Kwayeskastasowin ᒃᐗᔦᔅᑲᔅᑕᓱᐎᓐ (Setting Things Right): Cree Pathways to Modernizing Treaty 9

Abstract

Treaty 9 stands at a decisive crossroads where intensifying extraction pressures, notably Ontario’s Ring of Fire, collide with unresolved Indigenous sovereignty and governance. While signatories understood the treaty as a covenant of coexistence and shared stewardship, Canada imposed a land-surrender narrative, entrenching jurisdictional ambiguity, ecological degradation, and Indian Act dependency. This thesis advances a decolonial framework for treaty renewal by bridging Indigenous legal traditions, wahkohtowin, kaapimaacihkaawaatisiwin, and minopimaatisiiwin, with Canadian constitutional jurisprudence, legal pluralism, UNDRIP and FPIC standards, and comparative governance models. Its original contribution is the Treaty Modernization Toolkit, the first to operationalize Indigenous law into governance innovation through jurisdictional clarity tables, enforceable FPIC protocols, co-governance institutions, and accountability mechanisms. Combining Indigenous methodologies, relational accountability, and comparative analysis, this research contributes to critical political science, constitutionalism, and global Indigenous governance debates, equipping Treaty 9 rights holders with transformative pathways to reclaim inherent rights, protect lands, and sustain intergenerational nationhood.