Treaty 7 celebrated as vital link between peoples

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Fort Whoop-Up, in this southern Alberta city, is a fitting place to commemorate the signing of Treaty 7. The trading post was a vital link between the First Nations people of the Blackfoot Confederacy and the European settlers. Indeed, the fort symbolizes the changes in Native ways and one of the reasons the treaty was signed.

Treaty 7, its interpretation and its implications, were discussed by a panel of First Nations people at Fort Whoop Up on Sept. 22. The occasion marked the 124th year since the signing of the treaty between the Blackfoot Confederacy, comprised of the Peigan, Blood and Siksika Nations in Canada as well as the Blackfeet in Montana, and the Canadian government.

In Treaty 7, explained Narcisse Blood, a former councillor from the Blood First Nation, the Blackfoot Confederacy agreed to the peaceful settling of the west in exchange for medical care, education and othe rights.

"We've lived up to our end," he said, "we let settlement take place. The government has not lived up to its end. We have a substandard health situation and living conditions."

Treaty 7 was not based on integrity, said Betty Bastien, a social work professor at the University of Calgary and a member of the Peigan Nation, but on economic domination. The Canadian government signed the treaty because they wanted to see the railroad continue west and wanted to take in the land base, she said.

First Nations people signed the treaty because they perceived a threat (the demise of the buffalo meant a certain end to their way of life) and they felt the treaty could improve their quality of life.

"Today, I don't think both of those objects were met," she said. "We are the most oppressed group, the most impoverished."

"The Blackfoot have not received just or fair compensation for the loss of our lands and resources," agreed James Oka, a lawyer and a member of the Blood Nation. "Education and health care mean a lot more today than a school house and a medicine chest."

But that's not to say Treaty 7 is not valuable.

In 1982, the treaty rights of Aboriginal people were entrenched in the Constitution.

"Treaty 7 is a testament to our people's means to survive. Our treaties mean our survival," said Oka. "It recognizes and affirms our rights."

And recognizing the signing of the treaty is also important.

"A day like this is good to reflect where we are," said Bastien. "First Nations people have made great strides in two decades in renewing their responsibilities and their cultural identities."

Bastien holds that for First Nations people to move ahead economically, they must first move ahead culturally.

"Our problems are about our place in society and who we are in that place," she said. "We need to go back to our roots. Revitalizing, reconstructing, recreating."

"We are now at a crossroads," said Oka. "The decisions we make today will determine whether our traditional ways, our language, our culture will survive."