Treaty Rights Quotes

The First Nations Financial Transparency Act insulted the integrity of the very people in our communities who guide our economic policy and act as our mediators with provincial and federal governments.

In any event, colonization and the grant of lands were provincial matters.

Native American activists have been present as long as the Europeans have been working to colonize us.

The proper treatment of the original occupants of this land—the Indians is one deserving of careful study. I will favor any course toward them which tends to their civilization and ultimate citizenship.

Whose voice was first sounded on this land? The voice of the red people who had but bows and arrows... When the white man comes in my country he leaves a trail of blood behind him... I have two mountains in that country... I want the Great Father to make no roads through them.

The fighting back by indigenous people started in 1900: OK, they've cornered us. Our population is almost gone; they've defeated us. From there, the modern Indian rights movement started, and it was a very hard fight, with a lot of stuff going against them.

I have great respect for Oklahoma's tribal members, and I celebrate their traditions and culture.

The white people have no right to take the land from the Indians, because they had it first; it is theirs. They may sell, but all must join. Any sale not made by all is not valid.

One of the first things that the First Nations are going to have to decide is, is it going to 640 communities, or is it, in fact, going to be some 50 to 60 nations.

The most economical as well as the most humane conduct towards the Indians is to bribe them into peace and to retain them in peace by eternal bribes

We are always in hopes that our good king [the King of France] will come to the assistance of this country [Canada] and will cause those rascally Iroquois to be destroyed.

The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed…

…the native races, whose land it was long before we came here

I view Indigenous Canadians as an integral part of our society, proud of their contribution to Canadian history, great deal of respect for all they did pre-Confederation, the way that they have been partners in building this society we have, and I'm very proud to represent a dozen First Nations communities in my own riding.

The white people should go back to Europe, and the country should be returned to the American Indians. This is the future I would like to see for the so-called United States.

The problem is we disagree about the origin. Is this occupied land or not?

And Americans realized that native people are still here, that they have a moral standing, a legal standing.

The Indians have a right to the occupation of their lands, independent of the States within whose chartered lines they happen to be

A people once numerous, powerful, and truly independent, found by our ancestors in the quiet and uncontrolled possession of an ample domain, gradually sinking beneath our superior policy, our arts, and our arms, have yielded their lands by successive treaties, each of which contains a solemn guarantee of the residue, until they retain no more of their formerly extensive territory than is deemed necessary for their comfortable subsistence.

Not a centimetre will be demarcated for Indigenous reserves.

The United States - you know, native people are large landowners, but the military has a huge chunk of our territories. And in those, there are a number of places that are our sacred sites.

Whereas great Frauds and Abuses have been committed in purchasing Lands of the Indians, to the great Prejudice of our Interests, and to the great Dissatisfaction of the said Indians. In order, therefore, to prevent such Irregularities for the future, and to the end that the Indians may be convinced of our Justice and determined Resolution to remove all reasonable Cause of Discontent, We do, with the Advice of our Privy Council, strictly enjoin and require. that no private Person do presume to make any purchase from the said Indians of any Lands reserved to the said Indians

The federal government needs to make it clear that recognition of Indigenous rights means that when Indigenous bands and their leadership approve projects, we listen.

We must not try to force him to take civilization immediately in its complete form, but under just laws, guaranteeing to Indians equal civil laws, the Indian question, a source of such dishonor to our country and of shame to true patriots, will soon be a thing of the past.

Native people - about two-thirds of the uranium in the United States is on indigenous lands. On a worldwide scale, about 70 percent of the uranium is either in Aboriginal lands in Australia or up in the Subarctic of Canada, where native people are still fighting uranium mining.