Treaty Ed is such an important part of any Canadian student’s education. We all live on treaty land so it benefits us all to learn about the history of treaties. It is important to help students and other teachers realize just how important it is for all of us to include FNMI content and treaty education. I would recommend sitting down with your coop teacher and having a conversation about the importance of learning about treaty education and FNMI content. I will mention some resources that may help you strengthen your reasoning for teaching this content to your students.
Every student can benefit from learning about FNMI content and perspectives even if none of them are First Nations, Metis, or Inuit peoples. In Dwayne Donald’s lecture, “On What Terms Can We Speak?”, he mentions that if we want to think about the future, we have to work backwards and carefully understand the past. We cannot move forward without looking back and a large part of Canada’s history involves FNMI perspectives as Canada is their homeland. This is why we don’t teach about other cultures and perspectives as much; they still have a homeland somewhere else that connects them to their heritage and culture. If we refuse to teach about FNMI perspectives and content then we are creating a separation between their homeland and their culture. As Claire Krueger discusses, teachers impress upon students who matters and who does not matter. If we only teach a white perspective, we are telling our students that FNMI perspectives do not matter and are not important. This affects students for their entire lives and creates a prejudice against FNMI peoples and their cultures. We help mould students as learners and as people. By not bothering to include FNMI content, we are teaching them that FNMI perspectives do not matter. FNMI content is important to teach no matter if there are few or no First Nations, Metis, or Inuit peoples in your class because cultural programming does not need to be aimed at students who already know all about what is being taught. Students who are not First Nations, Metis, or Inuit peoples should know and understand the things they know and understand.
We are all treaty people. We all live on treaty land so we should all do our part to learn about the history of treaties. The history of treaties is the history of Canada and we have a duty to our students to teach them about Canada’s history. If we are all treaty people, then our curriculum should reflect that and it should not be a choice to teach one perspective instead of another. All voices need to be heard and valued and that is what our curriculum should work to achieve.
Jenna
I love that you mentioned that they should sit down and talk to their coop about the importance. That is so important because it is not just the student’s fault for laughing at what they have to learn it is the teachers that they have potentially had previously that did not bother teaching it. Also yes! It is so important that we do not teach our perspectives and that is exactly what those teachers are doing when they say it is not important to teach FNMI.
supper well thought out!
Cyandra
Hi Jenna, your argument is very strong and easy to follow. I like that you do not put all the trust into the teachers to teach the information and history about FNMI peoples, but also add in that the students are responsible for taking in the information and using it appropriately. I did happen to see a few grammatical errors, as well as some confusing sentences, yet your post was still easy to follow and comprehend, so, thank you!