SOCIAL PAT NOTES 2 - La Grande Paix de Montreal

What Was La Grande Paix de Montréal?

The roots of the Aboriginal collective rights in the Charter go back more than three centuries in Canada’s history. These negotiations may have begun as early as 1697. In 1701, La Grande Paix de Montréal, The Great Peace of Montréal, was signed.

Gathering to Solving a Problem When colonists from France settled in North America, they began to trade in furs with First Nations. The French set up many fur-trading posts in what is now Québec and Ontario. First Nations who lived there, such as Algonquin and Ouendat, became their trading partners and allies. Many of these Nations, however, were enemies of the Oneida, Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca who lived to the south. As a result, there was warfare between the Haudenosaunee and the French and their allies. The fighting disrupted the fur trade and threatened the French settlement at Montréal, which at this time was a small town of about 1200 inhabitants at the crossroads of fur-trading routes. Allies are people or groups who work together. Words matter! The French had made several treaties over the years with the Haudenosaunee to try to stop the warfare and protect their trade. These had all broken down. In 1700, Louis-Hector de Callière, the Governor of New France, had begun new peace talks with the Haudenosaunee. Callière decided the only way this peace could work was if France’s First Nations allies also agreed to it. To give all sides a chance to have input, Callière sent messengers to approximately 40 First Nations—both the allies and enemies of New France—inviting them to join in a new political and economic partnership. The talks would be held in Montréal. Imagine the journey! In the summer of 1701, some 1300 First Nations representatives travelled hundreds of kilometres by foot, horseback, and canoe to Montréal. Some of them were ambassadors, or representatives, and advisors, who had been sent by their Nation to talk about the treaty. Others brought furs to trade at the summer trading fair.

When they arrived, they set up camp outside the wooden stockade that surrounded the settlement. The French welcomed them with great ceremony, and cannons were fired in their honour. Probably more First Nations people would have attended, but an influenza epidemic broke out. This disease, brought to North America by European settlers, spread rapidly among First Nations. Callière’s reporter wrote: “Out of a fleet of a hundred and eighty canoes... thirty were forced to put in to shore because of illness.” Each of the First Nations had its own culture and traditions. Even the names of the Nations told about the unique identity of each one. The Odawa, for example, lived around the Great Lakes. Their name meant they were traders, a role that was very important in that location. The Menominee were named for wild rice, which grew in the region west of Lake Michigan where they lived.

Although First Nation peoples have always had a strong collective identity, they have also regarded themselves as individuals. First Nations people value the freedom of each individual to make decisions without being controlled by someone else. However, it was expected at this gathering that individuals would use their freedom to act responsibly and for the good of the community. Consensus and Respect Over a period of two weeks there were discussions about the terms of La Grande Paix de Montréal. The First Nations who gathered in Montréal valued discussion, compromise, cooperation, and consensus. In Chapter 4, you saw how the Iroquois used consensus to make decisions at the Grand Council. The negotiations in Montréal were held according to these First Nations traditions.

First Nations leaders and ambassadors who came to Montréal were chosen because they were skilled at speaking on behalf of their people. During a meeting, the representative would present a proposal and try to persuade others to agree.

Everyone listened carefully without interruption. If anyone had a question, the speaker thought carefully before giving an answer. If the speaker had to consult with his advisors, the answer was not given until the next day. Many historians agree that it was the diplomacy of the First Nations representatives that made the treaty possible. After considering the arguments, they agreed to give up some of their own wishes to be fair to everyone involved. In this way, they were able to reach consensus on the final terms of the treaty.

The treaty was signed on August 4, 1701.

These were its main terms:

1. The Nations agreed to be allies and not make war on each other.

2. The Nations agreed that they could all use the hunting grounds north and west of Lake Ontario.

3. In the case of any future disagreements, all sides agreed that the French governor would have the responsibility to settle them.

After the signing of La Grande Paix de Montréal, Governor Callière gave each ambassador a wampum of the treaty to bring back to his Nation. Callière and other French officials also invited the First Nations ambassadors to smoke tobacco in a calumet.

La Grande Paix and the Charter La Grande Paix de Montréal was a treaty that was written through respectful negotiation.  The negotiations and terms of the treaty show that a number of important principles and beliefs were shared by the parties that signed it.

• Each First Nation and the French were recognized as equal and independent nations that had the right to make their own decisions.

• The collective identity and collective rights of each party that signed the treaty were recognized and respected.

• The right of the First Nations to their traditional territory was recognized by all parties to the peace treaty.

Over the centuries, as the First Nations people and Francophones became minorities in Canada, many of their collective rights were taken away and their collective identities were not protected by law. Eventually many Canadians saw that First Nation peoples and Francophones had been treated unfairly. When the Charter was introduced in 1982, it offered a chance to correct past injustices to the First Nations. For the first time treaty rights and the rights of Canada’s first peoples were entrenched in the Constitution. They could never be taken away again.

This encouraged First Nations and Inuit across Canada to bargain with the federal government for the right to govern themselves and to control their own lands. Remembering La Grande Paix In the summer of 2001, the people of Montréal celebrated the 300-year-old treaty. They marked the occasion with a reenactment that allowed them to take a new look at an event that had almost been forgotten. An exhibition gave members of the public a chance to see the actual treaty document as well as other artifacts from the time. Newspapers called La Grand Paix de Montréal Canada’s first multicultural gathering. They wrote about how different cultures had met to work out a creative solution to their problems.