That would put a serious dent in the number of status cards today.
Yes but no at the same time.
I keep hearing people say "read the treaties, read the treaties" but there is far more to be learned by reading the history of the treaties and how the Natives ASKED for the treaties and were never forced after seeing what happened in the US.
The leaders that signed the treaties weren't stupid men dazzled by shiny buttons and steel arrowheads like so many would like us to believe. They had guidance from very well educated Cree, Saulteaux, Metis and the Jesuits from the East.
The main intent of the treaties was to ensure a steady food supply through agriculture, raising animals, lteracy, education in the trades, access to the medicine chest and most importantly safety from being annihilated like in the US through peaceful means.
They knew settlement was coming and saw new opportunity as the fur economy was being depleted after 400 years of harvesting animals as the main source of income.
The Native leaders were asking for a hand up and not handouts unlike the station wagon burners of today.
For the signatories sovereignty meant not being all lumped together but each tribe being able to handle their own affairs as their own tribe.
There was and still is animosity between different tribes today. Sovereignty was never about little nations within the nation of Canada it was about sovereign tribes being able to negotiate what was best for their themselves as tribes.
