24 Nations Belt
Image: Hunter, (1901), Figure 26.
Equal Sharing of the Land and its Resources
In addition to the Covenant Chain, Johnson also presented the 24 Nations Wampum Belt to the twenty-four nations present, including Wyandot, Menomee, Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and other First Nations belonging to the Western Lakes Confederacy. Tired of conflict after fighting the Seven Years’ War, Britain requested peaceful settlement on Indigenous territories, with the sacred promise that the land would be shared and its wealth would be distributed equally between First Nations and settlers. The terms of this agreement are for as long as the grass grows, the rivers flow, and the sun shines.
References
Borrows, J. (1997). Wampum at Niagara: The Royal Proclamation, Canadian Legal History, and Self-Government. In Aboriginal and Treaty Rights in Canada: Essays on Law, Equality, and Respect for Difference.Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. 155-172.
Borrows, J. & Coyle, M. (2017). The Right Relationship Reimagining the Implementation of Historical Treaties. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 62.
Chiefs of Ontario (2014). 250 th Anniversary of the Treaty of Niagara. http://www.chiefs-of-ontario.org/node/920
Gehl, L. (2013). Canada’s Constitutional Beginnings Through Wampum. Retrieved from https://www.lynngehl.com/black-face-blogging/canadas-constitutional-beginnings-through-wampum
Hunter, A.F. (1901). Wampum Records of the Ottawas, Figure 26, Belt No. 2. in Annual Archaeological Report, 1901, Provincial Museum and Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario Archaelogical Museum, Toronto, 52-55.
Switzer, M. (2011). We are all Treaty People. Union of Ontario Indians.