Community copy of Treaty 3 believed to be last in existence on display at human rights museum

What is thought to be the final remaining community copy of a 150-year-old treaty that opened a gateway to what is now Western Canada is on temporary display at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg.

The 24 Anishinaabe chiefs who signed Treaty 3 in1873 were given copies of Manidoo Mazina'iganthe sacred treaty by the Crown.

Naotkamegwanning First Nation Chief Paabamasagaa's copy believed to be the last of its kind and which has since been cared for by his descendants, Ottawa and the Lake of the Woods Museum has been on display at the human rights museum since Monday.

Treaty 3 "was about allowing access to the land not selling the land, not giving up our birthrights," said Elder Sherry Copenace, a great-granddaughter of Chief Paabamasagaa. "We know that the land is our mother, so we wouldn't sell her."

Treaty 3 territorycovers an area of about 142,000 square kilometres, spanningnorthwestern Ontario and southeastern Manitoba. The treatyis also known as the Northwest Angle Treaty, since that is where it was signed on Oct. 3, 1873.

Copenace says thedisplay offers a chance to learn who the Anishinaabeg of Treaty 3 are "as a peoplethat we're not historical."

"We're alive and well, and we've kept our side of the treaties. We still have trust in the treaties and that it will be fulfilled at some point."

All Canadians should be familiar with the country's treaties with Indigenous people regardless of where they live, Copenacesays.

"Everyone has a role and responsibility in regards to fulfilling [Treaty 3]," she said, but "the wholeness of the treaty needs to be honoured by the Crown."

WATCH | Community copy of Treaty 3 believed to be last in existence on display at human rights museum:

Community copy of Treaty 3 exhibit on display at human rights museum

12 months ago

Duration 4:20

The 24 Anishinaabe chiefs who signed Treaty 3 in 1873 were given copies of Manidoo Mazina'igan the sacred treaty by the Crown. What is believed to be the final remaining community copy of that treaty was on temporary display at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg.

Rocky road to ratification

Treaty 3 negotiations took four years considerably longer than treaties 1 and 2, which were signed within weeks in 1871.

Though Treaty 3was meant to be the first of the numbered treaties, negotiations faced repeated delays due to severalfactors. Those includedopposition to some of the Crown's conditions such as land surrender as well as farm and settlement use.

Another version of the treaty also exists,known as the PaypomTreaty. That document contains written notes by Joseph Nolin, a Red River Mtis man hired by the Anishinaabeg to record the oral negotiations, and differs from the Crown's version of Treaty 3 primarily because it does not say that the Anishinaabeg had agreed to give up their lands.

The document thatwill be on display at the national museumuntil Sundayreflects the Crown's version of the text, but iswritten on vellum rather than parchment and differs slightly in format from the Crown's version.

Although the Paypom Treatyhas been long thought to be the more accurate version of Treaty 3 by the Anishinaabeg, it has been suggested that some negotiators seemed not to fully understand what they were agreeing to. A treaty commissioner documented that one chief said he did in fact recognize that he was signing over his "birthright and lands."

Of the24 chiefs who signed Treaty 3, only three marked the document with an "X" to confirm their assent toits terms. It has been said that "the remaining 21 just touched the pen, because they knew they weren't in full agreement, but they knew it was the best they could do," according to Copenace.

Even so, the negotiatorsofTreaty 3 had bargained for benefits thatfar outweighed what had been included in the first two, such ashunting and fishing rights, higher annuity payments and a four-fold increase in reserve land.

The treaty was crucial to Canadian Confederation, as the British needed a way to travel between what are now Thunder Bay and Winnipeg without entering the United States. It was also a benchmark for negotiations of the remaining numbered treaties and revisions of the first two.

'Proof that our ancestors did look to us'

Copenace says whenever she sees Manidoo Mazina'igan in person, she feels immense honour and pride that her great-grandparents held on to their copy.

"It's proof that our ancestors did look to us their descendants 150 years later. They wanted the best for us, and not only us, but for the people that were coming from across the seas to live with us," she said.

"They knew that in the future, people would come to look at it and see that even though the promises haven't been kept by the government, we still honour it as Anishinaabe people."

Matthew Cutler, vice-president of exhibitions at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, says the institution is honoured to share the documents and stories behind Treaty 3 with the public.

"As we listen to elders and Indigenous leadership and take in the powerful significance of the original documents on display it is clear that we all need to recommit to our treaty promises, to be accountable to the relationships that treaties were meant to build and sustain," he said in a statement to CBC News.

Manidoo Mazina'igan's Winnipeg display is the last stop for the exhibition. It was previouslyshown throughout Treaty 3 territory in honour of its 150th anniversary.

The travelling exhibition also marked the treaty's first showcase alongside its three adhesion agreements,including one which was signed with the"Halfbreeds of Rainy River and Lake."

In 2017, the Ontario government and the Mtis Nation of Ontarioannounced the identification of six historic Mtis communities throughout the province, including those who signed that adhesion.

However, Grand Council Treaty #3, which represents First Nations situated roughly between Thunder Bay, Ont., and the Manitoba border, says the federal governmentfailed to consultwith them before signing an agreement with the Mtis Nation of Ontario.

In March of this year, First Nations in northeastern Ontario asked a federal judge to cancel anMNO self-government agreement signed in February, alleging a lack of consultation and potential violations of their rights.