I was fortunate enough to attend Treaty 4 Gathering virtually this year. I attended three sessions. Two were pre recorded and one was live. It was a great experience and I learned a lot from the presentations. Especially from Paula Acoose in her live zoom presentations.
Treaty Entanglements: Exploring the Significance of Treaty Understanding Amongst Preservice Teachers
After listening to Sara Solvey’s talk about her research in Alberta, it makes me wonder why Saskatchewan is the only province to mandate Treaty Education in our country. An AHA moment I had from listening to her research was when she said “History is written by the victor.” Doesn’t that make total sense… that is why we didn’t hear about the hidden history of Canada until recently. Another thing I wanted to note was just because we have Treaty Education in our province doesn’t mean we still do not have treaty misrepresentation. Our own views and knowledge on the topic will closely relate to how well we teach or do not teach it in our future classrooms. One thing I liked how she worded it was “understanding how our different history and experience can still bring us together and learning from each other can help us strengthen our relationships instead of weakening them.
Pesto from the Patch: Harvesting, Cooking, and Reducing Food Waste
I have a big passion for food and cooking so I was happy to learn a new recipe! I think it would be something very easy to do with a classroom and incorporating Treaty Ed with let’s say the Math curriculum (measuring), Science (growing of plants), Health (healthy eating) etc.
From Auction to Home: The Journey of a Treaty Four Medal
I was able to attend a live session this afternoon and it was amazing. Paula Acoose, shared her and her husband’s story of how they were able to bring a Treaty 4 medal home to Saskatchewan that they found online for sale. A big part of my belief system is that we learn best from those who experienced it or were passed down the knowledge to share it, rather than from myself preaching it. So I was very happy to attend a session and learn from someone who has experience and a wealth of knowledge to share. I didn’t’ know until today that Treaty 4 was signed 147 years ago and for the last 30 years we have been gathering at Fort Qu Appelle to honor that signing. I also learned that many of the people who signed could not speak fluent English so instead they “touched ” the pen and the secretary put an “x” by their name to acknowledge they were present for the signing.