Treaty Document Returned To First Nation

Treaty Document Returned To First Nation

Friday, June 22, 2007 at 15:25

 

 

A rare and historically valuable pictograph was officially unveiled yesterday at the Treaty Four Governance Centre in Fort Qu’Appelle.

 

The two-panel pictograph was drawn by Chief Paskwa, one of the original signatories to Treaty 4 signed in 1874.

 

It represents the only historical record of the treaty negotiations and provisions as communicated and understood from a First Nations’ perspective.

 

An English traveller, William Henry Barnaby, collected the pictograph during a visit to the Canadian West in 1883.

 

The document was held in a private collection until 2000, when it was put up for auction.

 

The buyer then put the document up for sale in 2006.

 

The Pasqua First Nation and the Royal Saskatchewan Museum successfully repatriated the pictograph, after raising $223,000 in a fundraising campaign for the buying price, transportation and storage costs.

 

Pasqua Chief Elaine Chicoose says her people regard this as a sacred document, and they are happy it’s finally home.