Saskatchewan is a province in Western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the United States. Saskatchewan and Alberta are the only landlocked provinces of Canada. In 2023, Saskatchewan's population was estimated at 1,221,439. Nearly 10% of Saskatchewan's total area of 651,900 km2 (251,700 sq mi) is fresh water, mostly rivers, reservoirs and lakes.
The minister of Crown–Indigenous relations is a minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet, one of two ministers who administer Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC), the department of the Government of Canada which is responsible for administering the Indian Act and other legislation dealing with "Indians and lands reserved for the Indians" under subsection 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867. The minister is also more broadly responsible for overall relations between the federal government and First Nations, Métis, and Inuit.
Treaty Five is a treaty between Queen Victoria and Saulteaux and Swampy Cree non-treaty band governments and peoples around Lake Winnipeg in the District of Keewatin. Much of what is today central and northern Manitoba was covered by the treaty, as were a few small adjoining portions of the present-day provinces of Saskatchewan and Ontario.
Treaty 6 is the sixth of the numbered treaties that were signed by the Canadian Crown and various First Nations between 1871 and 1877. It is one of a total of 11 numbered treaties signed between the Canadian Crown and First Nations. Specifically, Treaty 6 is an agreement between the Crown and the Plains and Woods Cree, Assiniboine, and other band governments at Fort Carlton and Fort Pitt. Key figures, representing the Crown, involved in the negotiations were Alexander Morris, Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories; James McKay, The Minister of Agriculture for Manitoba; and W.J. Christie, the Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. Chief Mistawasis and Chief Ahtahkakoop represented the Carlton Cree.
The Métis Nation—Saskatchewan is a federally-recognized government that represents Métis people in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is affiliated with the Métis National Council. Glen McCallum was elected as president in 2017 and reelected in 2021.
The George Gordon First Nation is a First Nations band government located near the village of Punnichy, Saskatchewan, in Canada. The nation has an enrolled population of 3,752 people, 1,191 of whom live on the band's reserves. Chief Byron Bitternose leads the First Nation. Their territory is located on the Gordon 86 reserve, as arranged by Treaty 4.
The Muskoday First Nation is a First Nation band government in Saskatchewan, Canada, composed of Cree and Saulteaux peoples. The First Nation has a registered population of 1,828 people as of September 2014, of which approximately 623 members of the First Nation live on-reserve, and approximately 1204 live off-reserve. Muskoday's territory is located in the aspen parkland biome. It is bordered by the rural municipalities of Birch Hills No. 460 and Prince Albert No. 461.
The Numbered Treaties are a series of eleven treaties signed between the First Nations, one of three groups of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, and the reigning monarch of Canada from 1871 to 1921. These agreements were created to allow the Government of Canada to pursue settlement and resource extraction in the affected regions, which include modern-day Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories. These treaties expanded the Dominion of Canada with large tracts of land in exchange for promises made to the indigenous people of the area. These terms were dependent on individual negotiations and so specific terms differed with each treaty.
In Canada, an Indian band or band, sometimes referred to as a First Nation band or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subject to the Indian Act. Bands are typically small groups of people: the largest in the country, the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation had 22,294 members in September 2005, and many have a membership below 100 people. Each First Nation is typically represented by a band council chaired by an elected chief, and sometimes also a hereditary chief. As of 2013, there were 614 bands in Canada. Membership in a band is controlled in one of two ways: for most bands, membership is obtained by becoming listed on the Indian Register maintained by the government. As of 2013, there were 253 First Nations which had their own membership criteria, so that not all status Indians are members of a band.
Treaty 8, which concluded with the June 21, 1899, signing by representatives of the Crown and various First Nations of the Lesser Slave Lake area, is the most comprehensive of the eleven Numbered Treaties. The agreement encompassed a land mass of approximately 840,000 km2 (320,000 sq mi). Treaty territory, which includes thirty-nine First Nation communities in northern Alberta, northwestern Saskatchewan, northeastern British Columbia, and the southwest portion of the Northwest Territories, making it the largest of the numbered treaty in terms of area. The treaty was negotiated just south of present-day Grouard, Alberta.
Treaty 10 was an agreement established beginning 19 August 1906, between King Edward VII and various First Nation band governments in northern Saskatchewan and a small portion of eastern Alberta. There were no Alberta-based First Nations groups signing on, but there were two First Nation bands from Manitoba, despite their location outside the designated treaty area. It is notable that despite appeals from peoples of unceded areas of Northern Manitoba and the Northwest Territories for treaty negotiations to begin, the government did not enter into the treaty process for almost 20 years. In 1879, Natives of Stanley, Lac la Ronge, and Pelican Narrows petitioned for a treaty due to the threat of starvation. In 1905, the granting of Saskatchewan with Provincial status galvanized the government to settle the issue of land rights in order to free up land for future government use. The Canadian government signed Treaty 10 with the First Nations. The territory covered almost 220,000 square kilometers and included Cree and Chipewyan First Nation tribe population. Like the other treaties, it requires the First Nations to surrender their Aboriginal Title for land claim and rights.
An urban Indian reserve is land that the Government of Canada has designated as a First Nations reserve that is situated within an urban area. Such lands allow for aboriginal commercial ventures which enjoy the tax exemptions offered to traditional reserves. They may be located within either a municipality or, in the case of Saskatchewan, a Northern Administration District.
Fishing Lake First Nation is a First Nation of the Saulteaux branch of the Ojibwe nation. Fishing Lake First Nation are Anishinabek people. The band can trace their origins to central Canada, and were pushed westward to avoid encroachment by European settlers. The First Nation was originally part of the Yellow-quill Saulteaux Band, a Treaty Band named after a Treaty 4 signatory Chief Ošāwaškokwanēpi, whose name means "Green/Blue-quill." However, due to "š" merging with "s" in Nakawēmowin, this led to a mistranslation of his name as "Yellow-quill"—"yellow" being osāw-, while "green/blue" being ošāwaško-. The band was given three reserves, at Fishing and Nut Lakes and Kinistino, Saskatchewan. The Fishing Lake Indian Reserve 89 was approximately 22,850 acres (92.5 km2). Soon after the death of Chief Ošāwaškokwanēpi, the Band divided into three groups, the Fishing Lake First Nation, the Yellow Quill First Nation, and the Kinistin Saulteaux Nation
Hatchet Lake Denesuline Nation is a Denesuline First Nation in northern Saskatchewan. The main settlement, Wollaston Lake, is an unincorporated community on Wollaston Lake in the boreal forest of north-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada.
The Okanese First Nation is a Cree-Saulteaux First Nation band government in Balcarres, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Pelican Lake First Nation is a member of the Federation of Saskatchewan First Nations, the body that represents 74 First Nations in Saskatchewan.
The Treaty Four Reserve Grounds 77 are an Indian reserve in Saskatchewan, Canada, shared by 33 band governments from Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Reserve Grounds are located adjacent to and west of Fort Qu'Appelle. In the 2016 Canadian Census, they recorded a population of 15 living in 6 of their 8 total private dwellings.
Indigenous or Aboriginal self-government refers to proposals to give governments representing the Indigenous peoples in Canada greater powers of government. These proposals range from giving Aboriginal governments powers similar to that of local governments in Canada to demands that Indigenous governments be recognized as sovereign, and capable of "nation-to-nation" negotiations as legal equals to the Crown, as well as many other variations.
The Muscowpetung Saulteaux Nation is a Saulteaux band government in southern Saskatchewan, Canada. Their reserves include:
Peepeekisis Cree Nation (Cree: ᐲᐦᐲᑭᓰᐢ, pîhpîkisîs, literal meaning: Sparrow Hawk) is a Cree First Nation in southern Saskatchewan, Canada. Its reserves include Peepeekisis 81; Treaty Four Reserve Grounds 77, which is shared with 32 other bands; and Peepeekisis Cree Nation, which is located 19 km (12 mi) east of Balcarres, Saskatchewan, on Highway 10.
Indigenous North Americas 
Canadaportal 