Leaders explain treaty process

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More than 300 students from across the Scenic Valley School Division got a first-hand look at treaty issues at Pesakastew School on March 27, thanks to the efforts of school division workers, area chiefs, and Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations representatives.

Grades 10 to 12 students from Grenfell, Wolseley, Neudorf and Balcarres came to the school on the reserve to learn first hand how the treaty process works and what's at stake for Saskatchewan's First Nations in the treaty process.

It's believed to be the first time such an event was held for non-Aboriginal students in Saskatchewan, said one of the event's organizers, Mike Starr.

"I think it went very well," said Starr after the day-long event. Starr is a band councillor whose portfolio includes education for the Star Blanket First Nation. "It was a very good way to make the students aware of the treaty process, and how it will affect First Nations and non-First Nations peoples here in the future."

The idea for the seminar came from the school division's education equity committee, said Pat Lyster, the division's student services co-ordinator.

"The treaties will have a big impact on everyone's future, and we want our students to know how they will affect everyone in their future."

The day was also part of a process of teaching issues concerning First Nations peoples in district schools, she added.

One of the guest speakers was FSIN Grand Chief Perry Bellegarde, who condensed almost a century and a half of history between Saskatchewan's first peoples and the British and Canadian governments into a 40-minute speech.

In his talk to the students at the school gymnasium, Bellegarde, who grew up on the nearby Little Black Bear First Nation, outlined a viewpoint rarely taught in most of Saskatchewan's history or social studies courses in school: the treaties, such as Treaty 4, from the viewpoint of the 13 chiefs who originally signed the document in 1874.

Treaty 4 was signed in Sept. 15, 1874 in Fort Qu'Appelle between the Canadian government and First Nations whose traditional lands encompassed about 75,000 square miles in what is now southern Saskatchewan and southeastern Manitoba. It is one of 14 numbered treaties signed between the Canadian government and First Nations in what are now the Northwest Territories, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Northern Ontario between the 1860s and the 1930s.

The chiefs originally signed the document to share the lands of what would become Saskatchewan, but never agreed to give up the title or the rights to that land.

He also explained the concept behind what was offered to First Nations peoples in the treaties, such as education and medical services.

The text of what was granted First Nations often didn't match with what was translated into the Cree and Saulteaux languages for the chiefs to understand, and many misunderstandings arose.

"For example, when we were to be taught - our young to be given an education - we were told that the federal government would build a little red schoolhouse to teach them."

Pointing to the modern school where the students spent the day, Bellegarde asked, "Does this look like a little red school to you?"

Complicating relations between First Nations and non-First Nations people were actions made by the federal government after the treaties were signed, Bellegarde told the students.

In 1876, the federal government passed the Indian Act, which was designed to control the activities of First Nations people. The people affected by the legislation resented it, but could do little to fight back. Until 1957, First Nations peoples weren't allowed off the reserve, and could not sell their goods or even butcher their cattle except with the Indian agent's permission.

"You have the three Rs in your education? Well, we had the three Rs when we lived under the dictatorship of Indian agents - it was repulsive, repugnant, and reprehensible."

It's a side f Saskatchewan history that many residents either don't know or don't want to know, he told the students.

Bellegarde also mocked the concept of "political correctness," acknowledging the confusion over even what to call North America's first residents.

"Some in Saskatchewan like the word 'Indian.' But there's some, especially as you go further east, who don't like the term.

"They say 'Columbus called us Indians because he landed here and thought he was in India. What would we have been called if Columbus were actually searching for the country of Turkey? Would we be called 'Turkeys' then?'"

Other guest speakers included Chief Irvin Starblanket of the Star Blanket First Nation, FSIN Vice Chief Morley Watson, Elder Gilbert Starr of the Star Blanket First Nation and former FSIN vice chief and representative president of the Touchwood File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council, Vern Bellegarde.

The students were divided into groups and spent time with the guest speakers in seminars discussing treaty issues.

It wasn't all work, though, as students also took part in poster making and other cultural displays. Over the noon hour the Red Dog Singers treated them to a performance, and dancers from nearby reserves also performed.

Lyster told the students that area chiefs and councils, along with the FSIN, made time to meet with them and bring attention to treaty issues.

"This is the First Nations' equivalent of having the premier and half his cabinet here to meet you," she said.

About 30 per cent of the Scenic Valley School Division's students come from First Nations, she estimated. The division has about 1,350 students enrolled from kindergarten to Grade 12.