14

Dominion of Canada; Province]
of Ontario, County of Ontario.
Lo Myr: {
Personally appeared before me William Plummer, of the city of Toronto, in th
said Provinee, Visiting Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and Joseph Benson Nanin-
veshkung, of the Township of Rama, in the County and Province aforesaid, the
Chief of the Rama Band of Indians, who being duly sworn, severally depose and say,
ist. The Said William Plummer for himself saith that the annexed Release or
Surrender was assented to by the said Joseph Benson Naningeshkung, he being the
only Chief of the said Tribe or body of Indians, assembled at a meeting or council
of the Tribe summoned for that purpose. ; F
ond. That the meeting or council was held in his presence ; and he heard such
assent given. .
3rd. That he was duly authorized to attend such council by the Minister of the
Interior.
And the said Joseph Benson Naningeshkung for himself saith :
ist. That he is a Chief and the only Chief of the Rama Band of Indians, and was
entitled to vote at the Council or meeting above mentioned.
ond. That the annexed release or surrender has been assented to by him.
ord. That such assent was given at a meeting or council summoned for that
purpose, at which he was present, and also the other deponent, William Plummer.

WILLIAM PLUMMER.
J. B. NANEGESHKUNG.

Sworn before me by the said deponents,
William Plummer and Joseph Benson
Naningeshkung, this 27th day of Au-
gust, 1873. J ;
J. N. S. Rost. Gowan,
Senior Judge, Ca. Simcoe.

Recorded 1st October, 1875.
Liber S, Folio 284.

L. A. CATELLIER,
Deputy Registrar-General of Canada.

No. 148.

To His Excellency Lieutenant-General Sir John Colborne, G.O.B., G.C.H., Governor
General, &c., &c., &c.
Zeport of a Committee of the Executive Council. Present : the Honorable Mr.
Stewart in the Chair; Mr. Cochran, Mr. Sheppard and Mr. Daly; on Your Excel-
leney’s reference of the Petition from Mr. McNab and Mr. C. D. Morson relative to

Kettle Island, leased by them from the Indians.

Approved,
J. COLBORNE.

May ir PLEASE Your EXCELLENCY:

The Committee, having taken into consideration the petition of Mr. McNab and
Mr. C. D. Morson, they are humbly of opinion that the lease for Ninety-nine years of
Kettle Island, granted in the yar 1818 by certain Indian Chiefs to one Eleazar
Gillson, and latterly acquired by the petitioners, is null and void, inasmuch as the
Indians have no right to grant Leases or dispose of the Lands situated within their
encient hunting grounds.

In support of the claim of the petitioners they state that Lord Dalhousie, then

Governor-in-Chief, in declaring that “the Indian leases are good for nothing” had

en Py coe gl a=

‘15

added that Mr. Gillson will not be disturbed in his hold of them; but the Committee
‘do not think that this promise can be construed to permit Mr. Gillson to dispose of
a lease which was stated to be good for nothing.

The Committee would, nevertheless, under the circumstances of the case, recom-
mend the petitioners to the favourable consideration of Your Excellency, and that
some compensation may be made to them from the rent which may hereafter be
received for Kettle Island, or from such other funds arising from Indian leases on
the Ottawa as may be at the disposal of Your Excellency.

The Committee, however, are likewise of opinion that the leases lately given of
this island by an Officer of the Indian Department to certain occupants is equally
irregular and invalid, and that the island should be considered and treated as a part
of the waste lands of the Crown, and all intruders ousted who have not a title from
the Crown.

In considering the foregoing petition, together with the reports thereon of the
Indian Department, the Committee have been led to have reference to an approval
Report of Council, dated 13th June, 1837, which enters at great length into the
management, affairs and territorial claims of the Indian tribes resident in Lower
Canada, and from which the following extract is submitted for Your Excellency’s
information :-—

“The Iroquois, Algonquins and the Nipissingues, collected under the spiritual
care of the priests of the Seminary of Montreal at the Lake of the Two Mountains,
and forming altogether a population of 864 souls, have no land in their actual posses-
- gion, except about 260 acres of sterile soil, which they occupy by permission of the
Seminary, the possessors of the seigniory.

“The circumstances of these tribes appear to the Committee to demand the
peculiar attention of Government, having done good service in the field in aid of
His Majesty’s arms, both during the former and the late war with the United States;
they are now among the most helpless and destitute of the Indians of Lower Canada.
They have laid before Your Excellency a claim to be maintained in the enjoyment
of the residue of their hunting grounds on the Ottawa River, not as yet comprised
in settlements and townships, and to be compensated for that part which has been
taken from them for those purposes by the Crown.

“The claim of these Indians (the Iroquois, Algonquins and Nipissingues of the
Lake of the Two Mountains) comprises a tract of country on each side of the Ottawa
River, reaching from the seigniorial grant for some hundred of miles upwards; and
they ask that besides compensation for that portion of this territory which the Crown
has granted away or the white population has occupied they may be protected in
ihe enjoyment of the remainder against further encroachment or grant.

“There appears no reason to doubt that under the French Government, the
hunting grounds of these nations may have covered the whole extent which they
row describe, and that their right so to use it was as little disputed and as well
Gefined as any of the territorial rights of the other Indian tribes. These petitioners
now appeal to the terms of the Royal Proclamation of 1763, and it appears to the
committee that as that Act of State has been considered sufficient to guarantee to
the Iroquois of St. Regis the possession of their present reservation, to which it 1s
stated that they had no other right than as part of their ancient hunting ground,
the Algonquins and Nipissingue tribes may have some grounds to complain if they
ore deprived of the benefit of the same protection for their claims. They have
brought forward their pretensions on various oceasions, and it is to be inferred from
some of the documents which they produce in support of their application that their
right to compensation was at least in one instance distinctly admitted by Lord
Dorchester.

“The Committee, however, conceive that the claims of these, and indeed of all the
Indian tribes, in respect of their former territorial possessions, are at the present day
4q be resolved into an equitable right to be compensated for the loss of the lands
16

from which in former times they derived their subsistence, and which may have been
taken by Government for purposes of settlement, and that the measure of such com: —
pensation should be to place and maintain them in a condition of at least equal
advantage with that which they would have enjoyed in their former state. Viewing
in this manner the claim now made by the tribes in question, the Committee re-
commend that a sufficient tract of land should be set part in the rear of the present
range of townships on the Ottawa River, and that such of them as may from time
t> time be disposed to settle on land should be located there, and that both they and
the rest of these tribes should continue to receive such support, encouragement and
assistanee as may supply the place of their former means of subsistence, and at the
same time prepare and lead them to a state of independence of further aid.
“The Committee assumes that the Indians must continue to be as they have
hitherto been; for whether under French or English dominion, they have been taught
exclusively to look for paternal protection in compensation for the Rights and
Independence which they have lost. Until circumstances render it expedient that
they should be turned over to the Provincial Legislature and receive legislative
provision and care, the Committee conceive that all arrangements with respect to
them must be made under the immediate directions of Her Majesty’s Government,
and carried into effect under the supervision of officers appointed by it.”
As the recommendations of this report tended not only to exclude the Indians
from any participation in the management of their affairs, but negatived their right
of property at the present day in the lands which they once held as hunting grounds,
the Committee respectfully suggest that the officers of the Indian Department be
instructed to act in accordance with the tenor of the aforesaid report, it appearing
to have been overlooked in recent orders given by Colonel Hughes, for leasing the
islands in the Ottawa River, and of which the secretary, Colonel Napier, had no
knowledge.
All of which is respectfully submitted to Your Excellency’s wisdom.
By order,

J. STEWART,

ri Chairman.
Counci, CHAMBERS, 17th June, 1839.

No. 149 A.

ARTICLES OF A TREATY made and concluded at Beren’s River the 20th day of Sep-
tember, and at Norway House the 24th day of September, in the year of Our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, between “ Her Most Gracious
Majesty the Queen” of Great Britain and Ireland, by Her Commissioners the
Honourable Alexander Morris, Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Mani-
toba and the North-west Territories, and the Honourable James McKay, of the
one part, and the Saulteaux and Swampy Cree tribes of Indians, inhabitants of
the country within the limits hereinafter defined and described,.by their Chiefs,

chosen and named as hereinafter mentioned, of the other part.

Wuereas, the Indians inhabiting the said country have, pursuant to an appoint-
ment made < the said Commissioners, been convened at meetings at Beren’s River
end Norway House to deliberate upon certain matters of interest to Her Most
Gracious Majesty, of the one part, and the said Indians of the other.

Anp Wuereas the said Indians have been notified and informed by Her Majesty’s
seid Commissioners that it is the desire of Her Majesty to open up for settlement,
immigration and such other purposes as to Her Majesty may seem meet, a tract of
country bounded and described as hereinafter mentioned, and to obtain the consent
thereto of Her Indian subjects inhabiting the said tract, and to make a treaty and
arrange with them, so that there may be peace and good will between them and Her

Majesty, and that they may know and be assured of what allowance they are to ——
count upon and receive from Her Majesty’ s bounty and benevolence.