Keewatin v. Minister of Natural Resources

Part 6. Lead-Up to the 1873 Negotiations 53As the season is about to open for travel ... Canadian route to our North West province ... from FortWilliam to Fort Garry ... there is now, according to Mr. Dawson, a fairly practicable road over theland parts of the route...The Thunder Bay road has been graded and in many parts gravelled, so emigrants can be comfortablyconveyed in the wagons provided by the authorities ... according to the promises of Mr. Dawson wemay look for the emigrants to Manitoba by the Canadian route being accomplished, during theseason.[290] On May 31, 1873, the Manitoban reported, "The passenger traffic now by stage andsteamboat ... more than 200 people having come over the Route."[291] Chartrand's report (Ex. 60) contains the following:At p. 99:…by 1873 it was increasingly imperative for the Dominion government to obtain a treaty agreementregarding lands between the Lake Superior watershed and the Province of Manitoba. Constructionwork on the Dawson route resumed in the spring of 1873 aiming to improve travel and transportconditions. In addition, since 1871 it was understood that further lands would be required for theconstruction of a national railway line to British Columbia, promised to that province as a conditionfor its entry into Confederation. A newspaper article dating to early March 1873 reported that therailway link from Lake Superior was scheduled to be completed by the end of 1876.2011 ONSC 4801 (CanLII)At. p. 194:Since March 1873, it was public knowledge that an eastern segment of the Canadian Pacific Railwaylinking Lake Superior and Winnipeg was expected to be completed within less than three years, byDecember 31 st, 1876. The CPR created an added sense of urgency for the Dominion to succeed innegotiating a treaty for the surrender of title to lands by the Ojibway. As Daugherty points out:On the 17th of July, Sir John A. Macdonald telegraphed Lieutenant-Governor Morris whoreplaced the retired Lieutenant-Governor Archibald, that the railway from Pembina to RedRiver would be completed by December 31, 1874, and the section from Lake Superior toRed River by the same day in 1876. Since the latter section would have to pass through theas yet unceded territory of the Saulteaux, it became imperative that this area be secured.[Emphasis added; references omitted.][292] Lovisek's report (Ex. 28) contains the following at p. 74:By the time of the 1873 treaty negotiations, the Dominion Government's interest in entering intoTreaty 3 was disposed to the securing of land and rights of way for the Canadian Pacific Railway[CPR]. The added pressure was that the section of the CPR from Lake Superior to the Red River wasto be completed by December 31, 1876. The Dominion Government now faced two right of wayissues, the Dawson Route and the Railway.[Emphasis added; footnotes omitted.][293] In the spring and early summer of 1873, Canadian officials proposed revised treaty terms,different Treaty Commissioners and a new location for the treaty negotiations.[294] A Spragge memorandum dated May 31, 1873 (Ex. 4, pp. 212-213) contains thefollowing:… with the object of re-opening negotiations for a Treaty, and cession of lands, with the Indians whoassemble periodically at Fort Frances… it is respectfully submitted that in view of the terms alreadyproposed to them not having been accepted … that authority be given to place before the Indians asomewhat different proposition than heretofore offered them.