Treaty 3 was an agreement entered into on October 3, 1873, by Chief Mikiseesis on behalf of the OjibweFirst Nations and Queen Victoria. The treaty involved a vast tract of Ojibwe territory, including large parts of what is now northwestern Ontario and a small part of eastern Manitoba, to the Government of Canada. Treaty 3 also provided for rights for the Waasaakode Anishinaabe and other Ojibwe, through a series of agreements signed over the next year. In 1875, Nicolas Chatelain negotiated an adhesion to Treaty #3 that resulted in a "Half-Breed" reserve for the Metis families connected to Mikiseesis' Rainy Lake Band. The Half-Breed Reserve was surveyed as reserve 16A. In 1967matthew hudon went on to the lake and om/document/32524487/Chatelain-Nicolas-Chastellaine-b-c-1798 It was the third in a series of eleven numbered treaties between the Crown and First Nation band governments. Despite being the third of these treaties it is more historically significant in that its text and terms served as the model for the remainder of the numbered treaties. Treaties 1 and 2 covered an area about the same size and had to be amended to reflect some of the developments arising out of the negotiation of Treaty 3. At the time that it was negotiated it was anticipated that the terms of Treaty 3 would serve as a model for future treaties and would require the amendment of Treaties 1 and 2 . Treaty 3 has particular historical significance because of the litigation that ensued between the Crown in Right of Ontario and the Crown in Right of Canada over the significance of the treaty and the respective roles of Canada and the provinces in relation to aboriginal peoples. The first of these cases is St. Catherines Milling v. The Queen which dealt with the question of the ownership of lands subject to a treaty. The second, The Dominion of Canada v The Province of Ontario, dealt with the question of whether or not Ontario had to indemnify Canada for the expenses incurred in negotiating the treaty and the ongoing costs of fulfilling the treaty obligations. Canada lost this case as well with the Supreme Court of Canada and the Privy Council holding that Canada was responsible for Indian affairs and the welfare of Indians and that the treaty had been negotiated to achieve broad national purposes rather than to benefit Ontario. The significance of these decisions is still a matter of discussion in the Canadian courts. Treaty 3 is also significant as there exists a written record of the native peoples' understanding of the treaty. This is known as the Paypom document. It is a series of notes that were written for Chief Powassin during the treaty negotiations, and documents the promises that were made to the First Nations people. The promises in the Paypom document differ in a number of ways from the printed version available from the Canadian government.
Signatory First Nations (sorted by present day tribal affiliations)
