Miskâsowin: Treaty Event

Treaty education may seem like a daunting task. Settler educators may think that it is not their placed to educate on a culture that is not their own whether that is in their classroom, in the staff room, at their home and even in their community. I know this is what I had thought before my education journey.

What many do not know is, if you live in Canada every day you are benefiting from treaties. Many individuals that grow up in most school systems in Canada have the dark history of our country hidden from them. The importance of treaty education is not just about doing the blanket exercise once to not talk about it again, it is not just a couple of worksheets labelling the numbered treaties and it is not about knowing all the correct dates. Treaty education is understanding the importance and history of the land you walk on every day, to me it is the awareness that leads to justice. When reaching those awareness and justice goals appropriately in an elementary setting/young children in your life, you can start with teaching respect and understanding others emotions as well as their own. This will begin to give the children an open mind and respect for everyone around them no matter what they may hear at home or in the hallway. When it gets to middle and high school years I believe we should not hide the truth of our countries history from them. We should be promoting treaty education in a way that is not just ticking off part of your to-do list, it is much more important than that. Treaty education can go beyond the classroom the awareness that supports justice but starting in the classroom will give the children those understandings as well as it is very beneficial to have those even deeper understandings as an educator. Knowledge and resources are out there and not hard to access. If you hear someone make a comment that can be seen as racist or derogatory do not jump down their throat or raise your voice. Asking gently why they think the way they do will spark an open conversation and the opportunity for you to teach them about the truths. Again, you do not have to go deep for the first discussion as you can’t change someone’s thoughts and opinions overnight. Treaty education is not something you can discuss or learn in one day, it is a process, it is a journey. These are all things that I had learned through this class especially through planning the treaty event with all of my peers. Planning with Jen, Jodie and Josh opened my eyes to all the conversations one can have with others that may not have the same understandings as you. The treaty event I believe was a great success and a really good learning experience for myself and my peers.