I was born and raised in a small southern town in Saskatchewan and I have seen the effects that it has had on my outlook on life. throughout my early education, I was taught the small town living lifestyle and nothing really more than that. although I saw no problem with this as a young student, I would learn as I got older that the small-town lifestyle is very different from city living. I was taught by my parents to look out for yourself and the people that are close to you. not that this was a bad thing to be taught but once I got out into the cities for post-secondary schooling, I found a big difference between the two lifestyles. both of my grandparents were traditional farmers and that shaped the way I saw people as they would often push Canadian ideas and were very scared of any kind of change. the more I listened to them the more I heard about how “other” people of different cultures were bad for Canada. I soon learnt that this was not the case and that life is supposed to be shared with everybody in the world and that we should cherish the diversity of Canada.
Throughout my schooling, I was taught that the indigenous people were the problem with the world by some older social studies teachers. this showed me that the “single story” was still alive and in some places teachers are still trying to push this idea. I soon felt that this was how everybody viewed the indigenous people and it was a weird point in my life and I look back at it now and realize that I was wrong for thinking like that. My education degree is a Social Studies major with a physical education minor in secondary education. the reason why I chose to do social studies is I am obviously interested in history and the past but most importantly I want to tell the real story of the indigenous people. if I can teach treaty education the way it is supposed to be taught. I can try and reverse some of the “single stories” that students come into school already having.