Douglas Treaties

The Douglas Treaties, also known as the Vancouver Island Treaties or the Fort Victoria Treaties, were a series of treaties signed between certain indigenous groups on Vancouver Island and the Colony of Vancouver Island.

Background

With the signing of the Oregon Treaty in 1846, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) determined that its trapping rights in the Oregon Territory were tenuous. Thus in 1849, it moved its western headquarters from Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River (present day Vancouver, Washington) to Fort Victoria. Fort Vancouver's Chief Factor, James Douglas, was relocated to the young trading post to oversee the Company's operations west of the Rockies.

This development prompted the British colonial office to designate the territory a crown colony on January 13, 1849. The new colony, Colony of Vancouver Island, was immediately leased to the HBC for a ten-year period, and Douglas was charged with encouraging British settlement. Richard Blanshard was named the colony's governor. Blanshard discovered that the hold of the HBC over the affairs of the new colony was all but absolute, and that it was Douglas who held all practical authority in the territory. There was no civil service, no police, no militia, and virtually every British colonist was an employee of the HBC.

Treaties

As the colony expanded the HBC started buying up lands for colonial settlement and industry from Aboriginal peoples on Vancouver Island.^[1] For four years the governor, James Douglas, made a series of fourteen land purchases from Aboriginal peoples.

To negotiate the terms, Douglas met first in April 1850 with leaders of the Songhees nation, and made verbal agreements. Each leader made an X at the bottom of a blank ledger.^[2] The actual terms of the treaty were only incorporated in August, and modelled on the New Zealand Company's deeds of purchase for Maori land, used after the signing of Treaty of Waitangi.^[3]

The Douglas Treaties cover approximately 930 square kilometres (360 sq mi) of land around Victoria, Saanich, Sooke, Nanaimo and Port Hardy, all on Vancouver Island that were exchanged for cash, clothing and blankets. They were able to retain existing village lands and fields for their use, and also were allowed to hunt and fish on the surrendered lands.^[4]

These fourteen land purchases became the fourteen Treaties that make up the Douglas Treaties. Douglas didn't continue buying land due to lack of money and the slow growth of the Vancouver Island colony.^[1] Along with Treaty 8, the Douglas Treaties were the last treaties signed between the crown and the First Nations in British Columbia until Nisga'a Final Agreement.

Context

The Treaties were signed during a period of severe cultural destruction in which the Songhees had experienced precipitous population decline, due to the arrival of foreign diseases. The Treaties remain highly controversial given that it is unclear whether the Aboriginal leaders knew exactly what they were signing over, and given that the HBC took advantage of the recent cultural destruction by offering fairly inconsequential in exchange for large and highly valuable land purchases.

Treaty Members

References

Further reading

• British Columbia Indian Treaties In Historical Perspective, Dennis F. K. Madill, Research Branch, Corporate Policy, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 1981

External links

• Treaty Texts - Douglas Treaties
• Map of Vancouver Island Treaties, Hulquminum Treaty Group website

Canadian Aboriginal law
Politics, law and legislation	Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada The Canadian Crown and Aboriginal peoples Canadian Indian residential school system High Arctic relocation Fred Quilt inquiry Ipperwash Crisis
Aboriginal law	Royal Proclamation of 1763 Constitution Act, 1867 Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 Douglas Treaties 1969 White Paper Kelowna Accord Numbered Treaties Indian Act Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples First Nations treaties in British Columbia Indian Health Transfer Policy
Case law	Attorney General of Canada v. Lavell R. v. Badger Calder v. British Columbia Chippewas of Sarnia Band v. Canada Corbiere v. Canada Daniels v. Canada Delgamuukw v. British Columbia Native Women's Association of Canada v. Canada Kruger and al. v. The Queen R. v. Marshall; R. v. Bernard R. v. Marshall Mitchell v. M.N.R. Paul v. British Columbia Paulette Caveat Powley ruling R. v. Drybones R. v. Gladstone R. v. Gonzales R. v. Guerin R. v. Jim R. v. Pamajewon R. v. Sparrow Re Eskimos St. Catharines Milling and Lumber Co. v. R. R. v. Van der Peet Tsilhqot'in Nation v. British Columbia Daniels v. Canada
International rights & laws	Definitions and identity of indigenous peoples Declaration of Indigenous Peoples Rights United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Indigenous intellectual property
See also Index of Aboriginal Canadian-related articles