Daniel G. MacMartin
treaty commissioner for the Government of Ontario (1870-1921)
Daniel George MacMartin (9 January 1844 – 12 April 1923 (aged 79)) was treaty commissioner for the Government of Ontario for Treaty 9 in 1905 and 1906, along with two Dominion commissioners, Duncan Campbell Scott, of Ottawa, Ontario, Esquire, and Samuel Stewart, of Ottawa, Ontario, Esquire. MacMartin was the sole commissioner nominated by and representing the province of Ontario under provisions which reads: "That any future treaties with the Indians in respect of territory in Ontario to which they have not before the passing of the said Statutes surrendered their claim aforesaid shall be deemed to require the concurrence of the government of Ontario."
Under the provisions of this clause, the terms of the treaty were fixed by the governments of the Dominion and Ontario; Daniel G. MacMartin and the two other commissioners "were empowered to offer certain conditions, but were not allowed to alter or add to them in the event of their not being acceptable to the First Nations." MacMartin's role was to protect the interests of the Ontario government whose agreement to make the treaty had to be sought and in whose jurisdiction reserves will be chosen and surveyed. MacMartin was to ensure that no reserves were located in areas with water power or mineral resources with future potential.
MacMartin's incomplete 1905 journal was donated to the Queen's University archives in 1968. Although the journal was accessed by other researchers
its significance was not fully recognised until c. 2010. Until the contents of diaries were revealed, details about the signing of the constitutionally recognized agreement were known only through the accounts of Duncan Campbell Scott and Samuel Stewart, commissioners appointed by the Government of Canada. The journals of the other two – Samuel Stewart and Duncan Campbell Scott, both former employees of the Department of Indian Affairs, were easily accessible at the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa.
MacMartin's diaries provide another perspective on the Treaty 9 tracing the treaty's origins, negotiation, explanation, interpretation, signing, implementation, and recent commemoration.
He was a miner from Perth, Ontario and was considered to be an Indian Affairs outsider, albeit someone who was politically well-connected.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Daniel G. MacMartin” is treaty commissioner for the Government of Ontario (1870-1921). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Daniel, MacMartin and treaty, not as a finished interpretation.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5217221. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1844, 1923, 1905 and 1906.
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This entry incorporates text from “Daniel G. MacMartin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.