By Glenn Turner
Treaties Recognition Week
Ontario’s Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation (MIRR) launched Treaties Recognition Week in 2016. Scheduled for the first week of November every year, the event is designed to highlight the importance of treaties and increase awareness of treaty relationships in Ontario. In its first year, the Ministry arranged for guest speakers from Indigenous communities to act as books in Living Libraries, visiting classrooms and talking to students about treaties.
Kate Johnson-McGregor was serving on a Curriculum Revision committee when she heard that the Ministry wanted to expand its Living Library program in 2017. As a longtime teacher-librarian and past-president of the Ontario School Library Association, Kate didn’t hesitate. She could see the value in getting school libraries involved. Not only did Living Libraries and school libraries seem a natural fit, but this would be another way in which school libraries could show their support for Truth and Reconciliation. “We’d be very interested,” said Kate immediately.
Kate’s enthusiasm led to a pilot project of five Living Library events in school libraries around the province. In each case, the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation funded guest speakers to talk to students about treaties and treaty relationships. Here are some of the highlights.
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Elementary School, Newcastle, Ontario
Johnson – Butler Purchases (1787 – 1788)
For Grade 4, 5 and 6 students at St. Francis, the Living Library event was “a real eye-opener”. Library technician Jennifer Cooke notes that students had not previously heard a lot about treaties, and that it was “a new topic” for some. The guest speaker at St. Francis was Ann Taylor, Cultural Archivist from the Curve Lake First Nation. She explained treaties in an easily understandable way and then shared her personal experiences with the students clustered around her on the library floor: storytelling in the best library tradition. Teachers reported that Ms. Taylor really engaged with the children, and that they enjoyed listening to her stories. Jennifer says that she would be happy to run the same event next year, particularly since she has just changed schools and could bring a better awareness of treaties to a whole new group of staff and students.
Wilkinson Public School, Toronto, Ontario
Treaty 13 (1805)
In response to the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, teacher-librarian Joel Krentz has been working for two years to make Indigenous teachings part of his school’s culture. Joel knew that treaty awareness is also highlighted in the Calls to Action, and he was happy to participate in Treaties Recognition Week. Working with his school district’s Aboriginal Education Centre, Joel invited Traditional Knowledge Keeper Clayton Shirt from the Ojibway-Cree First Nation to speak to Grade 5 and 6 classes. Mr. Shirt had previously spoken only to high school audiences, and he came to the Living Library event unsure about how much the younger children would know about treaties. In Joel’s words, it was “a learning experience for all of us”. Mr. Shirt performed a smudging ceremony before speaking of his own story and the importance of the land in relation to treaties. “He was really good,” says Joel; “He had a lot to share.” Joel believes that the event will have an immediate impact on his own teaching in the library. He plans on weaving more references to treaties into his lessons this year.
Brantford Collegiate Institute and Vocational School, Brantford, Ontario
Treaty 4 (1793)
Teacher-librarian Kate Johnson-McGregor was determined that her Treaties Recognition Week event would not be “just a history lesson”. As well as increasing awareness of treaties among staff and students, she wanted participants to think about the “importance of place, and how we occupy the place we do”. To reinforce the contemporary aspects of treaties, Kate invited Woodstock filmmaker Monica Virtue and Aamjiwnaang Elder and author David Plain to speak to classes ranging from Grades 7 to 12. Mr. Plain described the evolution of the region and the province, while Ms. Virtue spoke of living through the 1995 Ipperwash Crisis as a young graduate from film school. As part of the Living Library experience, the guest speakers allowed students to handle artifacts like replicas of a Two-Row Wampum, a calumet and Treaty documents. Teachers were happy with the results. In the words of one teacher, “Having the authentic information provided by David and Monica in an engaging, age appropriate manner enabled our students to connect their in-class learning to that of real life explanations and situations. Collectively, it has changed our thinking, perceptions, and future actions for the better.”
Nepean High School, Ottawa, Ontario
Unceded Territory
Nepean High School — like every other building in Eastern Ontario — sits in territory that has never been ceded by the Algonquin First Nation. This is well-enough known in Ottawa that guest speaker Tim O’Loan did not need to belabour the point. Mr. O’Loan is Sahtu Dene, from the Northwest Territories. An experienced land claims negotiator and former advisor to Truth and Reconciliation Commission Chair Justice Murray Sinclair, Mr. O’Loan’s particular interest is in how land issues fit into the larger context of Reconciliation. For this event, Mr. O’Loan was keen to reach as many students and staff as possible in the space of a day. He spoke to two full-grade assemblies as well as one smaller group — in all, over 600 students — yet was still able to make strong personal connections with individual students in what little free time was left to him at Nepean. Teacher-librarian Glenn Turner says that this was a great start to participating in
Treaties Recognition Week, and that in 2018 he would like to focus even more on local issues. “The fact that we are not governed by a treaty here in Ottawa has everyday consequences for all of us, whether we are Indigenous or non-Indigenous,” he says; “We need to understand what those
consequences are.”
Since the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action in 2015, teachers in Canadian schools have been working toward effectively integrating the history and voices of First Nation, Inuit and Métis people into the work we do as educators. School libraries play a vital role in this work. As keepers of stories, as safe spaces, and as places where inquiry lifelong learning are valued and taught, we are perfectly situated to facilitate the discussion about a history and practice that has previously been largely ignored. Through the Living Library events during Treaties Recognition week, students were able to see themselves reflected in the library learning commons space, and understand that the treaties that have been put in place across this country impact every citizen of Canada.
Glenn Turner is a secondary teacher-librarian at Nepean High School in the Ottawa Carleton District School Board, where he also takes a leadership role, chairing the board’s secondary library association.
Glenn has been writing for publication since 2001. His work has appeared in provincial and national journals for school libraries, and in a national Buddhist magazine. Glenn published his first book, Toronto Carrying Place: rediscovering Toronto’s most ancient trail in 2015.