Nishnawbe Aski Nation launches a Treaty No. 9 teaching video for schools and the public during Treaties Recognition Week
The resource centres the understandings of Nishnawbe Aski ancestors and the continuing responsibilities attached to Treaty relationships
THUNDER BAY — Nishnawbe Aski Nation has released a new educational video on Treaty No. 9 and the Ontario portion of Treaty No. 5, placing the perspectives and understandings of Nishnawbe Aski people at the centre of the history.
The video was launched Monday during Ontario’s Treaties Recognition Week, which runs from Nov. 1 to 7. NAN says it will distribute the resource to elementary schools in its territory and has also made it available to the public online.
The production traces encounters with treaty commissioners, the signing of Treaty No. 9 and the differences NAN identifies between oral promises and the written text. It was developed by NAN’s Governance and Treaty Implementation Department and Treaty Education Program.
NAN Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said treaties are living agreements that define the relationship with the Crown and the responsibilities shared by the parties. He said education must address both the written record and what First Nations ancestors understood they were agreeing to.
Treaty No. 9, also known as the James Bay Treaty, was entered into in 1905 and 1906, with adhesions in 1929 and 1930. Federal historical material says the treaty territory, including the adhesions, covers almost two-thirds of the area that became northern Ontario. The Ontario portion of Treaty No. 5 includes First Nations near the Manitoba boundary through an adhesion process completed in the early 20th century.
The federal treaty text records the Crown’s account of the agreement. NAN’s new resource focuses on the Nishnawbe Aski account of what was said and understood during the treaty-making process, a distinction that is central to contemporary discussions of the treaty’s spirit and intent.
Ontario established Treaties Recognition Week by law in 2016. The province describes the week as an opportunity for students and residents to learn about treaty rights, relationships and continuing obligations.
The video’s release follows Fiddler’s Oct. 26 remarks at a First Nations–first ministers meeting in Ottawa, where he called on governments to treat treaties as the foundation of their relationship with First Nations rather than as barriers to economic policy.
