LAB TEAM #1 CHALLENGE BRIEF Problem Statement
How might we re-imagine what it means to be a treaty person? Challenge Overview Truth and Reconciliation has become a big part of our national conversation. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has 96 calls to action. In 2016, Canada adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Across the country, momentum is building on how we can shift the conversation on respecting and learning about Indigenous ways of knowing. Governments are slowly responding: the Province of Alberta has committed to implementing UNDRIP in every Ministry across the government. Edmonton’s mayor Don Iveson repeatedly tells audiences that “we are all treaty people.” But what does it mean to be a treaty person in practice, particularly for nonIndigenous people? What does it mean to be an active person/relative in relation with Indigenous peoples and their territories? What does it mean to authentically show up and fulfil your obligations and responsibilities as a treaty person? At their heart, treaties are about relationships. Part of the work of being a treaty person has to begin by building relationships. This also means exposing the trauma, racism and the impacts of colonialism without getting stuck in guilt but rather, in the words of Harold Cardinal, reimagining possible futures that are sustainable and where the quality of life is uplifted for all peoples/citizens. The Challenge: How can we begin to redefine and engage with what it means to be a treaty person/relative? Our intention is to explore strategies, concepts and practices that support conversations in meaningful ways on how we practice in our everyday lives being treaty people living in Treaty 6 territory.
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The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 45th Call to Action asks the Government of Canada to “renew or establish Treaty relationships based on principles of mutual recognition, mutual respect, and shared responsibility for maintaining those relationships into the future.” How might everyday citizens embody these same principles?
