How a commission alongside Treaty 11 sought to extinguish N.W.T. Métis land rights

The story of how commissioners travelled down the Mackenzie River in 1921 to convince Dene to cede their land rights by signing Treaty 11 is well-documented in the Northwest Territories. 

What's less known is that Commissioner Henry Conroy led a Half-Breed Commission to the territory at the same time; forcing Métis to either sign up for scrip — a one-time payment that extinguished their land claims — or cede their unique cultural identity to become status Indians under the Treaty. 

"It's taken a lot of work to unravel the complex way scrip actually failed us as people," Albert Lafferty, a former president of the Fort Providence Métis Council, told CBC. 

"Our birth right, our inherent rights, were stolen from us." 

As the summer of Treaty 11 commemorations wraps up, CBC set out to understand how its signing and the political eras that followed drastically changed the rights of Métis people in the territory. 

Separated by culture

Métis from parts of Eastern and Western Canada first arrived in the Northwest Territories in the early 1700s. They worked as boatmen, hunters, trappers and guides with the first European adventurers making their way north.

Before the arrival of treaty parties, there was no distinction between Métis and Dene people in the N.W.T., according to Lafferty. 

"People lived lives that were quite similar — they worked together, lived together and did the fur trade together," Lafferty said. "After [the Treaty], there were legal divisions and issues and problems for Métis, they became more apparent." 

In 1870, the lands known as the Northwest Territories were transferred by the British to the Dominion of Canada. Dominion law at the time required that Indigenous people give up their rights, or Aboriginal title, before settlers could move onto these lands.

Métis were only seen as "partly Indigenous" by Canada, so the government devised the scrip system: one-time "subscription" payments given to Métis heads of household that could be reimbursed for $240 or 240 acres of land in exchange for their Aboriginal title. 

Métis in the Dehcho were not given the option to exchange scrip for land because of the cold climate, so heads of households received certificates worth $240. 

Scrip made its way to the N.W.T. at the same time as both treaty parties: in the south with Treaty 8 in 1899, and again with Treaty 11 in 1921. 

According to Métis descendants and academics, land title was never mentioned in the scrip applications. 

"They were expected to take what was offered to them," Lafferty said. "Unbeknownst to them, they were going to be subject to a process that was unfair." 

Some were persuaded to sign Treaty 11 because their lifestyles were considered "more Dene" than other Métis, according to Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox, author of the book Since 1921: The Relationship between Dehcho Métis and Canada.  

Others were persuaded to renounce that lifestyle, in part by accepting scrip. 

Once you got [scrip], that was it, you were Canadian: still subject to all the discrimination... but without rights to their lands.- Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox, author of

"At that time, there was a lot of racism and a moral judgment put on 'it's better to be Métis than a status Indian' in the eyes of the state,'' Irlbacher-Fox said. 

"The state was trying to define people based on how they lived culturally." 

The Canadian government had a strict set of criteria for who was not Métis. 

If a person claiming scrip could not prove they had mixed blood, if they were not residents of the N.W.T. or could show they had not received scrip in the past, they would be ineligible. 

"Once you got [scrip], that was it, you were Canadian: still subject to all the discrimination… but without rights to their lands," Irlbacher-Fox said.

Scrip speculation

Rick Hardy's grandfather, Tim Gaudet, didn't want to sign the treaty, because he thought it meant being put on a reserve and supervised by an Indian agent. 

"[Gaudet] said 'I don't like the terms of it, I want to continue to be a free man,' so he took Métis scrip instead," Hardy said. 

Scrip payments did not work out as promised, both Lafferty and Hardy said. 

Lafferty's great-grandfather, Alexis Lafferty, received 14 certificates for him and his children in 1902, after applying for scrip during the signing of Treaty 8 in Fort Resolution, N.W.T.

Four years later, the government researched the Lafferty claim and discovered that four of their scrip payments had been redeemed in Red Deer and Calgary — places far from where the family lived. Their investigation found that Ed Nagle, an independent trader, bought Lafferty's scrip for less than its value. According to the book Since 1921, it's unclear how Nagle got a hold of Lafferty's scrip. 

Alexis Lafferty filed a petition to the Canadian government in 1920 on behalf of himself and others involved in the Treaty 8 scrip payments in Fort Resolution, Fort Smith and Fort Chipewyan. 

Their petition alleges that "scrip speculators" followed the commission as payments were being issued, bought the certificates at lower values, and forged the signatures of recipients when they were eventually redeemed. It asked for a full review of the scrip process to see whether fraud had been committed. 

Why did they go ahead and accept [scrip] without negotiating?- Rick Hardy, former lawyer and former president of the Métis Association of the N.W.T

The Canadian government responded a year later. They amended the Criminal Code so land scrip frauds could not be prosecuted three years after it occurred. They did not commit to the inquiry in their decision. 

"I wish I could fly back in time … My grandfather had all this information and I'm sure he would have shared it with the people," Hardy said. "Why did they go ahead and accept without negotiating?" 

Métis get organized 

By the 1970s, Métis started asking questions about the intent of the scrip payments. 

They watched as their Dene family members formed the Indian Brotherhood and, under the leadership of Chief Francois Paulette of Smiths Landing First Nation, challenged the very foundations of both Treaties 8 and 11 in court. 

That's when the Métis started to get organized, according to Hardy. 

"[We] said, 'Well just a minute, government, you offered us scrip payments instead of the terms of Treaty 11 and now you're going around changing the terms?" Hardy said. 

"'That's unfair to us.' It became a question of equity." 

Hardy took over the presidency of the newly-formed Métis Association of the Northwest Territories, the pre-cursor to the N.W.T. Métis Nation, in 1974. During his mandate, the Nation started working on joint land claim negotiations with the Dene. 

A year into negotiations, the association withdrew, Hardy said, because of a disagreement. 

The negotiations stayed at a standstill until 1989, when the federal government put in place a process that ensured both the Dene and Métis would be equal partners at the negotiating table, Hardy said. 

In 1990, the coalition again broke up, deciding instead to focus on regional self-government agreements with Canada that are still being worked on today.

'We don't believe we gave up our rights'

While much progress has been made for Métis in the N.W.T. since the Half-Breed Commission of 1921, descendants of those who received scrip say there's still much more to do. 

Since 1996, the N.W.T. Métis Nation, one of several Métis political groups, has been in negotiations with Canada for its own land claim policy. 

The group made progress this May, with news of a signed self-government framework agreement. Garry Bailey, the Nation's president, called it the "missing component" of ongoing land claim negotiations. 

There's also been federal recognition of Métis rights. In 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in a case known as the Daniels decision that the federal government has a constitutional obligation to provide equal access to health care, education and hunting rights to Métis and "non-status Indians." 

Still, the Canadian government created a "divide and conquer" approach to Indigenous rights that will continue to be at the root of conflicts between the N.W.T.'s Dene and Métis people for a long time, Irlbacher-Fox said. 

"The Indian Act — no one liked it, but at least it recognized governance of First Nations peoples … the Métis weren't provided a pathway for that kind of recognition," Irlbacher-Fox said. "The state fuelling those differences is really problematic." 

That's why, 100 years later, Lafferty said he wants to see acknowledgement by the federal government of what has been done, and more engagement on their land claims going forward. 

"We don't believe we gave up our rights, we still maintain them," Lafferty said. 

"We need fairness, reconciliation [and] a true acknowledgement from the Canadian government."