Treaty 6

 Treaty 6 notes

In reading more about Treaty 6 and Treaties in general, I've learned some basic things. Treaties are just agreements... contracts. Nothing more. However, the reason there seems to be a different name used for them is because they are typically created outside any single country's legal system. This is due to the fact that they are usually agreements between sovereign nations. There are three important things I learned at this point. First, there is no clear authority to enforce treaties because while there is such a thing as International Law, it is not an absolute authority... adherence to it is voluntary and therefore "possession is nine tenths of the law" is the reality of that system. Second, while treaties can be between any kinds of entities (individuals, businesses, etc), the most common kinds are nations... and the bigger and more established the nation, the more power it has to decide whether or not it wants to honor the treaty. The collection of treaties that Treaty 6 is a part of are between a nation (Canada) and individual groups of indigenious people across the North American geography. The reality is that the nation of Canada is a far larger political entity than any, or even all, of the indigenious groups. I don't know if the populations on each side have the same kind of imbalance, but even if the indigenious groups do have a larger population, the point is that they are not organized into a single political entity that can be recognized as a nation like Canada is and therefore don't have the same political power.

This doesn't mean that those groups don't have what's needed to be equal partners... it's just applied differently. For example, there is documentation of the concept of "Counting Coup" (a local version of it is written on a poster on the front of the Yorkton Painted Hand Casino) which is about beating an enemy without harming them (getting close enough to touch them and then escaping... a way of demonstrating superiority without enforcing it).

“As its name says, the work is a depiction of counting coup, a historical practice of First Nations warriors. In this game of skill and strategy, two warriors would attempt to touch the other with a bare hand or with a "coup stick," with the winner receiving considerable prestige. A warrior who had counted coup on the enemy would sometimes mark a handprint on his horse to signify the achievement - an image appropriate to the Painted Hand Casino.”

 https://www.sasktoday.ca/central/local-arts/new-casino-statue-unveiled-4015222

_________________________

REFERENCES

counting coup - Google Search

link 

Counting coup - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counting_coup 

New casino statue unveiled - SaskToday.ca

https://www.sasktoday.ca/central/local-arts/new-casino-statue-unveiled-4015222

_________________________

RELATED

Painted Hand Casino - Counting Coup
https://cory-dean-smith-journal.blogspot.com/2024/11/painted-hand-casino-counting-coup.html
_________________________