Post #6 – Citizenship and Treaty Education

Engage with the Joel Westheimer video and the podcast by Dr. Mike Cappello. What’s your understanding of citizenship? How can we relate Treaty Education to citizenship?

When I used to think of citizenship I would think if immigrants and people who are new to Canada. I would think of applying and then taking the citizenship test and then taking the oath during your citizenship ceremony. As of recently I started to realize that citizenship is just for people who are new to a country. People who hav e lized there for their whole lives can be a citizen. The video and the podcast also had me thinking about the idea that a citizen or citizenship does not necessarily have to be related to living in a country or things like that. Dr. Mike Cappello talks a little bit about what it means to be a good citizen in his podcast and we also talked more about that in the lecture. Being a good citizen or practising good citizenship can mean many things like sticking up for others, fighting for rights, volunteering for or organizing charity fundraisers/organizations, and overall trying to make the world and society a better place for everyone. 

When relating treaty education to citizenship and being a good citizen I think about what Dr. Cappello said in his podcast episode about land acknowledgements. He said that it is not good enough to just say the land acknowledgement or saying a land acknowledgement to be politically correct or a’good person’. When you say a land acknowledgement you should be recognizing the bad intentions of the white settlers when signing the treaties. You need to recognize the way Indigenous peoples were treated in the past. However you also need to be actively trying to improve and learn – actions speak louder than words. Dr. Cappello quoted an Ojibway student of his who said “If you are not growing in your relationship with and your understanding of the people you name, you are using us for political correctness”. This quote really stuck with me and helped me to think about how treaty education and citizenship can be intertwined. It is one thing to learn or teach about the treaties and say a land acknowledgement. It is another thing to recognize the intent behind those actions and the actions of the past. However thinking about how you can help or create change will help you become a ‘good’ justice oriented citizen.

Resources

Joel Westheimer: What Kind of Citizen video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9WF4uVcrlU 

OHASSTA Talks – Citizenship Education – Dr. Mike Cappello – https://www.spreaker.com/user/voicedradio/ohassta-talks-citizenship-education-mike