On the North Trail: The Treaty 8 Diary of O.C. Edwards ed. by David Leonard and Beverly Whalen (review)

Book Reviews 691 On the North Trail: The Treaty 8 Diary ofO.C. Edwards. Edited by DAVID LEONARD and BEVERLY WHALEN. Calgary: Historical Society of Alberta 1998. Pp. xviii, 122, illus. $19.95 In 1899 the Canadian government initiated another round of treaty making when it negotiated Treaty 8 in the Athabasca district ofnorthern Alberta and parts ofneighbouring British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and the North-West Territories. The treaty commission responsible for meeting with the Aboriginal peoples ofthe region was delayed, however, in reaching several northern communities, or unable to visit some at all. Ottawa consequently dispatched a second party in the summer of1900 to ensure that all Aboriginal groups in the region - Indian and mixedblood - were either brought into the treaty or issued scrip. Oliver Cromwell Edwards, a doctor quietly working with the Saskatchewan Indian agencies, was named physician to the second treaty commission . It was a curious appointment, given Edwards's relative anonymity , age, and lack of any northern travel experience. In fact, he was forever in the shadow ofhis spouse, Henrietta Muir Edwards. He quickly warmed to the adventure - it was a welcome respite from his regular duties - and kept a daily record ofhis five-and-a-half-month trip to the Athabasca country. The Alberta Records Publication Board has now reproduced an annotated version of the Edwards diary, entitled On the North Trail, with a slim introduction by David Leonard and Beverly Whalen, a selection ofblack-and-white photographs, and some maps of the treaty region. In their introductory remarks to the .book, Leonard and Whalen suggest that the Edwards treaty diary should be regarded as a companion piece to Charles Mair's more famous account ofthe 1899 scrip commission , Through the Mackenzie Basin. Unfortunately, the introduction does not provide the reader with enough contextual material to situate the diary in the existing literature. There is no detailed explanation, for example, ofthe circumstances behind Treaty 8 and its particular provisions and whether it differed in any substantial way from the earlier numbered treaties ofthe 1870s. Nor is there any detailed examination of how the region served as the 'back-door' route to the Klondike goldfields and how the stampeders placed a severe strain on Aboriginal resource activities- so much so, that in June 1898, some 500 Indians blocked the trail at Fort St John in an effort to force the government to deal with their situation. Such background information is essential to a critical understanding and appreciation ofthe true significance ofEdwards's account. It should not be left to editorial footnotes. 692 The Canadian Historical Review The other disappointment is the diary itsel£ Although the editors claim that Edwards's daily entries make for compelling reading, many key issues related to the treaty process are never mentioned. Edwards says little, ifanything, about how the First Nations ofthe region regarded the treaty and what exactly was said on the questions oftaxation, schools, and military service. And although he was sent north with the treaty party to attend to the medical needs ofthe Aboriginal peoples, Edwards provides no detailed assessment ofthe general health ofthe Aboriginal population and the diseases and affiictions from which they suffered. This kind of information would have been instructive, given the widespread deprivation that local missionaries and Hudson's Bay Company employees had reported in the region in the 1880s. What is interesting, though, is how Edwards compares the northern Indians to his charges on the Prairies. He finds the Dene to be 'a repulsive lot ... bleary eyed course featured dirty lot ... nothing but the highest of aims would lead anyone to live and work among them.' He was equally critical and dismissive ofthe Metis ofthe region. Edwards travelled with a camera and took photographs at every opportunity along the route. There is a wonderful picture, for example, oftreaty commission head J.A. Macrae speaking through an interpreter to a small dutch oflndians at Fort Vermilion. Yet, surprisingly, less than halfthe pictures used to illustrate the text were taken by Edwards. Nor is there any attempt to analyze how the photographs supplement the text and what they have to say about the man behind the lens. Finally, someone should inform the editors how to spell...