From Dream to Reality: The Story of Treaty Land Entitlement

Key Concept
In negotiating Treaty Land Entitlement, the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations believed the Treaty promises must be upheld. The federal and provincial governments agreed that initial land allotments were inadequate, but they wanted to limit the land debt to an amount that was more manageable given the land currently available and third party interests in that land. The Office of the Treaty Commissioner was formed to find a way to resolve Treaty Land Entitlement issues.

This concept is best illustrated with the handout From Dream to Reality: Video Activity, and at points 7:05 to 8:26 (Part One) and 0:06 to 0:55 and 3:19 to 3:38 (Part Two) in the From Dream to Reality video.

Rationale
This lesson is designed to introduce students to the major groups involved in negotiating the terms of Treaty Land Entitlement settlement. By understanding the roles of these groups, students will be better able to understand the multifarious needs to be addressed in negotiating a Treaty Land Entitlement agreement.

Learning Objectives
Knowledge

• Students will define the major issues contained within the scope of Treaty Land Entitlement.
• Students will describe the process used to settle Treaty Land Entitlement.

Values

• Students will develop empathy for all persons based upon an understanding of human needs.
• Students will appreciate the diversity of stakeholder perspectives in relation to Treaty Land Entitlement.

Skills

• Students will interpret and analyze the diversity of positions with respect to Treaty Land Entitlement.
• Students will practice group process skills.

Procedure
1. Divide the students into groups of three for a jigsaw activity that introduces the stakeholders that are parties to the Treaty Land Entitlement Agreement: the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian
Nations, the Federal Government, and the Provincial Government.

a) Assign each student to one of the handouts Treaty Land Entitlement Negotiations: Background on the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, Treaty Land Entitlement Negotiations: Backgroundon the Federal Government, or Treaty Land Entitlement Negotiations: Background on the Provincial Government.

b) Students should summarize the role of their assigned stakeholder by answering the following questions, then reporting back to their group:

• What are the obligations of their stakeholder in negotiating Treaty Land Entitlement?
• What complicating factors exist for their stakeholder?

c) Once each group has discussed the various stakeholder perspectives, each student should create a position statement for the stakeholder they have been assigned... “As head of the FSIN/Provincial Government/Federal Government, I believe...”

2. Regroup the class as a whole for students to share their position statements, looking for commonalities and differences.

3. Bridge class discussion into a reading of the handout Treaty Land Entitlement Negotiations: Background on the Office of the Treaty Commissioner to understand the importance of the Office of the Treaty Commissioner in negotiating a Treaty Land Entitlement agreement.
KEY QUESTION: Given the many parties with interests in seeing Treaty Land Entitlement resolved, why was it important that an independent organization like the Office of the Treaty Commissioner be formed to achieve common understandings on the Saskatchewan Treaties ( No.
4, 5, 6, 8, and 10)?

4. To summarize the concepts, discuss the overhead Treaty Land Negotiation with class.

5. VIDEO ACTIVITY – To better illustrate and understand the directions taken in Treaty Land Entitlement negotiation from the perspectives of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, the Federal and Provincial Governments, and the Office of the Treaty Commissioner, have students
view Part Two of From Dream to Reality, and complete the handout From Dream To Reality: Video Activity. For a more in-depth examination, teachers may also wish to have students view Part One when completing this activity.