This email and others like it are the very reason why teaching Treaty Ed is so important to everyone. We need to educate our students on the whys and help them develop empathy.
There is so much ignorance and misunderstanding. In order to properly educate people about the present, we first need to teach them about our history and why things are the way they are. We need to be sure to include a variety of teaching tools and make the lessons personal instead of just using lectures and articles. Movies, novels, guest speakers etc. that portray first-hand experiences and perspectives will help to create this empathy and give our a students a new level of understanding.
The people with these damaging attitudes are most likely to spread this racism and participate in the institutionalized injustices FNMI people in Canada face. Like Claire said in her video, we need to “put even more effort into the cultural programming and teaching these histories and building these relationships”. In Claire’s interview with Dr. Mike Capello, she talks about how we are not just educating children, we are educating their parents and families too, and in turn, the entire country. This perspective is important to recognize as we as educators need to communicate to families why we are doing what we are doing.
We are only as strong as we are all together. We all live on treaty land and this is the history of our country. Like Claire said, it is just as much “Settler Ed” as it is Treaty Ed. We cannot teach our students about Canada and Saskatchewan without acknowledging Treaty Education. Together, we can move forwards towards a stronger, more equitable Canada, but only if we begin by addressing the past and how it affects all of us.
In summary, I would include in my email that because we live in Canada and we live on Treaty 4 Land, we are all treaty people. We can’t study the history of our country and province without studying Treaty Ed. Treaty Ed helps us to understand our identities and why we are where we are. While some of this history is painful and embarrassing, we can not fully understand our present and the work being done to create a better future without the knowledge of our past. This knowledge also contributes to social and emotional learning and builds empathy and understanding. Because the majority of our student body is white, it is actually just as, if not more important to be educating them on Treaty Ed because understanding the history and lived experiences of your neighbours, classmates and fellow citizens makes for a more equitable and united Canada.