Curriculum as Treaty Education
Posted On February 3, 2022
A major proponent in educating non-Indigenous individuals on Treaty Education specifically is to install an attitude of understanding meant to create cooperation and dialogue between two seemingly opposing systems of knowledge. Generally teaching First Nations, Metis, and Inuit (FNMI) Content and Perspectives in non-Indigenous space provides intellectual and spiritual benefit because it contributes to and creates a holistic worldview in the student. Land pedagogy is rooted in challenging genocidal attitudes, or colonialism, and often times, can be an uncomfortable experience for many students new to this pedagogical approach. However, it must be done for not doing so will contribute to the product of genocidal attitudes found in many members of society who ignore the lived experiences of FNMI. Dwane Donald defines colonialism as, “an extended process of denying relationship whether it be with the places that we live, our head and our heart, or people who look different from us, and so everybody’s been colonized – doesn’t matter what colour your skin is or where you’re from” (Donald. Donald., On What Terms Can We Speak? 12:30. https://vimeo.com/15264558. 2010).
Donald believes a large reason why this relationship exists on a continuum because “disconnection is the legacy of colonialism.” There are a variety of reasons as to why many students joke about issues regarding race and poverty, especially if they have little exposure to it in their lives – either first-hand or within the community that they live. Naturally, when one exists as an outsider from a culture different to their own, one’s primary instinct might be to make people inside the culture intelligible in one way or another, usually at the expense of those belonging to the unknown culture or community. Power relations continue to be enacted when little is done to rectify the ongoing lax in a classroom surrounding FNMI experiences. Generally, the reason for the lack of wanting to explore and gain knowledge of another’s lived experience is due to lacking awareness in how the lives of others is relevant to one’s own. Many students do not take seriously consequences of colonialism because as they are too busy being distracted and lured in by the luxuries of colonialism. Educating those from the top-down is the foundation of grass-roots movements, so that those who may be in a position of power or privilege can then learn how to work with and work within an oppressive system they are inherently bound up in. Case in point, Cynthia Chambers describes her experience of being bound up in a narrative different from her own in one of the chapters of her book, We Are All Treaty People. She states, curriculum encompasses all individuals as treaty people which puts a necessary focus on land and territory in relation to one’s responsibility to the rights associated with it. Chambers’ recognizes her own location by stating her Irish and English ancestry, and the immigration fantasy her family had the privilege of living out. However, Chambers also recognizes the shared need amongst her family and her Aboriginal neighbours of making a living, and earning livelihood. In order to make this a reality for everything and everyone, sanctifying the land is of utmost importance and this is done by retelling and re-membering those treaty stories which have been untold and forgotten.
About The Author
BMoolla
Completed: B.A Philosophy Campion College @ The University of Regina 2019 B.A Sociology Campion College @ The University of Regina 2020 B.A Religious Studies (Honour's) Campion College @ The University of Regina 2023 In progress: Faculty of Education Middle Years 2020 - 2024 In Progress: Master's of Education | Second Language Learning University of Ottawa 2023 - 2026