‘We want them to understand, not fear’: treaty commissioner invites school staff to education sessions

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This article was published 27/10/2021 (1773 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Loretta Ross likens the premise of a treaty to the fundamental point of pinky-promises.

In fact, the Manitoba treaty commissioner recommends elementary school teachers use a discussion about promises as a jumping-off point for treaty education.

“Two parties came together and made a promise on how to live well together,” says Ross, describing, in simple terms, the underpinning of seven documents (Treaty Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10) signed between First Nations people and the state to outline terms to share the territory within Manitoba’s borders.

“Kindergarten students understand promises. When you promised your child, ‘Let’s go get ice cream at McDonald’s,’ and you don’t, they’ll say: ‘But you promised.’ They know accountability in terms of what was promised and how you can work together to keep that promise — so a promise is a perfect way to start.”

Teachers can then build on that notion, she adds, so that by the time students obtain their high school diploma, they have a good understanding of the current treaty relationship and their personal responsibility in it.

This school year marks a decade since the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba began offering programming to teachers at all levels, between kindergarten and Grade 12, to complement the provincial curriculum.

Next week, the commission will host the first of its 2021-22 open sessions for school staff to both learn and brush up on their knowledge of treaties, from a First Nations perspective. The training will include everything from an elder’s view on treaties to discussions about the importance of First Nations’ oral tradition to guidance on modelling lesson plans and localizing the teaching of treaties.

Ross said the upcoming opportunities for professional learning, which are being held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic, aim to offer participants a holistic understanding of treaties.

“A lot of people are actually afraid to teach about treaties because they don’t know, because they’re afraid to offend,” she says. “We want them to understand, not fear (treaty education).”

There are opportunities to introduce treaties across all subjects, according to Ross — whether it’s assigning treaty reenactment plays in drama or researching the sites where treaties were entered in geography.

In the treaty commissioner’s experience, the three most common misconceptions people have are: the written-texts are all-encompassing; they are historical artifacts; and they only benefit First Nations people.

“Everybody has benefited from treaties. If you own a house, well, you’re able to own a house and buy a house because First Nations people shared the land. People don’t think of that as a benefit anymore, but it is,” she says, adding treaties are part of a shared history rather than simply an Indigenous history in Manitoba.

Approximately 6,500 school staff, including educational assistants, bus drivers and trustees, have participated in treaty training since the commission rolled out a pilot project tailored for Grade 5 and 6 educators in 2010.

As a result of the treaty education that has taken place over more than a decade, Ross says students have been able to learn and express their understanding of the treaty relationship through poems, murals, and plaques for their schools, among other projects.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie