Skip to content

Treaty Talk moves past invisible line to build relationships

Reunion Station was packed full of people from both Saddle Lake and St. Paul at the first screening of Treaty Talk: Sharing the River of Life on Friday morning.

Reunion Station was packed full of people from both Saddle Lake and St. Paul at the first screening of Treaty Talk: Sharing the River of Life on Friday morning. The 50-minute documentary was produced this year as a way of improving dialogue and understanding between indigenous and non-indigenous people.

Misunderstanding and misinformation about the treaty relationship goes back to the beginning, according to the film, which was filmed at Blue Quills University. When the settlers came and the first treaty was made with the crown, the First Nations believed they were agreeing to share the land, while still maintaining their sacred relationship with it. That relationship with the land and everything on it is integral not only to indigenous culture and spirituality, but also to their system of governance, decision making, and stewardship.

The film includes interviews with Town of St. Paul Mayor Maureen Miller; Pamela and Florence Quinn, who confronted a group of young men who called them derogatory names earlier this year; Tanya Fontaine Porozni, who grew up in St. Paul and has attended Blue Quills University; Patricia Makokis, who took part in a several hundred kilometre walk for indigenous rights; and others who have been involved in efforts at reconciliation in the region.

After the film, Makokis spoke about how the most important thing is to learn the truth first. "It's not about one person, we must come together," she said.

Miller spoke about how the more your learn, the more you wonder 'how did this happen here?.'

"The more you know, you can't go back," said Miller.

Pamela Quinn, a teacher from Saddle Lake, came to view the film with some of her students. "I know we have to adapt to western education, but our own inherent education is just as important," she said.

Porozni spoke about how growing up she experienced an invisible line between the communities of St. Paul and Saddle Lake. "Why is there reluctance from my family to let me sleep over on the reserve?" she questioned.

An often repeated request during the dialogue following the film was to have access to it online. One man called it a "good, gentle way of educating people." Makokis said they do plan to put the film online, but they need more money to finish a website that will host the video and include other educational resources for schools and communities.

One woman in the audience asked if every experience of the residential school system was as bad as people say, or if there were some positive outcomes.

Florence McGilvery said the only good to come from the residential schools was the resilience people learned from it, but generally when people are looking for a positive effect from the schools it is because they are trying to justify what happened.

"If you want to, you can find a positive in any scenario. How do you trade off learning to read, play the piano, whatever, with the forced separation from your family?" asked McGilvery.

Candace Houle spoke about her grandmother, who she said to this day will say it wasn't a bad experience because she wasn't hit and she wasn't sexually abused.

"But then if you ask her, Kokum did you speak your language? No, that was against the rules. Kokum did you play with your brothers? No, we were split up. Kokum, were you happy there? No, I was so terribly lonely."

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks