Honouring the Truth Reconciling for the Future

The challenge of reconciliation • 253The Proclamation uncomfortably straddled the contradictory aspirations ofthe Crown and First Nations when its wording recognized Aboriginal rights toland by outlining a policy that was designed to extinguish these rights.... Thedifferent objectives that First Nations and the Crown had in the formulationof the principles surrounding the Proclamation is the reason for the differentvisions embedded within its text. Britain was attempting to secure territory andjurisdiction through the Proclamation, while the First Nations were concernedwith preserving their lands and sovereignty. 35The Royal Proclamation was ratified by over 2,000 Indigenous leaders who hadgathered at Niagara in the summer of 1764 to make a Treaty with the Crown. 36 TheTreaty negotiations, like earlier trade and peace and friendship Treaties, were conductedin accordance with Indigenous law and diplomatic protocol. John Borrowspresents evidence that Aboriginal peoples, some fifty-four years after the Treaty ofNiagara was negotiated and ratified, still remembered the promises that were madeby the Crown. In 1818, a Crown representative, Captain Thomas G. Anderson, gavethe following account of a meeting between Anishinaabe peoples and the Crown atDrummond Island in Lake Huron.The Chiefs did decamp, laying down a broad Wampum Belt, made in 1764....Orcata [an Anishinaabe] speaker ... holding the Belt of 1764 in his hand ... said:Father, this my ancestors received from our Father, Sir. W. Johnson. You sentword to all your red children to assemble at the crooked place (Niagara). Theyheard your voice—obeyed the message—and the next summer met you atthe place. You then laid this belt on a mat, and said—‘Children, you must alltouch this Belt of Peace. I touch it myself, that we may all be brethren united,and hope our friendship will never cease. I will call you my children; will sendwarmth (presents) to your country; and your families shall never be in want.Look towards the rising sun. My Nation is as brilliant as it is, and its word cannotbe violated.’ Father, your words were true—all you promised came to pass. Ongiving us a Belt of Peace, you said—‘If you should ever require my assistance,send this Belt, and my hand will be immediately stretched forth to assist you.’Here the speaker laid down the Belt. 37Over the years, Indigenous leaders involved in Treaty negotiations not only usedwampum belts to recount the Treaty of Niagara, but also presented original copies ofthe Royal Proclamation to government officials. In 1847, a colonial official reported,The subsequent proclamation of His Majesty George Third, issued in 1763,furnished them with a fresh guarantee for the possession of their huntinggrounds and the protection of the crown. This document the Indians look uponas their charter. They have preserved a copy of it to the present time, and havereferred to it on several occasions in the representations to government. 38