[Title: The views expressed by Treaties Recognition Week video participants are solely their own and are not intended to reflect the position of Ontario, nor do they constitute any admission or limit Ontario's rights in any way. The Government of Ontario disclaims all responsibility for any errors, omissions, and inaccuracies in these videos.]
[Title: Treaties Recognition Week]
[Title: Robert Greene, Knowledge Keeper, Treaty 3] Robert Green >> I'm speaking from the Treaty 3 territory
in Northwestern Ontario.
and the area that encompasses that is 55,000 square miles.
In the late 1600s, to the 1700s, to the 1800s, when my ancestors conquered these lands,
we had our own governance systems. We had our own economic systems,
cultural, spiritual.
We considered ourselves to be sovereign.
The 25 Chiefs that came together every springtime, when they came together like that, they sat
together like supreme court judges. They set out policy about the water, the river systems,
the hunting areas, trapping areas, fishing areas.
Justice was administered by using our own laws all embedded in our language as a reflection
of what true democracy and true justice is in our way of life.
As soon as the treaty Chiefs began to die off, things started to change. The legislation
outlawed our ceremonies, our way of life, our way of living.
It destroyed our governance systems.
It destroyed our traditional economy.
It destroyed our culture and spirituality.
It nearly almost destroyed our language.
And, it took away a lot of our children into residential schools.
When there was epidemics, they didn't send any doctors, nurses or medicines. They didn't
allow anybody to leave the reserves unless they had written permission by the Indian Agents.
A lot of our people were dislocated, removed,
were moved to other areas and the lands were taken over by the municipalities,
provincial governments, federal governments, and just given to non-Indigenous peoples.
Basically, the policy of the governments, they deliberately designed these systems to
try and eradicate the Indigenous peoples in Canada.
In Treaty 3 territory, when the railroad was coming through the territory, a lot of people,
a lot of our Indian businesses in the territory had canoes. They were making canoes they couldn't
even keep up with the demand. So what did the federal government do?
They made it against the law for any non-Indigenous person dealing business with our peoples.
If anybody was caught buying stuff from our peoples then they were sent to jail or given a fine.
So, they destroyed those businesses. And a lot of those businesses were transferred
over to the non-Indigenous peoples.
That's one of the main reasons why our communities are living in third-world conditions, because
we never had a chance to participate in the economy. And that was one of the promises
that the Chiefs asked for. And they were given that promise by the Commissioner.
So that was one of the many, many, broken promises by the Commissioner and by the federal
government itself that they never honoured those treaties.
The idea about reconciliation is to somehow know and understand about the way Indigenous
peoples have been mistreated in the history of Canada. By the institutions, by the governments,
and the people as well.
And to be able to look at that, truthfully. Even though you feel guilty, you feel angry,
you have all these kinds of feelings. And it's up to you as an individual to find out
why you feel that way.
Understanding is the key word here, to be able to understand yourself first so you can
be able to understand what the other peoples are saying.
To go to the communities. Find the Elders, the old people. Offer tobacco, offer some
gifts and ask them questions about the history of the areas. Family history, clan history,
the nation history and what they know and understand of our collective history
on Turtle Island.
[Title: The views expressed by Treaties Recognition Week video participants are solely their own and are not intended to reflect the position of Ontario, nor do they constitute any admission or limit Ontario's rights in any way. The Government of Ontario disclaims all responsibility for any errors, omissions, and inaccuracies in these videos.]
[Title: Ontario.ca/treaties]
[Title: “Breakwall” Performed by Ansley Simpson, Gizhiiwe Records, 2017]
[Title: Archival photographs provided by Library Archives Canada]
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