Local Library has Special Guest for Treaty Week

From November 1st to November 7th, the province of Ontario observed Treaty Recognition Week, an annual event designed to educate Ontarians and honor the importance of treaties in our history as a nation, and to create a better understanding between indigenous communities and not Indigenous people across Canada.
TVC22 Journalist Bruce de la Cruz was able to talk with Archie Martin, a member of the Métis Nation, and Mi'Kmaq Nation, who gave a lecture on the importance of treaties and how they directly affected his people and his family. 

Archie, who hails from New Brunswick and has lived in Rigaud, Quebec for the past 50 years, has been giving presentations and doing workshops with his wife Pierrette for the past 19 years. Travelling across Quebec, the Maritimes, and Eastern Ontario, these workshops serve as a platform for the two of them to educate and inform people of First Nation and Metis history and culture in an interactive way.

Archie defines treaties as “an agreement between two [or more] parties”, and in the context of the Indigenous Peoples, he says that the treaties are rights (something that can’t be taken away), while the government is trying to make them privileges (something that can be taken away). 
With treaties and land ownership being concepts introduced by European settlers, it took time for the Indigenous people to realize what was happening every time they signed away more of their land. 

Archie says that many of the treaties today are “acknowledged, but not respected”, and how they have had a direct impact on Indigenous Peoples, from “sharing the wealth” to the conditions of reserves. 

Implemented in 2016, Archie says that Treaty Recognition Week is important for reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and non-indigenous peoples in Canada, as recognizing the treaties that were signed is the first step to respecting them. 
Archie calls the internet a good place to start for those who wish to educate themselves about Indigenous people, citing how it is more important now than ever with immigration into Canada being prevalent in today’s society. 

On a final note, Archie says that the future that he wishes for the next generations is one without prejudice against Indigenous Peoples, citing his upbringing in the Maritimes, when people discouraged him from speaking his native language and telling him “to speak white”.