Treaties in Canada
Treaties are nation-to-nation agreements — but Canadian courts and governments have often interpreted them to favour settlement and extraction.
Treaties across Canada vary: numbered treaties on the prairies, Peace and Friendship treaties in the Maritimes, Douglas treaties in BC, and unceded territories where no treaty was signed.
The Marshall decision (1999) affirmed Mi'kmaw treaty rights to a moderate livelihood fishery. Treaty 8 guarantees hunting, fishing, and trapping rights — central to Site C and tar sands conflicts.
Governments frequently treat treaties as historical documents rather than living agreements. Indigenous leaders describe treaty rights as ongoing obligations, not one-time land surrenders.