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For more than a century, the vast lands of Northern Ontario have been shared among the governments of Canada, Ontario, and the First Nations who signed Treaty No. 9 in 1905. For just as long, details about the signing of the constitutionally recognized agreement have been known only through the accounts of two of the commissioners appointed by the Government of Canada. Treaty No. 9 provides a truer perspective on the treaty by adding the neglected account of a third commissioner and tracing the treaty's origins, negotiation, explanation, interpretation, signing, implementation, and recent commemoration.
Restoring nearly forgotten perspectives to the historical record, John Long considers the methods used by the government of Canada to explain Treaty No. 9 to Northern Ontario First Nations. He shows that many crucial details about the treaty's contents were omitted in the transmission of writing to speech, while other promises were made orally but not included in the written treaty. Reproducing the three treaty commissioners' personal journals in their entirety, Long reveals the contradictions that suggest the treaty parchment was never fully explained to the First Nations who signed it.
A masterful historical work, Treaty No. 9 sets the record straight while illuminating the machinations and deceit behind treaty-making.
"This is a definitive work that makes a groundbreaking contribution to our understanding of Canadian Aboriginal Treaties, and sheds enormous light on the circumstances of the Indigenous communities presently living in northern Ontario. John Long's understanding of both Western-based knowledge and Indigenous Knowledge, as well as the written and the oral traditions have enabled him to write a piece that will forever change our understanding of Treaty No. 9. This book is a labour of love which succeeds brilliantly." David T. McNab, Professor of Native Studies, York University