The Basis of the Peace and Friendship Treaties.
The Government made the peace and friendship treaties sound very kind and polite because of the threat the Aboriginals imposed on the British, and the fear it gave them. The Europeans were at the time fairly weak compared to the Aboriginals, making them feel threatened. The British were aware how outnumbered they were by the Aboriginals and if at any time the Aboriginals decided not to accept the English coming into their Country they could easily attack, leaving the British in big trouble. Quite frankly the British were just very fearful of the Aboriginals and the power they held over the English especially after seeing war between the United States, and the Aboriginals. The Canadian Government wanted to make sure nothing like that ever happened in this Country and that is why the peace and friendship treaties were created. These treaties stated that the Aboriginals and the Government would peacefully share the land between each other so that both groups would be able to coexist. The treaties made sure that there were benefits for both the British and Aboriginal people. These treaties have never been broken and they are still in effect today.
Numbered Treaties.
During the time period between 1871 and 1921 there were eleven treaties signed between the Government and the aboriginals which are called the number treaties. Many of the things that Europeans were in need of were in fact what the aboriginals already had. By this time the British were growing much stronger as they had a large number of English citizens immigrating to Canada. With so many new immigrants there was a huge demand for more and more land to build homes and settlements on, but unfortunately the majority of land already belonged to the First Nations and Métis people. .
The European government decided that to get the land from the Aboriginals they would start creating treaties.