Has there ever been a treaty with indigenous people that the government has not violated?
There are actually some Cliffy. Off the top of my head, I can't say how many, or which ones, but some have been honoured explicitly.
The article that came up in the first link brought up another question that has bugged me. Many, if not most, indigenous nations were matriarchal but the Europeans could not accept that concept and refused to negotiate with women. I find it hard to think that the women would hand over their authority to men in negotiations concerning land in their trust. To me it seems that all treaties are null and void because the men had no right to sign away the legacy of the nation, at least for those people who were matriarchal. This would be an interesting case for international law, although Canada ignores international law, especially when the courts rules that they are in violation of human rights concerning our indigenous peoples.
Cliffy, it's an old story between a chief and a gov't official...
An old Indian Chief sat in his hut on the reservation, smoking a Ceremonial pipe and eyeing two U.S. Government officials sent to interview him.
"Chief Two Eagles" asked one Official, "You have observed the white man for 90 years. You've seen his wars and his technological advances.You've seen his progress, and the damage he's done."
The Chief nodded in agreement.
The Official continued, "Considering all these events, in your opinion,where did the white man go wrong?"
The Chief stared at the Government Officials for over a minute and then calmly replied, "When white man found the land, Indians were running it."
"No taxes."
"No debt."
"Plenty buffalo."
"Plenty beaver."
"Women did all the work."
"Medicine man free."
"Indian man spent all day hunting and fishing."
"All night having sex."
Then the Chief leaned back and smiled, "Only white man dumb enough to think he could improve system like that."