I could not access the student’s email it said I didn’t have permission, so I will instead answer the prompts
- What is the purpose of teaching Treaty Ed (specifically) or First Nations, Metis, and Inuit (FNMI) Content and Perspectives (generally) where there are few or no First Nations, Metis, Inuit peoples?
I feel there are two major reasons to have treaty education be taught even if there aren’t many people of that culture. the first reason is to eliminate some of the misconceptions and stereotypes that first nations people have, such as getting everything free, not having to pay taxes etc. while some of these things are truly many people don’t understand the full extent in which they apply. And some people don’t even know why the treaties were created in the first place, so having a better knowledge of our shared history will only benefit us as a people in the future. secondly, even if there is a small amount of the people living in the society they still have the right to learn about their history, benefits and even trauma that the treaties have given. A first nation’s person who is educated on what happened to their ancestors and how they can live with the treaties will not only be a benefit for themselves but for all, a more happy and educated society will benefit any community.
What does it mean for your understanding of the curriculum that “We are all treaty people”?
When I was growing up learning about treaties and how the land we are on was taken by miscommunication and lies that the Canadian government strategized to take the land diplomatically, I did not care at the time since it wasn’t affecting me. but then I realized how it affected my friends. many of them told me about having to go to the reserve on a regular basis or else they would lose their property on that land, or if they wanted to buy a major purchase they needed to get shipped to the reserve land or they won’t get tax-exempt. these things again never affected me. now it affects me more, if I were to have a child with my partner they would not have Indian status since my partner is a 6(2) “Indian” my child would not get dental coverage, education, tax exemption, right to hunt, etc so the saying “we are all treaty people could not be truer. Even if you feel like it doesn’t affect you now, it might one day.
The treaty was made between the first nations people, and the newcomers. today these treaties are still between the first nations people and those “newcomers” have become the government and the people who live here. So the treaties affect everyone; we are all treaty people.