Understanding the Halfbreed Adhesion to Treaty #3 – MNO

Historically, it was the policy of the Government of Canada (“Canada”) to not negotiate treaties with Métis communities, as it encountered them from Ontario westward in what was then known as the historic North-West. Instead, Canada attempted to settle Métis land-related claims through the Manitoba Act, 1870 or on an individual basis using Halfbreed scrip. However, in 1875, a distinctive group of ‘Halfbreeds’ who were known as the ‘Halfbreeds of Rainy River and Rainy Lake’ and are now part of the Northwestern Ontario Métis Community, became the only known exception to this federal policy approach to exclude Métis from treaties.

In September 1875, Surveyor General John S. Dennis arrived in present-day Fort Frances to meet with First Nations chiefs to settle reserve boundary issues. There, he was met by a delegation of “Half Breeds” seeking to join Treaty #3—as ‘Halfbreeds’ (i.e., a distinctive Métis community, not as ‘Indians’ or Ojibway). Two days later, on September 12, 1875, Nicolas Chatelaine, acting on behalf of the “Half-breeds of Rainy River and Rainy Lake,” signed an adhesion to Treaty #3 with Canada known as the Halfbreed Adhesion to Treaty #3. In 1874, Dennis had signed an adhesion to Treaty #3 with the Indians of Lac Seul, evidencing that he clearly knew the Halfbreed collective at Rainy Lake and River were not ‘Indians’.

Read More: https://www.metisnation.org/news/understanding-the-halfbreed-adhesion-to-treaty-3/