New online resource a co-learning journey for students and teachers
By Marci Becking
ROBINSON HURON TREATY TERRITORY— The Anishinabek Nation kicked off the fifth annual Treaties Recognition Week in Ontario with a virtual news conference and sneak peek to the new online treaty education resources that will be released in spring of 2021.
Kelly Crawford, citizen of M’Chigeeng First Nation and Assistant Director of Indigenous Initiatives at the University of Toronto – Scarborough campus is the project lead for developing the new resources.
“Treaty education should be happening all-year-round, not just during Treaties Recognition Week or National Indigenous Day. The online resource will be a co-learning journey for both teachers and students,” says Crawford. “I talk with teachers from various school boards and for years their collective comments around treaty education is the same: ‘Why wasn’t I taught this?’, ‘What if I don’t have the answers?’. In education, we are tasked with supporting the on-going growth and development of our students. I see a parallel here in regards to the teaching profession. We are also tasked with the on-going growth and development of ourselves; teaching is not intended to be stagnant. The journey of understanding the treaty relationship and one’s role within it can be a collaborative co-created journey with the teacher and the students. It is okay to take that journey together and have clear discussions of the realities in which we live in. As an educator, you have such great influence for the future leaders of this province. Educators have a role in the story of the treaty relationship…perhaps you are facilitators of a much-needed truthful discussion of connection to land and reconciliation via education.”
Based on the elementary “We are all Treaty People” teachers guide and the Alex Shares his Wampum Belt and Dakota Talks about Treaties books, the online resource will feature videos of different knowledge keepers. The characters Alex and Dakota are actually Alex Hebert from Dokis First Nation and Dakota Bellissimo from Nipissing First Nation leading the students and teachers to different worlds to explore along with them. It will be set up like a game board. And how does the LEGO wampum belt fit in? As one completes the various lessons, the LEGO belt will click into place, like puzzle pieces. The books are based on their respective stories of building an 800-piece LEGO replica Treaty of Niagara wampum belt and the 250th anniversary of the Royal Proclamation at Niagara Falls.
Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Glen Hare participated in the virtual news conference held on November 2. He was promoting the current resources that were developed long before recommendations from the Report of the Ipperwash Inquiry and Truth and Reconciliation Commission report.
“We’ve been saying for years that the treaty education, public education will help eliminate racism,” says Grand Council Chief Hare. “We’re supporting teachers and students by making our treaty kits into online resources so that they can still learn about First Nations and the treaty relationship while at home or in the classroom.”
Various virtual events were held by Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and through the Indigenous Affairs Office of Ontario. The First Nation, Métis, Inuit Education Ontario organization of educators held teacher-training sessions during the week prior to Treaties Recognition Week.
Some northern Ontario radio stations – Moose FM North Bay, Moose FM Sturgeon Falls, Moose FM Algoma/Manitoulin, Moose FM Espanola and Rewind 103.9 Sudbury – are all permanently identifying the Robinson Huron Treaty Territory in their legal identification on an hourly basis. The hope is that more radio stations will join and identify where they are in Ontario.
In addition to the physical copies of the books, e-books are now available to order through www.goodminds.com.
The sneak peek video found on the Anishinabek Nation YouTube channel.
To order Anishinabek Nation treaty education resources, please e-mail: orders@anishinabek.ca