ECS 203 Blog Post #5 Responding to email about Teaching Treaty Education and the Purpose of Teaching Treaty Ed

 In this weeks blog post I will be responding to an email about Treaty Education. I will also be discussing the purpose of teaching Treaty Education, and my understanding of curriculum that "We are all treaty people." I will post the email I am responding to first.

During fall semester several years ago, Dr. Mike Cappello received an email from an intern asking for help. Here's part of it: “As part of my classes for my three week block I have picked up a Social Studies 30 course. This past week we have been discussing the concept of standard of living and looking at the different standards across Canada . I tried to introduce this concept from the perspective of the First Nations people of Canada and my class was very confused about the topic and in many cases made some racist remarks. I have tried to reintroduce the concept but they continue to treat it as a joke. The teachers at this school are very lax on the topic of Treaty Education as well as First Nations ways of knowing. I have asked my Coop for advice on Treaty Education and she told me that she does not see the purpose of teaching it at this school because there are no First Nations students. I was wondering if you would have any ideas of how to approach this topic with my class or if you would have any resources to recommend.”

My response to the intern- Hello, Dr. Cappello's intern. I am sorry to hear that you did not have a good experience trying to teach about Treaty Education. It is very upsetting to hear that this topic is not taken seriously/ dismissed inside the school you are at. It is important we all learn the topic of treaty Education because it is an important part of our country's history. Everyone should understand it, even if there are no First Nations students, so we are all aware of the past. I recommend you understand the students' views and knowledge on Treaty Education and go from there to guide them into understanding this topic's past/ present/ future. You can bring Elders into the school and have them share stories with the students. Doing a land acknowledgement of the treaty territory you are on. Approaching Treaty Education in all subjects will help students gain a positive understanding of the topic and the past of Treaty Education. 

The purpose of teaching Treaty Ed. in the classrooms when there are no First Nations, Metis, or Inuit people is because it is an important part of Canadian history. Teaching this topic is important because all students should know the relationships between different cultures and how the land has been shared. Indigenous peoples had to fight for the land that they originally occupied. Teaching students about the harsh things our country has done to Indigenous peoples will help students understand what our government has done to them and the ways they are healing now. It is important to be educated about Treaty Ed. so we can teach our students the truth of the past about residential schools, treaties, etc. The purpose is to educate all students to help our country's journey toward reconciliation. 

My understanding of the curriculum is that "We are all treaty people" means we all live on treaty territory and have treaty rights. We are all sharing the land that Indigenous settlers agreed to share with European colonists and the resources that came along with the land. We all should respect and care about one another. We are here to help our country with its path to reconciliation by sharing the truth of the past. 

Comments

  1. KateJune 17, 2023 at 12:04 PM

    Hi Morgan! I am sorry for the late reply--its apparent to me now that I commented on someone else's wrong post. It took me a good 45 minutes to back track and figure who and what I am missing. I think you are right to note that Treaty education is important for all students, maybe more so even with non Indigenous students. Likewise, you mentioned the incorporation of treaty ed into all courses--I think you are absolutely right. I truly believe if we treat treaties as a outcome to achieve, we will find ourselves in a similar position as we are today. Repairing treaty relationships require integration. Can't treat founding peoples of Canada as a peripheral "topic" and expect these relationships to improve.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"The Problem of Common Sense" by Kumashiro. (ECS 203 Response)

  In " The Problem of Common Sense"  by Kumashiro, Kumashiro defines common sense as what everybody should know regarding the society and community they belong in. Common sense is the normalcy for different cultures where things are only done in a certain way that everyone follows. There are different views of common sense throughout other parts of the world. An example of common sense in Nepal was Kumashiro not cooking with rice, veggies, and lentils and the neighbours saying Kumashiro did not know how to cook because it was common in the Nepal community. In Nepal's schools, the lecture-practice-exam approach towards teaching was incorporated as common sense to the students and teachers in Nepal. Kumashiro is there to help share new teaching methods, but the students need clarification and question Kumashiro because they learn in ways that challenge their common sense.    It is so important to pay attention to common sense because it becomes the norm for differ...
Read more

ECS 203 Blog Post #6 Numeracy and Literacy

Part 1(Numeracy): While watching Gale's lecture, we learn that Inuit mathematics and Eurocentric mathematics are learnt in different ways. An example she states is that Inuit mathematics challenges Eurocentric ideas about the purpose of mathematics and the way we learn it, that the Indigenous worldview focuses more on relationships and is connected with spiritual, emotional, physical, and intellectual. In contrast, the European worldview is linear, static, and singular. In Poirier's article, he states that the Inuits have a different teaching method. Traditional Inuit teaching is by listening to an elder or enigmas, which help as clues to solve problems in math. The teachers do not ask questions that a student cannot answer. They learn orally rather than through the European worldview, which is written form. A third-way Inuit mathematics challenges Eurocentric ways is stated in Bear's article. He says in the Inuit worldview, all ideas are connected in a circle of kinship an...
Read more