Treaties Recognition Week

 

Treaties Recognition Week was introduced in 2016 to honour the importance of treaties and to educate Canadian citizens about treaty rights and treaty relationships.

This is the time that teachers and students learn about treaties and build greater understanding of the importance of treaties in Ontario, and Canada. Treaties negotiated in this country are the foundation of the relationship between governments and Indigenous peoples and also the foundation of Canada. 

Treaties Recognition Week responds to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action to increase treaty awareness.  This helps create equitable and respectful relationships, enabling a better way forward together.

We have created these videos for you to use to build your own understanding of the importance of treaties, and also to share with your students.  You can use these videos to start the conversation and generate questions for inquiry. 

• Dallas Sinopole’s introduction: 

• In this video Dallas talks about the wampum beads that the belts are made of: 

• This video tells of the Dish with One Spoon Treaty: 

*Make sure to turn the Youtube Closed Captions on in the following videos.  Captions were not included in the original video.

• This Video tells of the Two Row Wampum: 

• This Video Tells of the Treaty of Niagara: 

• This Video tells of the story of The Drum, and how treaties are not always recorded through wampum or pen and paper: 

• This video tells how the game of lacrosse is also viewed as a way to keep peace, much like a treaty: 

• In this video Dallas talks about how everyone living in Canada is a treaty person and has rights and responsibilities that come along with these treaties: 

• In this video Dallas talks about treaty rights today: 

More Resources to support learning about Treaties: 

 

	Links
Just a reminder:  The LKDSB has a license for the (First Nation, Metis, Inuit Education Associaiton of Ontario (FNMIEAO) resources.  The password was emailed to you, but if you need the password resent, send an email to Gretchen Sands-Gamble
If you are interested in building your own understanding of treaties and how they are important to all Canadians and the land upon which we live, the FNMIEAO is offering free treaty education webinars starting on October 26th.	Register here:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfvF_8OM54FavY7cjblfAc1t7VGZecfDBwsZtm2xP6CT7DBNQ/viewform
Live Webinars provided by FNMIEAO 5 different webinars for all grades!  For more information and to register, click on the picture
This is an awesome list of resources provided by FNMIEAO
This is an amazing resource curated by Jodie Williams from the Dufferin/Peel Cathoic School Board.  It shares many great articles, videos and stories of the current fight by Indigenous peoples to maintain their treaty rights across Canada.  By learning more about treaties and the rights that come with them, all people can understand why Indigenous people are fighting for these rights.
Another great resource by Jodie Williams: A bitmoji classroom that contains videos to support treaty learning. Just click the link and make a copy. This is great for virtual and face to face classrooms!	https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZQohkvG5VMu28AwQQLgbGJKkunkSgeGbenHI4ahrITw/copy
The First Nation, Metis, Inuit Education Association of Ontario created this document: Pedagogical Considerations for Treaty Education.  It contains information and many more links to support your own learning about as well as the teaching of treaties.	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B7T1GvG5HkjJkFItqFBXIjbOzQ_AtXj-/view
These are the blog posts I have created in the past about treaties.  These include lots of links, videos, articles and lesson ideas.
This issue of Kayak magazine is all about treaties.

 

Where to next? 

After watching these videos and learning about The Two Row Wampum or the Dish With one Spoon Wampum, ask yourself and your students how this relates to our Traditional Territory Acknowledgement.  

Revisit this blog post Making The Traditional Territory Acknowledgement More Meaningful.  Use the information provided in this video to encourage your students to create a more meaningful Territory Acknowledgement that speaks of treaties, speaks of relationships with the land, speaks of the people whose traditional territory you are on and includes a commitment to these peoples and the land.  

If you have any questions or have student work you’d like to share, please email me at: 

gretchen.sands-gamble@lkdsb.net

Or on twitter:  @msGambleLKDSB