Bilingual Agreements In Canada

Treaties are formal written agreements between nations. Treaties discussed throughout this paper are regarding the negotiated agreements between several distinct Indigenous Nations and European Settlers in Canada, generally regarding the sharing of land and/or land rights. The sovereign nation known today as Canada was shaped largely through these treaties, and the majority of its land is in part governed by them. Development of these treaties required two vastly different cultures to modify their political traditions and practices in order to amalgamate the two governing systems, resulting in ‘understanding’ and ‘agreement’ by both parties. Although the treaties helped form the diplomatic nation of Canada, the processes used for their creation

Euro-Canadians viewed treaties as secular contracts, and therefore treaty agreements were upheld due to legal obligations and/ or concern of military repercussions. Treaties were established under Eurocentric-Canadian law, which permitted Euro-Canadians to control treaty agreements. Additionally, Indigenous peoples did not pose a military threat. Therefore, Euro-Canadians were able to legally, and without threat, defy treaty agreements. Consequently, Euro-Canadians had little obligation to uphold agreements, which to Indigenous peoples was a treaty violation with unworldly consequences. Indigenous peoples perceived treaties as spiritual covenants, and thus treaty agreements were upheld due to trepidation of spiritual repercussions (taboos); therefore, the obligation to uphold agreements was considerable. The understanding of agreements, be they secular contracts or spiritual covenants, largely influenced a nation’s obligation to uphold these agreements or justify

Consequently, much of their involvement in treaty negotiations was done orally. Alternatively, Euro-Canadians did not believe oral agreements were legally binding, and thus often excluded them from written treaties. Exclusion of oral negations within treaties effectively made these treaties unilateral, benefiting Euro-Canadians and robbing Indigenous peoples of the negotiations made to ensure the livelihood, culture, and overall survival of their people. Moreover, if Indigenous people contested the exclusion of oral negotiations from written treaties, Euro-Canadians would often make amendments, albeit usually to a lesser extent of the original negotiations. Indigenous peoples could only benefit from said amendments if they agreed to not contest the treaty in the future. Consequently, appealing to the Crown would actually further remove Indigenous peoples’ rights and/or