The numbered treaties are a series of eleven treaties signed between First Nations in Canada and the reigning Monarch of Canada (Victoria, Edward VII or George V) from 1871 to 1921. It was the Government of Canada who created the policy, commissioned the Treaty Commissioners and ratified the agreements. These Treaties are agreements with the Government of Canada.
Administration of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory was transferred to the Canadian government in 1869. Out of these lands, Canada created the Northwest Territories. Canadian law recognized that the First Nations who inhabited these lands prior to European contact had title to these lands. The settlement of the Northwest Territories would not be possible, if title to the land remained with the First Nations. Therefore, it was vital to the National Dream to obtain title to the lands from First Nations.
In order to obtain title to most of the lands, the Canadian government proceeded with this series of treaties. Each treaty delinates a tract of land which was thought to be the traditional territory of the First Nation or Nations signing that particular treaty (the "tract surrendered"). In exchange for a surrender of their rights and title to these lands, the First Nations were promised a smaller parcel of land as a reserve, annual annuity payments, implements to either farm or hunt and fish and the right to continue to hunt and trap or hunt, trap and fish on the tract surrendered.
The plan of settling Europeans in the Canadian west was not free of conflict. Two armed rebellions resulted from this policy: The Red River Rebellion of 1869 and the North West Rebellion of 1885.
