History

History

This was the second treaty made since the formation of the modern Canadian government in 1867, and one year after the province Manitoba joined the Canadian Confederation. Manitoba was not a province located in Treaty 2 at the time the treaty was made. The Manitoba Act was amended in 1872 to accommodate Treaty 1.

The purpose of Treaty 2 21 August 1871 “….to open up to settlement and immigration a tract of country bounded and described hereinafter mentioned, and to obtain the consent thereto of her Indian subjects inhabiting the said tract, and to make treaty and arrangements with them, so that there be peace and good will…”

It was also known as the “Manitoba Post Treaty,” named after the fur trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company where the treaty was signed. Manitoba Post was located on the northwest shore of Lake Manitoba. The terms of this treaty were similar to that of Treaty 1.

Treaty 1 and Treaty 2 were amended by an Order in Council on 30 April 1875, to add provisions which were originally promised verbally by the government. Similar “outside promises” were included in the text of 1873’s Treaty 3, adding further pressure on the government to include such provisions in the earlier treaties.
Treaty 2 itself notes that there were several communities who were not represented at Manitoba House, and in the Treaty, it provides that Mekis, a son of Okanese, would represent those communities in the Treaty 2 process.

  • 38 2nd. Ave. NE, Dauphin, MB R7N 2V4
  • (204) 638-3797
  • office@fnt2t.com
Government of Anishinaabe Nation in Treaty 2 Territory- All rights reserved.