This week I read ” ‘We are all Treaty People’: The Contemporary Countenances of Canadian Curriculum Studies” and watched three videos about Treaty Education. The purpose of teaching Treaty Ed where there are few or no First Nations, Metis, or Inuit people is a very important one. People often have preconceptions about Indigenous people and create a racist view because they have not been taught proper Treaty Ed. If we do not teach Treaty Ed, the cycle of oppression will never end. Dwayne mentions in his video “On what Terms Can We Speak” that “We can’t proceed without looking back”. If we as a society do not acknowledge the past, then we can never truly move forward. Claire states that “the focus needs to be on our non-Indigenous students” because these are the students missing the Indigenous perspectives in their home life. During the video where Mike and Claire discuss Treaty’s in the curriculum, Claire mentions an 8 year old saying that they would not have been able to breath because they are allergic to mold and Residential schools where often moldy. This comment proves that although elementary students are young, they are able to deal with troubling things, sometimes better than adults. Teaching students when they are young and open-minded helps prevent oppression in the future.

The fact that we are all treaty people has an impact on my understanding on the curriculum. If we are all treaty people, then learning about Treaty Ed is important for everyone. Claire mentions that Indigenous students do not need to learn Treaty history, most of them already know. They want to be treated equally and they want their peers to understand who they are and where they come from. Teaching Treaty Ed within the curriculum allows for students to understand their peers better and become more inclusive citizens of society. Mike mentions that “this is not going to become less important” and so it is crucial that Treaty Ed is being constantly implemented into classrooms today.