This proclamation established a line between the Appalachian Mountains from Nova Scotia to the southern region of the Province of Georgia, and prevented settlement beyond that specific area by settlers.

[5] The proclamation also established protocols that needed to be acknowledged by the governing authority in regards to purchasing land from First Nations Peoples in North America and later Canada.

[8] When the British North America Act 1867 was enacted, a division of power was established between the Dominion government and its provinces that separated First Nation Peoples and settlers.

The federal government retained responsibility for providing health care, education, property rights and creating other laws that would affect the First Nations people.

There was a fear amongst the population that rapid expansion from the United States would leave the country cornered with limited arable land, lack of opportunity for economic growth, and resource extraction.

[15] During the first session of Parliament many called for the annexation of the territory and letters were sent to the British Monarchy suggesting that "it would promote the prosperity of the Canadian people, and conduce to the advantage of the whole Empire if the Dominion of Canada ... were extended westward to the shore of the Pacific Ocean".

One of the conditions to ensure British Columbia would join Confederation at the time was the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway to connect it to the rest of the nation.

In order to satisfy British Columbia's request and the growing need for land by eastern settlers and new immigrants, treaties had to be created with the First Nation people in the interior.

When gold was discovered in the Klondike in the 1890s, Treaty 8 was established in the hopes of quelling tensions and conflicts between First Nations of the northern reaches and miners and traders.

Active participation in selling pemmican and hide in the fur trade, in addition to hunting for personal sustenance, meant that those living on the plains lacked a vital food source to maintain their livelihood.

What can be seen here is a significant difference between the written documents used by government officials of the time, and the oral traditions used by the First Nations communities throughout the negotiation process.

The language used by the commissioners during the numbered treaties negotiations addressed First Nations tradition by giving them entitlement of children and the Crown was identified as Queen Mother.

To seal the numbered treaties references to the natural world like, "You will always be cared for, all the time, as long as the sun walks"[33] was used to appeal to the First Nations people.

In the table below is information about each numbered treaty including its signing date, its location, the major signers, those affected, and a brief summary of what each group received following the agreement.

[37] No longer would First Nations be dependent on a nomadic lifestyle, but rather begin to adapt and integrate into a western settlement society through farming and other entrepreneurial means.

[40] Because of the treaties, Canada was seen as an oppressive colonizer at this time, most prominently because the government was more concerned with changing the various First Nations groups, rather than negotiating and collaborating with them.

Upon signing the treaties, Canada obtained control of most aspects of society, especially in schooling, resource extraction, land use and implementation of laws for various social issues (such as alcohol policies).

[43] Also, First Nations felt the agreements from the numbered treaties were dishonoured when their traditional forms of governance were removed and they became "wards of the state", and when Indian agents began to control the sale of their seeds and livestock.

[30] Further restrictions and policies were put in place that controlled First Nations' way of life beyond the original stipulations that were outlined in the numbered treaties.

In 1981, all provinces other than Quebec agreed to a constitutional amendment, which included a reiteration of the rights of the indigenous peoples of Canada as established by former treaties (Chapter 35).

Many aboriginal leaders saw this renegotiation as an opportune time to enshrine the increased rights and powers and recognition that they had been campaigning for since the process of patriating the Canadian constitution began in the 1970s.

[49] These had no formal representation at the Assembly of First Nations, which had hitherto been assumed by the federal government to speak authoritatively on all matters involving "Indians".

In 2012 the Idle No More movement and subsequent hunger strike by Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Theresa Spence brought the assertion that the treaties provide for direct Crown recourse back to public attention.

Both his analysis and Palmater's emphasize the need for voluntary renegotiation of treaties between equal partners, and the impossibility of cutting off any avenue of appeal to the Crown.