Compact Contract Covenant: Aboriginal Treaty-Making in Canada

About this book

One of Canadas longest unresolved issues is the historical and present-day failure of the countrys governments to recognize treaties made between Aboriginal peoples and the Crown. Compact Contract Covenant is renowned historian of Native-newcomer relations J.R. Millers exploration and explanation of more than four centuries of treaty-making. The first historical account of treaty-making in Canada Miller untangles the complicated threads of treaties pacts and arrangements with the Hudsons Bay Company and the Crown as well as modern treaties to provide a remarkably clear and comprehensive overview of this little-understood and vitally important relationship. Covering everything from pre-contact Aboriginal treaties to contemporary agreements in Nunavut and recent treaties negotiated under the British Columbia Treaty Process Miller emphasizes both Native and non-Native motivations in negotiating the impact of treaties on the peoples involved and the lessons that are relevant to Native-newcomer relations today. Accessible and informative Compact Contract Covenant is a much-needed history of the evolution of treaty-making and will be required reading for decades to come.