Anishinaabe Nation in Treaty No. 3
It has existed as a self-governing people with its own laws and government institutions since time immemorial, before the arrival of European settlers.
[3] AD 300 to 1650: People camp during the summers at Manitou Rapids and Long Sault on the Rainy River to fish sturgeon, hunt moose and beaver, and bury their dead in burial mounds.
3 became distinct as a political, cultural, and linguistic group from other Anishinaabe peoples through the circumstances of its traditional territory around Lake of the Woods and Rainy River.
The Anishinaabe peoples in this territory followed a seasonal round to tap a broad variety of natural resources.
In the spring, large grounds gathered at maple sugar groves, rice fields, berry patches, garden sites, and fishing stations like the Manitou and Long Sault Rapids where they would capture the giant sturgeon.
Corn, potatoes, pumpkins, onions, carrots, and beans were major crops, as well as a variety of berries such as blueberries, sand cherries, raspberries, black currants, and gooseberries.
The Fur Trade helped Anishinaabe peoples maintain their culture and local economy while being incorporated into a transoceanic market.
In 1873, Alexander Morris was one of three Commissioners empowered by the Privy Council to make a treaty that would open up safe passage from Upper Canada via Lake Superior and the Rainy and Winnipeg Rivers to the Prairies.
Tensions rooted in differing cultural relations to the land between Indigenous nations and settlers exist to this day.
[14] The Treaty covers traditional territory of the Anishinaabe people extending from Lake Superior in the east into what is now Manitoba to the west.
With the stroke of a pen, Treaty 3 extended by 55,000 square miles (140,000 km2) the area over which the Crown could, with apparent legitimacy, assert its sovereignty.
Unsustainable amounts of land were being clear-cut in Grassy Narrows, inhibiting the Anishinaabeg from exercising their treaty rights.
The blockade asserted a full-time presence on the road for a full year, and its legacy as a place of Anishinaabeg resistance carries on to this day.
[22] While it is mostly uncodified, Anishinaabe principles of how to conduct oneself in relationships are passed down through aadizookaanan that reflect the constitutional order.
Stories such as the Vision of Kitche Manitou, The Great Law, and Beaver Gives a Feast are passed down through oral tradition, reminding the Anishinaabe peoples of the significance of interdependence, mutual aid, and harmony.
The aadizookaanan The Great Law and Beaver Gives a Feast demonstrate the importance of the democratic principle within the Anishinaabe constitutional order.
These include the right of Canadians to enter and live peacefully in Treaty 3 territory and to share its natural resources.
When the Crown proposes actions that may affect treaty or aboriginal rights, such as changes to governance laws or child protection laws, or licenses for forestry or permits for mining in Treaty 3 territory, it must consult with the Nation through its government and accommodate or compensate potentially affected rights.
W’daeb’awae and Aadizookaanan, or stories, reflect the Anshinaabe nation's constitutional order, which gives rise to Anishinaabe legal processes and forms of governance.
Historically, "The sturgeon during spring spawning season supported the assembly of up to 1,500 people at fishing stations on Rainy River.
At Couchiching Falls (present-day Fort Frances), the Anishinaabe national government met each spring, relying upon abundant spawning runs of sturgeon and stored supplies of manoomin, maple sugar and Indian corn.
