Ministry of
Government and Consumer Services
Ministry of
Government and Consumer Services
Ontario Government Record Series RG 1-653
7 pages of textual records (unbound vellum)
1 volume of textual records
The series consists of RG 1-653-1, the original vellum copy of the Treaty used in the 1905-1906 signing ceremonies, and RG 1-653-2, the paper adhesion used in the 1929-1930 signing events.
The opening of the wilderness north of the Arctic watershed by the railroads in the 1880's allowed for the influx of forces that had negative effect on the lifestyles of the local Cree and Ojibwa nations. Unlicensed alcohol sales; over-trapping; the closure of unprofitable Hudson's Bay Company posts; and waves of rubella, influenza, and pneumonia resulted in widespread hunger and skyrocketing Indigenous mortality rates. At the same time, a series of judgments by the Judicial Committee of the Imperial Privy Council, England's highest court, awarded custody of the land westward to the Lake of the Woods and north to James Bay and the Albany River to Ontario. Pressure from the province and the Indigenous population on the Federal Government to formalize the administration over the territory resulted in the issuing of a federal Order-in-Council ordering the creation of a “James Bay Treaty”, the ninth of the “Numbered Treaties”.
On 29 June 1905, federal commissioners, Duncan Campbell Scott and Samuel Stewart of the Indian Affairs Department, provincial commissioner, Perth Lawyer Daniel McMartin, North Bay physician Dr. A.G. Meindl, and Dominion Police Constables James Parkinson and J.L. Vanasse left from the Canadian Pacific Railroad station at Dinorwic in today's northwestern Ontario. The group, with their guides and canoes travelled the length of the Albany River to James Bay, crossed to the mouth of the Abitibi River, and, paddling south, returned to Ottawa by train from Haileybury. Between July 11th and August 9th, the group held signing and gift-giving ceremonies at Osnaburgh, Fort Hope, Marten Falls, Fort Albany, Moose Factory, and New Post.
Returning during the summer of 1906, the group criss-crossed the interior lands in question, holding further signing ceremonies at Matachewan, Mattagami, Flying Post, New Brunswick House, and Long Lake. At each location, the newly elected spokesmen signed using their name, mark, or clan totem animal.
The area north of the Albany River, informally known as the Patricia Portion, was transferred to Ontario on 15 May 1912 under the Ontario Boundaries Extension Act. Becoming part of Kenora District in 1927, this necessitated the approval of the northern Nations through an “adhesion” to the original Treaty. Herbert Nathaniel Awrey of the Department of Indian Affairs, and Walter Charles Cain, Ontario's Deputy Minister of Lands and Forests, toured the region by plane with signing ceremonies at Big Trout Lake in 1929, and Wendigo River at Nikip Lake, Trout Lake, Fort Severn, and Winisk in 1930.
Click on the link(s) below for more information.
Ontario. Premier Ontario. Dept. of Crown Lands Ontario. Office of the Commissioner of Crown Lands Ontario. Dept. of Lands and Mines Ontario. Dept. of Lands and Mines. Office of the Minister Ontario. Dept. of Lands, Forests and Mines Ontario. Dept. of Lands, Forests and Mines. Office of the Minister Ontario. Dept. of Lands and Forests Ontario. Dept. of Lands and Forests. Office of the MinisterFor associated records, please consult Record Group 10 (Department of Indian Affairs) at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, Ontario.
For related records, please consult the following:
C 275 (Duncan Campbell Scott fonds), especially his Series 2 material which contains photographs of the James Bay Indian Treaty Tours of 1905 and 1906.
Additional documentation will be found in RG 1-273-5 (Crown land survey correspondence and reports relating to Indian reserves and land claims) concerning the allocation of land for Indian reserves in northern Ontario and the Ontario government's position in these negotiations.
No further accruals are anticipated.
RG 1-653-1, the 1905-1906 portion of the Treaty, was originally listed as F 775, (1905) Item 13.
RG 1-653-2, the 1929-1930 portion of the Treaty was originally listed as F 1419 (MU 8561).
These records were created by the following Ontario government agency or agencies. Click on the agency reference code for information about this agency and other records it created.
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1905 : |
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Department of Crown Lands (AA49) |
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Office of the Commissioner of Crown Lands (CA44) |
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1905-1906 : |
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Department of Lands and Mines (AA50) |
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Office of the Minister (CA277) |
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1906-1920 : |
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Department of Lands, Forests and Mines (AA51) |
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Office of the Minister (CA278) |
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1920-1930 : |
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Department of Lands and Forests (AA52) |
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Office of the Minister (CA279) |
As the original documents are closed for conservation purposes, the digitized copies of these records must be consulted. Please use the scanned images on the Archives' website in the online exhibit "The James Bay Treaty Turns 100".
A life-sized photographic copy of the 1905-1906 portion of the Treaty has been created. To examine it, order using the reference code RG 1-653-0-1 and folder barcode F009697.
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