Canada would not exist as it is today without treaties, this being said we are all treaty people. I learned this last year and didn’t really understand what that meant. I continue to learn more about what being a treaty person means and how I am affected by the signing of the treaties. I suggest to all people to learn more about their environment, see how it affects their daily life and challenge them to think what does it mean to be a treaty person and how that makes you, you.

Being a treaty’s person is something I am still learning about. With the little knowledge I have and what I hope to learn through my degree, from classmates, teachers, elder, and various activities, will educate me more and may alter my current beliefs. As of now, I believe being a treaty person is someone living in Canada and understanding Canada past and current events with the aboriginals. I see this with Canada’s history with the aboriginal’s relationship with the treaties. I have learned what the treaties looked like, who are the partners, and how this relationship will take ongoing hard work. Although, all the promises were not followed, the current generation is learning and are making change. This is where I come in, as a future educator, to help students understand and how we can create change and understand the different perspectives.

As a treaty person, I have learned that it is important to learn, explain and teach others what treaties mean. Treaty education is very important. I feel strongly about this and want all people to become more knowledgeable about treaties and aboriginal’s history and how we are still affected by this in our daily life. Understanding our (western) world view and other world views allows us to learn about different perspectives and find similarities and differences between the two. In seminar, myself and my peers/fellow students talked about our earliest memory of learning about residential schools. One person had been learning about them since grade two. This made me think about how much information some of us already have and how we continue to learn about the past. However, I think it is also important to learn about the future and anything else we can learn about aboriginals. Perhaps an elder can talk with students, an elder can lead an activity like smudging, an elder can talk about their life experiences or lead a dance. It is important to educate Canadian students about treaties and to teach students in hopes of life long learning and allow student to see different perspectives and make connections.

Think About… Have you heard that everyone is a treaty’s person? What do you think being a treaty’s person means? How do can you see yourself as being a treaty’s person?