Dr. Mike Cappello received an email from an intern asking for help. Here’s part of it: “As part of my classes for my three week block I have picked up a Social Studies 30 course. This past week we have been discussing the concept of standard of living and looking at the different standards across Canada . I tried to introduce this concept from the perspective of the First Nations people of Canada and my class was very confused about the topic and in many cases made some racist remarks. I have tried to reintroduce the concept but they continue to treat it as a joke. The teachers at this school are very lax on the topic of Treaty Education as well as First Nations ways of knowing. I have asked my Coop for advice on Treaty Education and she told me that she does not see the purpose of teaching it at this school because there are no First Nations students. I was wondering if you would have any ideas of how to approach this topic with my class or if you would have any resources to recommend.”
How I would reply to this email: Teaching treaty education is a very important part of Canada’s history and connects to every person who lives in Canada, whether they are Indigenous or not, and I respect you and am proud of you for striving to teach this in an environment where it has previously not been seen as important. As we know, we are all treaty people. The purpose of teaching treaty education to students who are non-indigenous is teaching them how treaties can affect them too and to teach them how Indigenous peoples are affected by treaties. A non-Indigenous person cannot know the extent to how treaties affect Indigenous peoples, so the closest one can get is to learn about it. Treaty education can give students a different perspective to view our country and history. Historical events told by a non-Indigenous person are very different from those same events told by an Indigenous person. It is important to give students both sides of the story so that they can decide themselves which side they agree with. We as teachers also influence what students think is important and worth knowing, so if we skip over the treaty education part of the curriculum, we are teaching students that it is worth less than the other subjects and that when they leave school and go into the adult world, treaties aren’t important either. From Cynthia Chamber’s writing, a group of students was told “not just [Indigenous peoples] have treaty rights,we are all treaty people” and “the treaties are for you too” (Chambers, 29). Let students know that they too have responsibilities within the treaties.
A great way to tackle students who are not willing to learn about this topic is to acknowledge what makes them treaty people to. As Claire Kreuger shows us, acknowledging the treaty land we are on and presenting it the classroom is a great way to start to encourage students to make personal connections with this topic. Share current personal stories of Indigenous peoples, like how reserves don’t have clean drinking water still to this day, this may help students be more engaged as well.
Claire Kreuger’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWY_X-ikmaw
Chambers, C. (n.d.). We Are All Treaty People: The Contemporary Countenance of Canadian Curriculum STudies. In (pp. 23-38).