Numbered Treaty Seven

Document Summary:
Blackfoot, Blood, Stony and other Aboriginal nations give up their land rights to the government of Canada for European settlement in current-day Alberta forever. In return for giving up these rights, they received:

• 2.5 square kilometers of reserve land for each family of five.
  
  
• $12 per person at the treaty signing and an additional $5 each year; chiefs get $25 a year, plus a medal, a flag, and a rifle. Chiefs also get a suit of clothing every three years. Councilors get $15 annually.
  
  
• Farming tools.
  
  
• The right to hunt and fish on ceded land, except land used for forestry, mining, settlement or other purposes.
  
  
• $2,000 a year for ammunition.
  
  
• Salary to hire a schoolteacher, once Aboriginals are settled on their reserves.
  
  
• A census to keep track of how many Aboriginals there were in each band, mainly for financial compensation purposes.
  
  
• Reserves retain the right to use rivers and trails on the land, and can build bridges and roads as they see fit.
  

In return for the aforementioned items, the Aboriginals had to:

• Promise they would keep the peace and maintain law and order.
  
  
• Never possess any liquor on their reserves. (The introduction of alcohol in Aboriginal society had led to disorder in the past.)