Indian title that ought to be extinguished before the lands 

 were patented to settlers. This title is, of course, simply an 

 admission that the Indians should not be deprived of their 

 occupation rights without compensation and their formal con- 

 sent. In Upper Canada, except in the case of the Robinson 

 and McDougall Treaties, the surrender had been taken for 

 certain lands to which the Indians laid a special claim ; but in 

 the later Treaties and in those of the North-West, the Indian 

 title was extinguished over the whole area of country to be ' 

 utilized by incoming settlers, out of which, of course, the 

 Indians were allowed extensive reserves at places generally 

 selected by themselves. Not only were the Indians thus dealt 

 with, but the Half-breeds in Manitoba and the North-West 

 Territories, on account of their possessing Indian blood, have 

 been allowed lands and scrip to extinguish the share of title 

 which comes to them through that blood, over the areas in- 

 cluded in the Indian Treaties. 



It should be remarked here that the Government of 

 Canada permits no one to deal with the Indians respecting 

 lands except persons duly authorized by it for the purpose. 

 All sales or surrenders of land by Indians to others than the 

 Crown are invalid. 



Before Canada, however, came into possession of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company's territories, the principle of extin- 

 guishing the Indian title was partially acknowledged in the 

 •Red River country. The Earl of Selkirk, who had purchased 

 in 1811 from the said Company a tract of land which included 

 ,the greater portion of the present Province of Manitoba, in 

 1817 made a treaty with the Saulteaux and Crees of the Red 

 River, granting and conferring a strip of land from two to six 

 miles on each side of said river, from Lake Winnipeg to the 

 Great Forks at the mouth of Red Lake River, to King George 

 the Third. This grant to his Majesty was not, however, madi 

 good, for owing to some weakness on the part of the Indian; 

 concerned or of King George and his successors, the Red 

 River and its bordering lands south of Pembina some seventv- 

 five miles to Grand Forks belong now to the United States. 

 At any rate as the compensation given in the Selkirk Treaty 

 was small and its terms somewhat vague, it was ignored when 

 the north Red River country became a part of Canada. 



The Indian Treaties made under the Dominion Govern- 

 ment in the North- W^est are eight in number. With the latter 

 five of these the Writer was in some measure concerned, either 



