Teaching Treaty Education

When talking about treaty education, and teaching treaty education I try to keep in mind that it is still very new to a lot of educators and students alike. When faced with resistance and racist remarks from supervising teachers, fellow teachers, and students, it is important for us to stand our grounds and reinforce the importance of this subject and what it really means. You can always bring up the fact that it is a required part of the curriculum and needs to be taught whether it is your preference to do so or not.

Being at the beginning of my schooling for Education and not receiving any treat education in elementary or high school this is all still very new to me. I think the thing that has stuck with me the most since I’ve started learning about treaty, is the fact that we are all treaty people. A lot of people assume that the only people that are part of treaties are Indigenous to the land, this is not true. There are always two sides of a treaty, just like there are two sides to every contract. This means that everyone who is living in Canada and has citizenship are part of these treaties; a phrase that I have heard repeated often since I started university, and that I have already mentioned, states, “We are all Treaty People.”

When it comes to treaty education there are still a lot of people who are very resistant to it. I believe a lot of this comes from the negative view of the Indigenous peoples in Canada, that had been portrayed for a very long time, this negative image has stuck around and continues to do so. Many teachers do not see the importance of teaching about treaties and justify this belief by stating that they do not have indigenous students or have very few. What they are failing to see and understand is that we are all treaty people and teaching about treaties is even more important when you have more students whom are not indigenous. If you were to ask a student with an indigenous background about treaty they would most likely already be well educated on the subject; if you were to ask a student who was not indigenous the same question they will most likely have little to no knowledge on the matter. This in itself shows how important it is to teach the subject.

To teach treaty education, is to teach our history; to teach the history of Canada, and more specifically of Saskatchewan. Treaties are how Canada has been shaped into what it is today. When teaching about treaties, indigenous studies or more accurately settler studies, the curriculum now includes the truth about what actually happened. All of the negative things have been brought to light and admitted to, like the horrific era of residential schools, and how indigenous people were forced to leave their homes and give up their land. An important part of teaching history is to make sure we do not make the same mistakes that were made in the past. We teach about the holocaust, but until recently the government has denied the genocide that was committed against the indigenous people right here at home in Canada. As teachers it is our job to work towards a better future by educating the future. In teaching treaty education, we can help students to understand our history and how to create a better future.

Chambers, C. (2012). The Contemporary Countenance of Canadian Curriculum Studies. We are all Treaty People. Chapter 1.

Donald, D. (2010). On What Terms Can we Speak?. ULethbridge Faculty of Education. https://vimeo.com/15264558

Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. (2013). Treaty Education Outcomes and Indicators. https://www.edonline.sk.ca/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_3514_1&content_id=_316144_1&mode=reset