Alec Couros

Storying Treaties and the Treaty Relationship: Enhancing Treaty Education through Digital Storytelling

This paper represents preliminary findings of a collaborative educational research endeavour to take seriously calls for reconciliation with Aboriginal people within a Canadian context of ongoing colonialism. More specifically, the research takes place in the province of Saskatchewan, where treaty education is mandatory in K–12 classrooms. In this context, critical race theory is used as our theoretical foundation. Working with elementary students, their teachers, and members of the community to support the implementation of treaty education, we draw upon qualitative research methodology and the methods used in participatory action research and digital storytelling. These particular methods are congruent with an inquiry learning approach often used with elementary students. The paper describes the work of young people and their teachers in creating digital stories in which they explore the significance of treaty education and what it means to be a treaty person. It also explores the challenges of this work with respect to teacher, student, and researcher engagement and the ongoing systems of oppression that influence and inform the relationships between First Nations and non-First Nations people in Canada.