The Government then invited Lieut.-Gov. Morris, in conjunction with the Indian Commissioner, Lieut.-Col. Provencher, to visit the several bands interested in the treaties, with a view to submit to them the new terms, and obtain their acceptance of the proposed revision of the treaties. His Honor accordingly placed his services at the disposal of the Government, and was at his request accompanied by the Hon. Mr. McKay, who had been present at the making of the original treaties, and was well versed in the Indian tongues. In October 1875, these gentlemen entered upon the task confided to them, and first proceeded to meet the large and important band of St. Peters, in the Province of Manitoba. The matter was fully discussed with the Indians, the Order in Council,
and memorandum read and explained to them, and their written assent to the new terms obtained. After their return from St. Peters, owing to the advanced season of the year, it was decided to divide the work, the Lieutenant-Governor requesting the Indian Commissioner to proceed to Fort Alexander on Lake Winnipeg, and to the Broken Head and Roseau Rivers, while Messrs. Morris and McKay, would undertake to meet the Indians included in Treaty Number Two at Manitoba House on Lake Manitoba. Colonel Provencher met the Indians at the places above mentioned, and obtained the assent of the Indians of the three bands to the revised treaty. Messrs. Morris and McKay proceeded by carriage to Lake Manitoba, and thence in a sail boat, where they met the Indians of the six bands of Treaty Number Two, and after full discussion, the Indians cordially accepted the new terms, and thus was pleasantly and agreeably closed, with all the bands of Treaties One and Two, except that of the Portage band, who were not summoned to any of the conferences, a fruitful source of dissension and difficulty. The experience derived from this misunderstanding, proved however, of benefit with regard to all the treaties, subsequent to Treaties One and Two, as the greatest care was thereafter taken to have all promises fully set out in the treaties, and to have the treaties thoroughly and fully explained to the Indians, and understood by them to contain the whole agreement between them and the Crown. The arrangement, however, of the matter with the Portage band was one of more difficulty. This band had always been troublesome. In 1870, they had warned off settlers and Governor MacTavish of the Hudson's Bay Company had been obliged to send the Hon. James McKay to make terms for three years with them for the admission of settlers. In 1874, they twice sent messengers with tobacco (the usual Indian credentials for such messengers) to Qu'Appelle to prevent the making of the treaty there. Besides the claims to the outside promises, preferred by the other
Indians, they had an additional grievance, which they pressed with much pertinacity. To obtain their adhesion to Treaty Number One, the Commissioners had given them preferential terms in respect to their reserve, and the wording in the treaty of these terms enhanced the difficulty. The language used was as follows: "And for the use of the Indians of whom Oo-za-we-kwun is Chief, so much land on the south and east side of the Assiniboine, as will furnish one hundred and sixty acres for each family of five, or in that proportion for larger or smaller families, reserving also a further tract enclosing said reserve, to contain an equivalent to twenty-five square miles of equal breadth, to be laid out around the reserve." The enclosure around the homestead reserve led to extravagant demands by them. They did not understand its extent, and claimed nearly half of the Province of Manitoba under it.
The Indians constantly interviewed the Lieutenant-Governor on the subject, and when the Hon. Mr. Laird, then Minister of the Interior, visited Manitoba, they twice pressed their demands upon him. The Government requested the Hon. Messrs. Morris and McKay to endeavor to settle the long pending dispute, and they proceeded to the Round Plain on the river Assiniboine with that view. They met the Indians, some five hundred in number, but without result. The Indians were divided among themselves. A portion of the band had forsaken Chief Yellow Quill and wished the recognition of the Great Bear, grandson of Pee-qual-kee-quash, a former chief of the band. The Yellow Quill band wanted the reserve assigned in one locality; the adherents of the Bear said that place was unsuited for farming, and they wished it to be placed at the Round Plain, where they had already commenced a settlement. The land to which they were entitled under the treaty was 34,000 acres, but their demands were excessive.
The Chief Yellow Quill was apprehensive of his own followers, and besides the danger of collision between the two sections was imminent. The Commissioners finally intimated to the
band that they would do nothing with them that year, but would make the customary payment of the annuities under the original treaty and leave them till next year to make up their minds as to accepting the new terms, to which the Indians agreed.
In 1876, the Government again requested Mr. Morris to meet these Indians and endeavor to arrange the long pending dispute with them, and in July he travelled to the Long Plain on the Assiniboine with that object in view. He had previously summoned the band to meet there, and had also summoned a portion of the band known as the White Mud River Indians, dwelling on the shores of Lake Manitoba, who were nominally under the chieftainship of Yellow Quill, and were, as such, entitled to a portion of the original reserve, but did not recognize the Chief. Mr. Morris was accompanied by Mr. Graham, of the Indian Department, Secretary and Paymaster. On arrival at his destination, the Lieutenant-Governor found the Indians assembled, but in three camps. Those adhering to Yellow Quill, the Bear, and the White Mud River Indians, being located on different parts of the plains, Mr. Reid, Surveyor, was also present, to explain the extent and exact dimensions of the proposed reserve.
The next day the Indians were assembled, and the conference lasted for two days. The Yellow Quill band were still obstructive, but the other two sections were disposed to accept the terms. The question of the reserve was the main difficulty. The Yellow Quill band still desired a reserve for the whole. The others wished to remain, the Bear's party at the Round Plain, and the White Mud River Indians at Lake Manitoba, where they resided and had houses and farms. In the interval from the previous year, the Bear's band had built several houses, and made enclosures for farming. Eventually, the Indians were made to comprehend the extent of land they were really entitled to, but the Governor intimated that the land was for all, and that he would divide the band into three,
each with a Chief and councillors, and that he would give each band a portion of the whole number of acres, proportionate to their numbers--the Bear at the Round Plain, the White Mud Indians at their place of residence, and the Yellow Quill band wherever they might select, in unoccupied territory. After long consultations among themselves the Indians accepted the proposal. The Bear was recognized as a Chief, and a Chief selected by the White Mud River band was accepted as such.
The Indians also agreed to accept the revised terms of Treaty Number One, and an agreement in accordance with the understanding was prepared and signed by the Lieutenant-Governor, and the Chief and head men. The Indians preferred a request to receive the two dollars, increased amount, which, as they said, "had slipped through their fingers last year," which was granted, and also that the councillors should be paid yearly, as in the other treaties, subsequently made. This the Governor promised to recommend, and it was eventually granted, being made applicable to all the bands in Treaties Numbers One and Two.