Enoch Cree Nation’s colourful celebration of the 150th Treaty 6 anniversary served doubly as a reminder to honour the pacts made between the federal government and Indigenous authorities, organizers say. Treaty 6 was signed on Aug. 23, 1876 in Saskatchewan as a land boundary agreement between Crown representatives and Cree, Assiniboine and Ojibwe leaders, heavily negotiated and now affirmed through section 35 of the Constitution Act. Treaty 6 territory stretches from western Alberta to Manitoba and is home to 50 First Nations. Enoch Cree Nation, which sits about 23 kilometres west of Edmonton on Highway 60, entered into the Treaty in September 1877. On Thursday, everyone was welcome to the Confederation of Treaty 6 First Nations’ powwow to commemorate the anniversary. “We’re celebrating our traditional regalia, our dancing. We’re honouring our ancestors. It’s a way for all of us to come together and celebrate how beautiful and rich our culture is,” Crystle Lightning said. “I hear the drum, it’s like a rush. It’s such a beautiful feeling to be in the regalia and all our beadwork that takes thousands of hours to make, and our eagle feathers that are sacred to us.” For the first time in treaty negotiation history, Treaty 6 would secure the storage of a medicine chest, more agricultural clauses than in earlier treaties and a clause dedicated to protecting Indigenous peoples from famine and pestilence. Treaties 1 through 5 previously secured reserve lands, annuities and the continued right to hunt and fish on unoccupied Crown lands. “We just want everyone to honour the treaties,” Lightning added. “It was a deal made.” In the days leading up to the 150th anniversary, the grand chief of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations, Joey Pete, called the Alberta government out for its lack of acknowledgement of a City of Edmonton marquee commemoration of the day earlier this week. Tensions have been simmering for more than a year between the two parties amid ongoing Treaty 6, 7 and 8 legal challenges of Alberta separation movements. Enoch Cree Nation council member Kyle Peacock said Thursday that relationships have come a long way in 150 years and have further yet to go. “The treaties are older than the Constitution, and older than the province of Alberta. They’ve been intact and they will stay intact today.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Noah Rishaug
