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have you read all about treaty 9

At Fort Hope - as, indeed, at all the other stops on their tour - the commissioners followed the same procedures as at Osnaburgh. The treaty was interpreted to the Indian representatives, following which the document was signed and the Indians were paid their gratuity. In conjunction with the feast, there were elections for chief and councillors, and the new chief was presented with the flag. The final item of business was selection of a reserve. [Note 125] One important difference from Osnaburgh, however, was that the Fort Hope people wanted much fuller explanations of the treaty terms - which would be consistent with the statement we noted earlier from the trader Jabez Williams that these people were less anxious for treaty than surrounding groups. It took the commissioners quite some time to convince them that there was not something behind the provisions of the agreement, for as Moonias, one of the principal men of the band argued, "they were not giving up very much for what they were to receive, and it had never been his experience to receive something for nothing." Father F.X. Fafard of the Roman Catholic Mission at Albany, a man fluent in both Cree and Ojibwa languages, helped the commissioners greatly by explaining to the Indian people the government's reasons "for asking them to surrender their title to their unused lands." [Note 126] At this point, an individual names Yesno (so called because his knowledge of English consisted only of the words "yes" and "no") made "an excited speech, in which he told the Indians that they were to receive cattle and implements, seed-grain and tools":

Yesno had evidently travelled, and had gathered an erroneous and exaggerated idea of what the government was doing for Indians in other parts of the country, but, as the undersigned wished to guard carefully against any misconception or against making any promises that were not written in the treaty itself, it was explained that none of these issues were to be made, as the band could not hope to depend upon agriculture as a means of subsistence; that hunting and fishing, in which occupations they were not to be interfered with, should for very many years prove lucrative sources of revenue. The Indians were informed that by signing the treaty they pledged themselves not to interfere with white men who might come into the country surveying, prospecting, hunting, or in other occupations; that they must respect the laws of the land in every particular, and that their reserves were set apart for them in order that they might have a tract in which they could not be molested, and where no white man would have any claims without the consent of their tribe and of the government. [Note 127]

At Marten's Falls, rather an unimportant HBC post which the treaty party reached on July 25, the Indian people were again suspicious of the government's motives, as it "seemed to them that an offer was being made to give them something for which they were not expected to make any return." But again the commissioners' explanations set such fears at rest "and the money paid to them was accepted with gratitude." At the feast, during which the flag was presented, the new chief, William Whitehead, made a "very sensible speech thanking the King and the government for the benefits conferred on his people." [Note 128]

The first three stops on the treaty tour certainly convey the flavour of the discussions the commissioners were to have with all the Indian people they met during their two summers in the north, although the further they travelled down river the more warmly the message Duncan Scott said they were trying to convey - one of governmental paternalism - seems to have been received. At Fort Albany on August 6, the commissioners were presented with an address in Cree syllabic expressing the people's pleasure at being brought into treaty:

From our hearts we thank thee, O Great Chief, as thou hast pitied us and given us temporal help. We are very poor and weak. He [the Great Chief] has taken us over, here in our own country, through you [his servants]... [Note 129]

At Moose Factory three days later, the Indian spokesman said they had all been looking forward to treaty for a long time and thanked the government men for promising law and order, schools and money, which would greatly help the poor and needy among them. [Note 130] The people of New Post on the Abitibi River, with whom the commissioners met on August 21, again expressed the prevailing concern about the effect the treaty might have on their hunting and fishing rights, but when "assured that these would not be taken from them they expressed much pleasure and their willingness to sign treaty." [Note 131]

The treaty party was showered with the same expressions of gratitude the following summer

http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100028859#ft128b