Our Land Acknowledgement

Williams Treaty

We respectfully acknowledge that we are on the traditional territory covered by the Williams Treaty of 1923 and Rice Lake Treaty #20 of 1818.

Fishing

The Williams Treaty was signed in 1923 and to this day is said to be one of the worst Treaties to exist. This Treaty, like many others, was written according to what had suited the colonizers’ desires best. The Chiefs negotiating on behalf of the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg peoples were clear about their needs; protection of hunting and fishing rights and access to traditional food harvesting. The communities were bearing the brunt of settlers taking over their territory and with the treaty, were adamant about food security for their people. Nonetheless, the colonizers utterly disregarded this and placed limitations on hunting and fishing rights and access to traditional foods as a whole.

The Nishnaabeg peoples were banned from hunting for game meat such as deer despite the significant role it played in the diet of the peoples. Further, provincial statutes prohibited fishing from October 15th to July 1st of every year. These rules severely impacted the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg peoples as they were then forced to strategically hunt and fish without getting caught by the Game Wardens and, if they were unable to hunt and fish, spend a grand deal of money on western food.

The Williams Treaty worked to starve the Nishnaabeg peoples, on top of restricting their language and expression of their beliefs and culture, and forced them into abiding by Western lifestyles. To this day, the Williams Treaty still impacts the Nishnaabeg peoples and produces conflict regarding food sources and Indigenous rights.