Treaty 6

Treaty 6 is an agreement between the Canadian monarch and the Plains and Woods Cree, Assiniboine, and other band governments of First Nations at Fort Carlton, Fort Pitt and Battle River. The area agreed upon by the Plains and Woods Cree represents most of the central area of the current provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. One Manitoba band also signed on to the treaty by adhesion in 1898. The treaty signings began in August 1876, with adhesions added in 1898 in central Saskatchewan in the Montreal Lake area.

At this time, the buffalo were disappearing at an alarming rate, because they were being systematically slaughtered by European settlers for their fur and meat. The chiefs realized that if they did not sign a treaty with the crown they might starve. A second major reason for the signing of the treaty was that smallpox had recently been introduced by settlers and spread through the area, killing many of the Cree who had no immunity to this new disease.

According to the European version of history and terms of Treaty Making, the First Nations people gave up their customary title to the land under common law in exchange for provisions from the government. The First Nations understanding is radically different from the British version; due to the nature of oral histories, translations (for example there is no concept of "land ownership" or "cede", which follows from the concept of land ownership, in the Cree language), and British customs, there continues to be a controversy as to the exact terms as they were understood at the time of the Treaty signings.

The Plain and Wood Cree Tribes of Indians, and all other the Indians inhabiting the district hereinafter described and defined, do hereby cede, release, surrender and yield up to the Government of the Dominion of Canada, for Her Majesty the Queen and Her successors forever, all their rights, titles and privileges, whatsoever, to the lands included within the following limits...

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