News

On April 18, 2018 the partners of Heart of Treaty 6 Reconciliation publicly committed to travelling together on a path of reconciliation. Through a pipe ceremony and public signing of a Commitment to Relationships and Trust, they acknowledged common objectives, principles for working together, and a shared vision for reconciliation.

Heart of Treaty 6 Reconciliation is a group of individuals, community-based organizations, governments, faith communities, and businesses from Onion Lake Cree Nation, Lloydminster, Frog Lake First Nation, and Poundmaker Cree Nation that have been coming together since December 2016 to discuss reconciliation. In the spirit of Treaty Six, entered into at Fort Pitt in 1876, we agree on the need to develop stronger relationships and trust among the communities, organizations and individuals making their home in the Heart of Treaty 6 territory.

The historic event was held at Lakeland College Indigenous Student Lounge, Lloydminster.

On Thursday, April 12, the Office of the Treaty Commissioner had a great gathering and learning event with our speakers’ bureau.

Big thank you to our incredible speakers Judge David Arnot and Justice Murray Sinclair.

Find out more about our speaker’s bureau here

In a recent Reconciliation forum held as part of the premier Atamiskakewak National Gathering, the Office of the Treaty Commission (OTC) has reassured persons across the province and by extension Canada, that it has created a safe space for Reconciliation.

Atamiskakewak National Gathering was a week-long conference filled with activities, of which Reconciliation was a key focus. One of the forums, “Faith Relations: Journey of Reconciliation,” held at the Heritage Inn in Moose Jaw, SK., a Reconciliation panel was invited to have a frank discussion about different aspects of Reconciliation and the barriers that may slow down efforts to reconcile among indigenous and non-indigenous individuals.

Rhett Sangster, Director of Reconciliation and Community Partnership at the OTC was part of this panel, along with SheLoves Magazine’s writer and editor, Idelette McVicker, Howard Jolly and Chief Dr Robert Joseph. To kick-off the discussions, Audience members were asked to participate in a group of activities in which they were asked various questions. They were asked to state, “What holds them back from having face-to-face conversations about Reconciliation?”

Several individuals took to the mic to express themselves; some citing: fear, anger, hurt, cultural differences, lack of knowledge, prejudice and a lack of safe spaces.

One audience member said, “There is nowhere to go to have these conversations sometimes because of fear and not even in the church you can find a channel to create this conversation.”

The responses triggered a lengthy discussion.

However, the lack of ‘safe spaces’ was an issue that stood out.

Sangster told the audience that one of the OTC’s aim is to create this safe space for conversations in relation to Reconciliation.

“Some of these responses that I’ve heard whether it is fear of saying the wrong thing and prejudice—this is all education and understanding; a need to know what is the right language to use and why this is relevant to your own history. The OTC has a speakers’ bureau with different partners like churches and we will be happy to create this partnership that you’re willing to engage in and we will work with you,” he said.

“We have a website that we try to make it a place to capture stories of good activities happening. There are a lot of great activities happening across the province and country that we’d love to capture about Reconciliation in action. There, you will see what churches and other big communities are doing.”

He added that the OTC also has an event calendar that lets you know where and when events are happening across the province that individuals can be part of. “The other issue of meeting people who are engaging in discussions–we also have an events calendar to capture places where people can get to know each other. There are a lot of activities out there aimed at promoting Reconciliation that you can be part of. There are resources to address these concerns and safe spaces and the OTC helps to promote this platform and is also a safe space.”

— By Sasha-Gay Lobban

The Office of the Treaty Commissioner partnered with Ecole St. Paul’s school to host a Treaty Fun Night for students and families to learn about Treaties through interactive crafts like Treaty Medal making, Jeopardy Game, Hand Games, Storytelling, and Treaty simulations.

There were about 50 families participating in 15-20 minute activities that rotated from 6:00-8:30 on Mar, 20 at the school. Check out our Facebook page to see some of the great creations

OTC has been working with Ecole St. Paul School since last spring and we wanted to host a Treaty Family night where kids could show the parents how much they’ve learned about the Treaty Relationship.

This was all leading up to this morning’s Treaty Medal unveiling

The Office of the Treaty Commissioner celebrated the Treaty 6 flag raising at École St. Gerard School alongside members of the communities of the Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools, Saskatoon Tribal Council, Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, City of Saskatoon and the Central Urban Métis Federation Inc.

This comes as part of a year of learning for staff and students on Reconciliation and the Treaty relationship.

At the Treaty 6 flag raising event, students shared their knowledge, sang the Treaty 6 song accompanied by drummers from St. Frances Cree School, and student fiddlers from St. Michael Community School played the Métis Anthem

Reconciliation Regina hosted their Invitation to Participate on Tuesday, welcoming organizations, individuals and businesses in Regina to come together to build a healthy, inclusive community.

There are already 80 plus groups working towards increased awareness of the concept of Reconciliation and to create a plan of action for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action for their community.

Regina’s Mayor Michael Fougere spoke at the event held at Regina’s Mâmawêyatitân centre, alongside Treaty Commissioner for Saskatchewan, Mary Culbertson.

“We have to have hope. We have to keep on. If we don’t who will. We’re all here together. No one is going anywhere. We have to learn to work together,” she said.

“Congratulations to Regina. You’re leading in southern Saskatchewan.”

The media attended the event, some of their coverage:
Reconciliation Regina holds ‘pivotal’ first public event

Dialogue an important start as Reconciliation Regina hosts its first public event

Reconciliation Regina holds first meeting at Mâmawêyatitân Centre

Parishioners and visitors gathered in a circle at St. Joseph’s Parish Hall in Saskatoon after Sunday Mass Feb. 4, sharing soup and bannock, listening to the experiences and the wisdom of two Indigenous leaders.

Mike Broda of St. Joseph parish offered a traditional welcoming gift of tobacco to knowledge-keeper Lyndon Linklater and Elder Agnes Desjarlais, to open the gathering, part of a Treaty Elder Series in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon. Linklater and Desjarlais both work at the Regional Psychiatric Centre, where they provide traditional ceremonies as a path of healing. Myron Rogal of the diocesan Office of Justice and Peace also spoke at the gathering.

Linklater, who is also a member of the Office of the Treaty Commissioner’s Speakers Bureau, described his background and growing up years. Both of his parents – and their parents before them — attended residential schools – his Anishinaabe (Ojibway) dad Walter Linklater in Ontario and later in Saskatchewan, and his Cree mother Maria in Saskatchewan, until she ran away from the school she hated, to be hidden and cared for by her grandmother.

“Like many, many First Nations people, we suffered as a result of impact from these residential schools,” Linklater said. “There is a common story that starts to emerge, when you talk to those who attended residential schools; when you talk to their children and grandchildren.” The aftermath has included damaged families and communities, addiction, and dysfunction.

“Today we recognize this illness, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD,” said Linklater, noting that trauma will impact a person physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. “If you have PTSD, all these sociological factors will plague you,” he said. “And every single person that went to these residential schools — they suffered from PTSD, in one form or another.”

Linklater described how his father was taught to reject his traditions, his language, and his identity, to the point where he did not even know that he was Ojibway.

Linklater also reflected on the profound damage caused by removing children from their families. “In the schools, they were so very lonely. I can’t imagine what it must have been like – to be five years old and your mom and dad aren’t there for you, to comfort you, to care for you, to nurture you,” he said.

“We know what it is like to have children, to have grandchildren, and how important it is to have young children feel loved. It is so critical, vital, imperative – if that child grows up without feeling loved, that child is going to be messed up when they get older.” And in Saskatchewan, residential schools were not around for just a few years, but for 122 years, he stressed. “So it is multi-generational.”

The Truth and Reconciliation process has offered a path of healing – for residential school survivors and their descendants who did not always even recognize this obstacle that has been in their path – and for the entire country, which made profound mistakes in its history, said Linklater.

“This is my Canada, this is your Canada, this is our Canada – Canada is the best place in the whole wide world, but it can even be better. And it is up to us as Canadians to make that happen,” he said. “How are we ever going to know where we are going as a country, if we don’t know where we have been? How are we ever going to know not to make the same mistakes, if we don’t even know we made mistakes in the first place?”

Linklater expressed appreciation for the parish event, noting that “for too long we haven’t been able to do this …. We talk about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the 94 Calls to Action – you are doing it right now. You are actually participating in it right now.”

Recognizing the impact of residential schools, and coming to a better understanding of that trauma, has enabled many to walk on a long path of healing, including his own family, Linklater described. “What really, really helped us Linklaters, was that we found our culture, we went back to our traditions.”

Diversity is a gift from God, with peoples of many different appearances, languages and cultures worshipping one Creator, said Linklater, describing the many connections and commonalities between Christianity and Indigenous teachings.

“When I found my traditions, when I found my culture, oh my goodness, you would not believe the many similarities, unbelievable parallels,” he said of his own journey. “We have teachings in our culture to try and love one another, to try and work together, to try and get along with one another, to respect one another.”

Elder Agnes Desjarlais also spoke about trauma and healing. A member of the Muskowekan First Nation near Lestock, SK, Desjarlais and her parents attended Muscowequan Indian Residential School.

Even though there were some positive things about her school experience – she loved learning to read, for instance – the damage caused by the residential school system resonated in her family and community, with alcoholism and broken families. Desjarlais recalled the loneliness and fear of going to the school as a child of six, how students who spoke their own language were punished, and how everyone’s long hair was cut off.

The trauma described by Linklater was a reality, she agreed. “It is really true. That was something a lot of us went through – just being taken from our parents, our homes.”

Now the mother of eight, grandmother of 13 and great-grandmother of three, Desjalais said she found healing as an adult when she began to learn about her culture, and became involved in offering traditional teachings and ceremonies.

“Once I started attending some of the ceremonies, I started feeling better about myself and who I was,” she said. “A lot of my family, people where I am from, are really strong Catholics. We all have to learn to respect each other’s way – we all follow the same God.”

Today she offers traditional teachings and ceremonies to women incarcerated at the Regional Psychiatric Centre, and has found herself reflecting on how similar the prison system is to the residential school system. “A lot of the men and women there have parents and grandparents who went to residential school… it is just one big cycle.”

The path of healing is not an easy one, and involves each new generation, she noted, sharing moments of struggle and heartache in her own family. “All my life I’ve tried to do what I can to help people.”

— Kiply Lukan Yaworski

On Tuesday, the Office of the Treaty Commissioner hosted a welcoming event for the new Treaty Commissioner of Saskatchewan, Mary Culbertson.

It was a great opportunity to meet and have conversation with community partners.

Culbertson begins immediately and will serve as commissioner until January 28, 2021.

To the positions Culbertson brings her extensive experience in public and community service and background in family, criminal and Aboriginal law as well as dispute resolution.

Culbertson is a member of the Keeseekoose First Nation in Saskatchewan and has almost 20 years professional experience working in the federal, provincial and territorial governments and with Indigenous organizations.

The Office of the Treaty Commissioner’s Milton Tootoosis presented at the Lloyminster Chamber of Commerce Lunch and Learn event on Wednesday, Feb. 21.

About 15 people, include Lloydminster mayor Gerald Albers, participated in the conversation “The Business Case for Inclusion.”

Milton talked about:
· The Spirit and Intent of Treaty – the promise of an economic livelihood
· Prior to settler contact and the treaties First Nations culture included the concept of livelihood and economic independence as inter-tribal traders
· The traditional economy collapsed when the fur trade and bison economy slumped into oblivion
· Past laws and policies like the Indian Act, Pass System and the Indian Residential School system have negatively impacted First Nations people and their economies
· There is a Call to Action – the TRC Call to Action #92 for positive change and rebuilding of First Nations economy
· There is business case for action and Win-Win outcomes
· A model for Inclusion strategy was shared
· Resources for ongoing self-learning were shared

If you are interested in an OTC speaker for your conference or workshop, visit our Book a Speaker page.

It was a busy week for staff at the Office of the Treaty Commissioner.

On Thursday, Harry Lafond, Annie Battiste, Lyndon Linklater, and Brenda Ahenakew were among speakers at the Prairie Spirit School Division Professional Development Day, with 115 teachers from the rural area north of Saskatoon.

Milton Tootoosis led an Indigenous Awareness Session on treaty, livelihood and TRC Calls to Actions #92 for staff of Western Economic Diversification staff at the SIIT campus in downtown Saskatoon.

“Milton delivered a very informative session about treaties, reconciliation and barriers that Indigenous communities/entrepreneurs face,” said one of the participants.