Treaty Education

In my opinion, the purpose of teaching Treaty Ed or any First Nations, Metis, and Inuit content and perspectives is to bring awareness to the issues that we see in our society today. Colonialism is a big part of Canadian history and I feel as if it is very important to teach everyone, especially because history tends to repeat itself. It would be horrible if this history did repeat itself. We also need to educate people on the topic so that the relationship between Canadians and Aboriginal people can begin to start the mending process. I believe this should be taught no matter who is in the classroom because it is a conversation that needs to happen in every classroom. According to Dwayne Donald, the legacy of colonialism is the disconnect between Aboriginal people and other Canadians, we need to begin to speak to each on respectful terms. To do this, being educated about the issue is the main goal. He also mentions that pre-service teachers want to do better when teaching this topic which I relate to. I strongly believe in having this conversation with my students and having this positive attitude as an educator also plays a strong role in this relationship. Again, according to Dwayne Donald teachers will teach the topic based off of how they think of the relationship and being attentive to the relationship dynamics.
I was unsure how to answer how we are all treaty people, but as I read further into what Chambers was writing about, I began to understand better. We are all treaty people because we all have a past and stories that got us to where are, for some it was their ancestors coming to Canada from Europe and others it is the colonization and the result of this action. Those who came to Canada were promised the perfect life and were ultimately put under a spell, however, this story is much different for the Aboriginal people. I believe acknowledging both of these stories is important because again, it helps us understand how everything came to be in Canada. The quote “As long as the sun shines and the river flows” alludes to the commonalities among people, which means we are all treaty people. As an educator, my understanding of curriculum and we are all treaty people means to listen to every students’ story and understand how they got to be where they are. For some, they are newly immigrating to Canada because they are promised a good life full of potential and for others, they know the harsh history and their stories are about trying to live with what colonization had destroyed. Also, we are on treaty land which needs to be acknowledged and I believe it’s important to acknowledge that every day. Again, that’s a conversation that needs to happen and it allows the relationship dynamic to be shaped in a much more positive manner.