Something I was not lucky enough to be taught in school was treaty education. During lecture today the question came up of “did any of you have treaty education in school” there was about 10% of the class whos hands went up. Being from Alberta I have been able to see the difference in the educational process between the two provinces and what the Saskatchewan curriculum emphasizes compared to the Alberta curriculum.

Treaty education is more than understanding that there were treaties signed between the first nations and the settlers coming to Canada. There is a meaning behind what a treaty means, its definition, and what it means today. The reason to teach treaty education to the children and youth of today is to give them the context of what has happened in history in regards to treaties and their meaning.

On a more general note, treaty education is important because it teaches students about the cultures of the first nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples and shows them how to appreciate it. It teaches them to be accepting and show support for causes like #orangeshirtday.

Something that was said in lecture today was “we are treaty people”. This idea brings about more than treaties being a part of our history living in Canada. Looking at where we came from in the ancestry of families who came to Canada and settled here there is a huge amount of meaning behind treaties. Treaties are what made Canada what it is today. Without the agreement to share the land between the British settlers and the indigenous peoples of the time the people that make up Canada and the cultures today would have been very different. Being “treaty people” means more than knowing about treaties, being a treaty person is respecting the treaties that were signed, respecting what those treaties meant, respecting the ceremony of making an agreement. A treaty person is honorable, accepting and supportive of others and their cultures. A treaty is a binding of two groups to make one. A treaty is a promise. Being a treaty person is to honor the agreements that were made when Canada was taking its first steps towards becoming the country it is today.

Coming from a different province and having a different upbringing in the schooling I was taught I don’t understand where the disconnect came in emphasizing this part of the curriculum. Why isn’t this taught in Alberta? Why isn’t this information mandatory to be taught and why is it just put on a shelf where we say “I don’t know how to integrate this into all the classes”? As a student and developing teacher, I want to know why I was deprived of this critical information and why my eyes were not opened to this when I was in school?