Treaty Governance Forum

To those who joined us on February 1 and 2, 2022, thank you for participating. When we organized this gathering, we were hoping to provide participants, our Chiefs, Councils, community members and beneficiaries an opportunity to gain some foundational knowledge of our ancestral governance and where it originates.

Elder Fred Kelly from the Anishinaabe of Treaty #3 area presented on where our governance system comes from, our responsibilities and obligations to Aki in living up to our own Treaty with all living things. His full presentation can be found on the Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin website, as are the videos of the other presenters.

John Borrows delivered a presentation that built on Fred Kelly’s and provided additional insight into how our ancestors observed all our relations and used those natural orders to conduct ourselves and our relationships. He explained how the Anishinaabe language intimately ties our relationship to the land and then outlined our obligations to maintain those relationships.

Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly is a professor of Economics and shared with us INAC funding models and how these models can constrain First Nation communities. He is focused on developing better social science knowledge on boundary lines, borders, borderlands, frontiers and border regions, including urban borderlands and large cross-border urban regions.

Darryl Leroux, a professor at St. Mary’s, delivered an eye-opening presentation on the Métis and how their current mode of operation will impact Treaty communities and their relationship with the Crown. Their method of the one root ancestor with no cut-off generates opportunity for many to claim Indigenous identity brings to light how this is creating a group of people that will fight for section 35 rights. In doing so, they are objecting to challenges by Status Indians and communities who are fighting for their inherent rights. This matter is more than likely to make its way back to the courts.