Hardstone profile

This carving makes reference to the 11 'numbered treaties' agreed between the First Nations of Canada and the British Crown between 1871 and 1921. These agreements promised reserve lands, annuities and fishing and hunting rights in exchange for Indigenous title. The inscription reads: As long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the water flows./ TREATY NO.8/ Honoring and Protecting Treaty rights/ in their true Spirit and Intent'.

Treaty No. 8 was signed on 21 June 1899 and covered some 840,000 kilometres, the largest geographic span of any of the agreements. Today, this area is home to the 39 First Nations communities of Alberta, Northwestern Saskatchewan, Northeast British Columbia and the Southwest portion of the Northwest Territories. Presented as a promise of peaceful co-existence and resource sharing, the treaty's signing was witnessed through the smoking of a pipe. This carving, a reminder of those bonds, was presented to The Queen by the Province of Alberta in 2005.