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History

Contact with Other Aboriginal Groups and Europeans (continued)

Many Aboriginal groups signed such treaties during the 1870s. They were promised hunting and fishing rights, land, money, and farm equipment. In return, they gave up their claim to large parcels of land. Some Aboriginal leaders soon realized that their people were being treated unfairly and cheated out of land that should have been theirs. Despite this, they had little choice but to sign the treaties. The Plains Cree did not sign. Their leaders, Poundmaker and Big Bear, united them, hoping to force Canada to give them a better deal. They continued to follow the buffalo. Within a few years, the huge herds had disappeared. As many as 50 million buffalo had once roamed the prairies and woodlands of North America, but now they were almost gone. The Cree had lost their main source of food, they had no reserve and their rations of beef, flour and tea were being cut by the government. A people who had once been rich were now starving.

In this desperate condition, Big Bear reluctantly signed Treaty 6 in 1882. The Plains Cree were now expected to change from being buffalo hunters and traders to farmers on a reserve.