I believe that even as a teaching professional, asking for further support in a situation one may feel unknowledgeable, is the best way to begin addressing a topic that needs to be further explored in this classroom.

It begins with understanding our role as people who live on treaty land, whether Indigenous or not, and what that means in regards to how our own personal stories have shaped and formed the ways we live. This speaks for Indigenous and Non Indigenous people across the country, who are Treaty people, and recognizes that there is an imbalance in the ways in which Treaty agreements can affect and benefit select Canadians. Implying treaty education only fits in a place where there are Indigenous people, increases the separation already existent and allows settlers to remain in a position of comfort with the privileges they possess. From what you describe in your students initial reaction, addressing and confronting some of the unpleasant gestures and responses will be a difficult discussion to approach by all means, and it is going to feel uncomfortable. In a previous class, I resonated with a term that spoke about the need for teachers to engage in courageous conversations with students, often about topics that provoke feelings and opinions which can create levels of discomfort, as this may confront and challenge their ways of thinking about a topic. In this case, the majority of your students are non Indigenous and did not acknowledge how they are part of treaties, while assuming that only Indigenous people are the sole beneficiaries of Treaty promises. This ideology has probably been long engraved in ways in which they were raised and brought up, not allowing themselves to familiarize with the importance of understanding what it means to be a treaty person in Canada.

Recognizing all people as treaty people, is a way to start to bridge some of the gaps that exist in the knowledge surrounding treaty education in classrooms and areas outside of educational environments. As teachers, we are on the frontlines of identifying and conveying to our students that we are all treaty people and must realize that to close the gaps that fuel racism and ignorance that often disregards treaty agreement. The importance of understanding treaties recognizes what they mean today, and identifies that they were present long before any of the ones created by colonial powers. This speaks to the rich history that Indigenous communities and nations had with each other before any of the more “modernized” treaties were signed.