During the winter term of 2022, within the ECS 203 my fellow classmate and I had the chance to take a look at what treaty education is and the importance of why we teach it within our classrooms. It is very disappointing to see how some educators believe it’s not important to teach about First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people just because a school or classroom does not have a bigger population of FNMI students. It is situations such as this one described that show just how important it is to teach treaty ed and indigenous ways of knowing within the classroom. As Claire notes, the purpose of treaty ed is not to reteach FNMI students’ information that they already know, rather it’s to allow for all students to be exposed, and learn about Indigenous people and their ways of knowing. Claire also nots that in turn treaty ed should be called “Settler education” because it is geared towards teaching non-indigenous student about Canada’s history and Ingenious ways of knowing. What educators teach sends a message to students that follows them throughout their life. By not teaching about FNMI people it teaches students that it is not important to talk about what has happened in history and that FNMI people are not important. Together we need to work towards Reconciliation and ensure that history will not repeat itself. We need to improve our thinking and realize that Treaty Education is not any less important than any other type of education, and it deserves to be recognized in our schools.
“We are all Treaty people” carries the meaning that we all stem from the creation of treaties, whether we are First Nations people or settlers. Treaties are a big part of Canada’s past and present; they need to be respected and lived up to. There is still work that needs to be done and changes need to be made in Canada, but by educating the younger generations we are able to take a step in the direction towards Reconciliation, and make a change.
It was great for us students to get the chance to take a deeper look at Treaty Education, and its importance! During ECS 203, we were also given the chance to design our own Treaty Education unit and lesson plan. This unit consisted of four core subject area that used outcomes and indicator within the curriculum to teach to a specify outcome of the Treaty education curriculum in Saskatchewan. Our group chose to focus on the grade 5 curriculum, where we took the subjects Heath Studies, Social Studies, English Language Arts, and Art education and described what a typical lesson plan would look like. We were able to take one step further by designing a lesson plan for one of the four subject areas we chose to focus on. All of the teaching focused on the specific Treaty Ed. outcome, and at the end of the unit students would be able to combine their learnings from each subject to create and finish a project together.
To take a closer look at the unit and lesson plan my group designed, click this link: