University professor examines century-old treaty

Treaty No. 9: Making the Agreement to Share the Land in Far Northern Ontario in 1905 is a new book by Nipissing University professor John S. Long.
Published by McGill-Queen’s University Press, the book examines the history of the treaty.
It includes the neglected account of a third commissioner and tracing the treaty’s origins, negotiation, explanation, interpretation, signing, implementation and recent commemoration.
For more than a century, the vast lands of northern Ontario have been shared among the governments of Canada, Ontario and the First Nations who signed Treaty 9 in 1905.
For just as long, details about the signing of the constitutionally recognized agreement have been known only through the accounts of two of the commissioners appointed by the Government of Canada, according to the author.
Long sets out to restore nearly forgotten perspectives to the historical record.
He outlines how many crucial details about the treaty’s contents were omitted in the transmission of writing to speech, while other promises were made orally but not included in the written treaty.
The book also reveals contradictions that suggest the treaty parchment was never fully explained to the First Nations who signed it by reproducing the three treaty commissioners’ personal journals in their entirety.
“This is a definitive work that makes a groundbreaking contribution to our understanding of Canadian Aboriginal Treaties and sheds enormous light on the circumstances of the Indigenous communities presently living in northern Ontario,” David T. McNab, professor of Native Studies at York University said in a review quote.
“John Long’s understanding of both Western-based knowledge and Indigenous knowledge, as well as the written and the oral traditions have enabled him to write a piece that will forever change our understanding of Treaty 9.
“This book is a labour of love which succeeds brilliantly.”