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Pages 54 - 96, Chapters 7 - 11
Morgan is angry that Katie and James are trying to reconnect her with her culture. She retreats to her bedroom. She realizes that Katie and James are doing their best to make her feel welcomed and valued, and tries to understand her anger.
Morgan returns to the attic. She breaks open the second-room door to find another unremarkable room under renovation. Soon, Eli joins with his drawing pad. She tells him about the poor treatment she experienced in previous foster homes that led her to run away. Morgan adds that she has no intention of running away from Katie and James.
Eli gives Morgan one of his drawings. It’s a fisher walking in a snowstorm, with a village in the background. When she staples the picture to the wall, the mysterious cold wind returns. This time, the wind is stronger and coming from the picture. When fully stapled up, the picture reveals a portal to a snowy world just like the one depicted in Eli’s picture, including the strange fisher. Eli rips the paper from the wall and the portal closes. The two discuss what they should do, then leave the room.
Morgan wakes up in the middle of the night to discover that Eli has reopened the portal. Wearing her new moccasins, she enters the snowy world to find him. Morgan fears that Eli left in response to her unkind comment that he wants to pretend the world in the portal is his home since he has no home anymore.
In this strange world beyond the portal, the cold overwhelms Morgan. She passes out and awakens to see the fisher, Ochek. He takes her to his villagecalled Misewa, part of a land called the North Country, in a world known as Askí. Misewa is in the grips of a cold, snowy era called the White Time.
In Ochek’s tent, she is reunited with Eli. He has been there for two weeks. Time in Askí passes at a different rate than in Winnipeg: a week in Askí is a mere hour in Winnipeg. As she rests she has visions of a woman whispering “Kiskisitotaso”—don’t forget who you are—while rocking a baby.
Teacher Background Information: Land, Place, and Treaty
When Eli and Morgan pass through the portal that opens up in their Winnipeg attic, they enter a land that is new to them. This land is not theirs to take. Rather, it is home to a world of animal beings. The place is Askí, Cree for earth or ground.
Eli and Morgan’s entrance into a world that is new to them serves to remind us that the land that is now Canada was not an empty space when Europeans arrived. Rather, distinct peoples were already living here.
Because distinct Indigenous Peoples already lived here with their own laws, customs, beliefs and Traditional Territories the government could not just move on to their land. The negotiation of Treaties was required by Canadian law before settlers could move onto the land.
Treaties are formal agreements between the Government and Indigenous Nations. During the 1800s, the Canadian government, representing the British Crown, and Indigenous Nations living in what is now Saskatchewan, negotiated five Treaties. These are Treaties 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10. While the Saskatchewan land also includes a portion of Treaty 2 lands in the southeast, there are no Treaty 2 Indigenous Nations in Saskatchewan. Within that small section of Treaty 2 land in Saskatchewan there are three First Nations who are signatories to Treaty 4.
The Treaties were oral agreements. The terms were agreed to over the course of formal negotiations between each Indigenous Nation and the government.
The written documents often included only some terms of the agreement. Often they did not match what was agreed to.
Each Treaty includes specific promises that were negotiated between Indigenous Nations and the Crown. Together, every and all Treaties address broad areas of rights. The Assembly of First Nations lists the following rights as Treaty Rights…
• Right to maintain their own systems of governance, including selection of leadership and control over their own citizenship, trade and spiritual beliefs
• Right to Shelter
• Rights to Treaty annuity or annual payments under the terms of certain Treaties
• Right to Child Welfare
• Right to Land and Resources
• Right to Education
• Right to Hunting, Fishing, and Trapping
• Right to Justice
Treaty promises are binding and can be enforced in court. The Supreme Court of Canada describes Treaties as solemn, sacred agreements. The Court has ruled that Treaty terms, both oral and written, need to be interpreted in favour of the Indigenous Nation. The Treaties are not frozen in time, either. Treaty agreements can evolve to meet changing conditions.
Treaty Rights are protected by the Constitution. Under Canadian law this does not mean the government can never take away or limit these rights. It does mean that any actions that do this must be justified. Courts have created a test for when the constitutional rights of Indigenous Peoples, such as Treaty Rights, can be limited. On the other hand, Indigenous Nations see limits placed on Treaty Rights by the courts and governments as broken Treaty promises.
Because Treaties are part of the law in Canada, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission listed as a Call to Action:
We call upon the Government of Canada to replace the Oath of Citizenship with the following: I swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada including Treaties with Indigenous Peoples, and fulfill my duties as a Canadian citizen.
As a result, the Government has changed the Oath of Citizenship to say:
I swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles the Third, King of Canada, His Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada including the Constitution which recognizes and affirms the Aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen.
Treaties, thus, form a foundational aspect of Canadian law and a foundational aspect of our citizenship. Treaties are connected to all Canadians, regardless of our background.
CLASS DISCUSSION
Reading Reflection
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has recognized the importance of Treaties. In their Calls to Action, the Commission asks that we:
Renew or establish Treaty relationships based on principles of mutual recognition, mutual respect, and shared responsibility for maintaining those relationships into the future.
1. Think about these three terms: mutual recognition, mutual respect, and shared responsibility.
a. What does the word mutual mean?
b. What does the word recognition mean?
c. What does the word respect mean?
d. What is a shared responsibility?
2. Once you have a better understanding of these terms, look again at what the Call to Action says. In what spirit are we being asked toapproach Treaties?
3. Consider Ochek’s words on Page 88. He says that everything and everyone is connected:
“All things are connected. Your world and this one, the sky and the land. All that is.”
How are Ochek’s words similar to the Call to Action for Treaty relationships?
Looking Forward
When Treaties were entered into, the government wanted to use them to open land for settlement. They saw them as Indigenous Peoples giving up their rights to their traditional lands.
Indigenous Peoples believe they were sharing the land and resources. They were misled by the government. According to the Assembly of First Nations,
First Nations never agreed to the sale of their lands and resources. Instead, they agreed to share their Indigenous lands, to the depth of a plough, as stated in the following quote: At the time, the government said that we would live together, that I am not here to take away what you have now…I am here to borrow the land…to the depth of a plough…that is how much I want.
As you read forward in The Barren Grounds, think about these two different interpretations of Treaties. In particular, think about:
• How do Ochek and the rest of the animal beings of Misewa share land and resources with Morgan and Eli?
• How do Morgan and Eli treat the land?
• Later, when we meet the Man who caused the White Time, how does he differ from Morgan and Eli?
Land and Place
