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Photo by Perry Mah/Edmonton Sun

This is in sharp contrast to other Canadian laws such as the Criminal Code or the Copyright Act, which do require new Canadians to faithfully observe them.

For instance, Treaty 6, signed in 1876, covers a wide belt of prairie that now includes Saskatoon and Edmonton. In exchange for ceding those lands to Her Majesty “forever,” Cree and other signatories were pledged government support including ammunition, farming equipment, medicine and aid in the case of “pestilence” or “famine.”

A non-Indigenous citizen could illegally squat on reserve lands guaranteed by Treaty Six, but that’s not a treaty violation; it’s trespassing, a Criminal Code offence. Treaty Six would only begin to be violated if the Crown failed to dispatch the RCMP to remove the trespasser.

Photo by Postmedia File

The same is true of an initial Treaty Six pledge to protect signatories from the “evil influence of the use of intoxicating liquors” — a measure that was phased out in the 1950s.

If an early 1900s trader sold whiskey on a reserve, it would not have been a treaty violation; it would have been a violation of the Indian Act, which was passed in part to enforce treaty measures.

Even modern treaties do not mention the responsibilities of individual citizens. The Nisga’a Final Agreement, signed in 1998, only cites the rights and responsibilities of the signatories; the Nisga’a Nation and the governments of British Columbia and Canada.

Photo by Government of Canada

“I suppose you could indirectly argue, since treaties are part of the law of Canada and indeed of the constitution since 1982, that individual Canadians should be concerned that the government live up to them,” said University of Calgary political scientist Thomas Flanagan, writing in an email to the National Post.