Let’s have a quick chat about why treaties matter. Until I really dug into this topic, I thought that treaties were outdated agreements that nobody really paid any attention to anymore. I was wrong. This misinformation is why we have Treaties Recognition Week.
Before Europeans made contact, treaties started out as nation to nation agreements about peace and friendship. Treaties between Indigenous nations and the government include agreements about things like land entitlements and hunting rights. These treaties remain legally binding agreements today, which is why we need to know about them.
It is everyone’s job to acknowledge that treaties exist and ensure that they are being respected. We have rights and obligations based on these treaties, and if we are working to nurture relationships with Indigenous groups in the spirit of truth and reconciliation it is important for everyone to understand this.
It’s important to note that the word “treaties” appears twelve times and the word “treaty” appears six times throughout the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action document. Acknowledging treaties in all aspects of our daily life as Canadians is essential.
A fun activity you can do to acknowledge Treaties Recognition Week is to take a look at https://native-land.ca to find out which treaty or treaties your home and workplace reside on. You can dig into the map and links on this page, and once you’ve found a treaty you can learn about what the treaty says as well as dates and people involved. I live and work on the territory of treaty 13, for example, and I was able to see the transcript of the treaty itself.
Have you heard of the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada? Here’s a link to the article about Treaties.
There’s also a great book called We Are All Treaty People (by Maurice Switzer and Charley Hebert, 2011) that appears to be out of print.
Here is a Youtube video read aloud of the book by the Anishinabek Nation.
Join in the conversation by commenting below.
What are you doing to acknowledge Treaties Recognition Week?
One comment