settlement, lumbering or mining.

In return, the Aboriginals had to promise they would keep the peace and maintain law and order.