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The numbered treaties are a series of eleven treaties signed between First Nations in Canada and the reigning monarch of Canada (Victoria, Edward VII or George V) from 1871 to 1921. It was the Government of Canada who created the policy, commissioned the Treaty Commissioners and ratified the agreements. These Treaties are agreements with the Government of Canada.

Regions affected by the treaties include portions of what are now Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories. When the Dominion of Canada was first formed in 1867 as a confederation of several British North American colonies, most of these regions were part of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory and were controlled by the Hudson's Bay Company.

The "National Dream" of Sir John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada, was to create a nation from sea to sea, tied together by the Canadian Pacific Railway. In order to make this dream a reality, the Government of Canada needed to settle the southern portions of Rupert's Land (present day Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan).

Administration of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory was transferred to the Canadian government in 1869. Out of these lands, Canada created the Northwest Territories. Canadian law recognized that the First Nations who inhabited these lands prior to European contact had title to these lands. The settlement of the Northwest Territories would not be possible, if title to the land remained with the First Nations. Therefore, it was vital to the National Dream to obtain title to the lands from First Nations.

In order to obtain title to most of the lands, the Canadian government proceeded with this series of treaties. Each treaty delinates a tract of land which was thought to be the traditional territory of the First Nation or Nations signing that particular treaty (the "tract surrendered"). In exchange for a surrender of their rights and title to these lands, the First Nations were promised a smaller parcel of land as a reserve, annual annuity payments, implements to either farm or hunt and fish and the right to continue to hunt and trap or hunt, trap and fish on the tract surrendered.

The plan of settling Europeans in the Canadian west was not free of conflict. Two armed rebellions resulted from this policy: The Red River Rebellion of 1869 and the North West Rebellion of 1885.

• Treaty 1 - August 1871
• Treaty 2 - August 1871
• Treaty 3 - October 1873
• Treaty 4 - September 1874
• Treaty 5 - September 1875 (adhesions from 1908-1910)
• Treaty 6 - August-September 1876 (adhesions in February 1889)
• Treaty 7 - September 1877
• Treaty 8 - June 1899 (with further signings and adhesions until 1901)
• Treaty 9 - July 1905
• Treaty 10 - August 1906
• Treaty 11 - June 1921

• Indian and Northern Affairs Canada: Treaty Policy Directorate
• Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat: Treaty Areas
• Indian and Northern Affairs Canada: Basic Departmental Data (2003, includes lists of First Nations with associated treaties)
• The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the North-West Territories, available at Project Gutenberg. by Alexander Morris

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