Miskâsowin – Finding one’s sense of origin and belonging, finding one’s self, or finding one’s center. To me, the process of Miskâsowin means figuring out who you are, where you come from, where your ancestors come from, or even where you find yourself in the present. After reading the first couple chapters of Chelsea Vowel’s novel Indigenous Writes, I discovered many things, but one thing that stood out to me was how she referred to people who do not find themselves categorized as a white settler nor an Indigenous person as “non-black peoples of colour” or non-black POC. As a person who was born and raised in Canada, but from Filipino immigrant parents, I found it difficult categorizing myself. Through this reading I learned that the term ‘Canadian’ is simply a category of citizenship (Vowel, 2016) and that the term ‘settler’ can also be used to refer to individuals who move to Canada to settle – such as immigrants (Vowel, 2016).
As I mentioned on the first day of class, I never learned what it meant to be living on treaty land nor what it meant to be a treaty person until I got to University. All I knew was that Saskatoon – where I was born and raised – is treaty 6 territory. Even after learning about treaties, I still can’t seem to find how I am a treaty person other than the fact that I am currently living on treaty land. I believe that this is due to the fact that my ancestors did not take part in the creation of the treaties. I understand that this is important knowledge to have and to teach, as treaty education is important to have in today’s classrooms. However, how am I supposed to teach something or incorporate something into my pedagogy that I know so little about? Or how can I tell people that we are all treaty people when I struggle to fully understand my own identity as a treaty person? With that, through this class and through my journey of miskâsowin, I hope to gain further knowledge and understanding on what it means to be a treaty person other than living on treaty land. Furthermore, I want to learn more on what the treaties are, the importance of the treaties, and how is it that although I am non-black POC (Asian/Filipino), a second generation settler (immigrant) I am considered a treaty person.