Dear Dr. Cappello’s Intern,
I am very sorry to hear about your experience with not only trying to teach treaty education within your classroom and not receiving good feedback from your students but also the lack of support you have received from your fellow colleagues. I disagree with what your Coop said about how there is no purpose in teaching treaty education due to the lack of First Nation students as that can create more oppression against First Nations as we will create more ignorant students who are not aware of the issues surrounding our First Nation’s communities.
There is a huge purpose of teaching Treaty Education or FNMI content where there are few or no First Nations, Metis, or Inuit people present because the history of the Indigenous people is a part of all of us as we all live on Indigenous land making us all treaty people. Teaching this to students also creates more knowledgeable students on the topic of Indigenous people and their history which can help challenge oppression and stigmas.
The phrase “we are all treaty people” means to me that all of us in Canada play a major part in reconciliation, no matter who we are because we all live on treaty land. We must educate ourselves and each other to respect our Indigenous communities and by doing so we can continue to heal these communities that have been greatly broken and mistreated.
To approach teaching treaty education within the classroom, I would start with sharing with the students how this greatly affects all of us as we are all treaty people. Creating a connection and showing the students how this affects them will bring engagement and self reflection. I would also suggest incorporating storytelling from an Indigenous person as hearing the stories actually told by someone who is at a first hand account will emphasize the impact this has on Indigenous people. Lastly, create space for discussion and recognize students may not know as much as they are expected to about treaties. As learnt through this week’s videos it may be hard to discuss these treaty education concepts without the students even knowing the basics yet.
Regards,
Reid
I want to begin with thanking you Reid for your time and writing this blog. I always appreciate the second perspective. Along with that I am very impressed with your email style blog especially being that you don’t have any sections of words that are too big for an email. I think it was very kind of you to acknowledge the feelings of the other person reading this email. I do 100% agree with you that due to the lack of First Nation students when teaching treaty education it totally can cause more oppression against the First Nations as we are creating more ignorant students because they aren’t aware of these situations and issues that involve our first Nations communities. It is time to challenge oppression and stigmas by acknowledging this history that is before us. and speaking about how we are all treaty people I think that is a really important part to incorporate in our schools whether or not it is liked. It has to be learned and acknowledged because we really have to get treaty Ed into our classrooms. This will create connections as we show the students to the point they can self reflect. You are 100% right in saying that it may be hard to discuss treaty education with students at any age as the young ones might not completely understand and the middle Ages might argue or be disrespectful but you just can’t give up and you have to keep getting through to the students.
Sincerely Charlee