Railroads, Land Cessions, and Indigenous Nations: Evidence from Canada

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the role that the railroad played in the dispossession and cession of Indigenous lands within the borders of present-day Canada. Using georeferenced data on the construction of the railroad network and on the timing, content, and extent of treaties signed between the Crown and Indigenous nations, we find that the expansion of the railway network does not appear to hasten the signing of treaties or the area ceded. However, we find evidence consistent with the Crown engaging in treaty-signing well in advance of railroad construction to secure the path for the transcontinental railway. We find suggestive evidence that American westward expansion, as measured by nearby American population, helps to explain the cession of Indigenous lands in what is now Canada. Taken together, our results indicate that the relationship between the railroad and Indigenous land dispossession looked very different in Canada than the United States. In the latter, the process was concurrent; in Canada, land cession occurred well in advance of railway construction. This forward-looking approach accords with a historical narrative that centres the role of the railway in bringing British Columbia into Confederation and in securing the Prairies from American territorial ambitions.