JUNIOR – STUDY GUIDE We Are All Treaty People STUDY GUIDE: PROGRAMME DETAILS: Thank you for choosing to visit Harbourfront Centre during Junior – Big Thoughts for Growing Minds! Harbourfront Grades: JK – Grade 6 Centre is an innovative, non-profit cultural organization which Run Time: 60 minutes provides internationally renowned programming in the arts, culture, education and recreation, all within a collection of Curriculum Connections: distinct venues in the heart of Toronto's downtown waterfront. The Arts – Drama WHAT TO EXPECT FROM YOUR DAY? Social Studies When you arrive onsite, head to the appropriate theatre for Language Arts – Oral Communication your production. Be sure to check the brochure and Harbourfront Centre website for directions, and staff will be available onsite to direct you. Please arrive 15 minutes before show time to ensure that you are seated comfortably before the show begins. If you are scheduled for a Creative Response workshop, be on the lookout for School Visits staff in reflective vests to direct you to your classroom. Instructions for timing and locations will also be announced at the end of the morning production. After the show, be sure to check out the additional activities onsite, as outlined below. ACTIVATION (Pre Visit Ideas) EXTENSION (Post Visit Ideas) Included in the following pages are a number of activities to Included in the following pages are a number of activities engage your students prior to attending We Are All Treaty to continue dialogue with your students following the People. Please note, this resource guide was developed with performance of We Are All Treaty People. Please note, the Alberta Curriculum in mind and has been provided this resource guide was developed with the Alberta directly by Quest Theatre. Curriculum in mind and has been provided directly by • History of Treaty 7 (p.3) Quest Theatre. • Key terms (p.5-9) • Key Extension Questions (p.11) • Key Activation Questions (p.10) • Extension Activities: • Activation Activities o Social Studies: Cultural Appropriation Activity (p.18) o Language Arts Activity: Poetry Response (p.13) o Visual Arts Activity: Knowledge Bundle (p.19) o Social Studies Activity: Treaty 7 Research Assignment (p.14) o Drama Activity: Indigenous Storytelling (p.19) o Drama Activity: What Are You Saying (p.15- 16) o Language Arts Activity: Reflection Writing (p.20) o Drama Activity: Analyzing the script of We Are All Treaty People (p.17) ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES ONSITE ADDITIONAL LINKS TO LEARNING Throughout the week, the following free activities will be (Harbourfront Centre School Visits does not assume responsibility for available to you and your students on a first come, first serve content on the resources listed below. Please confirm the content is appropriate for your class and school community before using these basis suggested resources in your classroom) Humanizing the Homeless by Leah Denbok 1) Quest Theatre – www.questtheatre.org (Marilyn Brewer CS) 2) Truth and Reconciliation Commission Recommendations – www.trc.ca A Foldable City by Sean Martindale (Marilyn Brewer CS) Visual Arts and Craft Exhibitions (Throughout the campus) Main Gallery Space STUDY GUIDE 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS Treaty No. 7 p. 3 MAKING TREATY 7 – The Play p. 3 WE ARE ALL TREATY PEOPLE – the Play p. 4 WE ARE ALL TREATY PEOPLE – the Characters p. 4 Terms and References p. 5 Some Topics to Discuss Before You See the Play p. 8 Some Topics to Discuss After You Have Seen the Play p. 8 Some Topics and Themes Explored in the Play p. 9 Pre-Show Activities Friendship p. 10 Treaty 7 p. 10 What Are You Saying? p. 11 The Buffalo p. 13 Post-Show Activities Cultural Appreciation p. 14 Knowledge Bundle p. 14 Storytelling p. 15 Treaty 7 Revisited p. 16 About Quest Theatre p. 16 We Appreciate Your Feedback p. 17 Please Help Us Thank Our Sponsors p. 17 ABOUT THIS STUDY GUIDE Live theatrical performances are an exciting and complementary part of education for students. Quest Theatre hopes that the play, WE ARE ALL TREATY PEOPLE, will be meaningful and memorable for you and your students. This study guide has been created to enhance your students’ theatrical experience. Suggestions are provided to prepare students for the play they will see, as well as to follow up after. We hope you will take some of these ideas and adapt them to suit the needs of the curriculum and the interests of your classes. Enjoy WE ARE ALL TREATY PEOPLE! 2 TREATY NO. 7 Treaty Seven was a peace treaty made between two nations – the tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy, (Siksika, Piikani, Peigan) and Kainaiwa (Blood), Tsuu T’ina (Sarcee), the Stoney (Bearspaw, Chiniki and Wesley/Goodstoney) and the Queen (Victoria) by her Commissioners, the honourable David Laird, Lieutenant Governor and Indian Superintendent of the North West Territories, and James Macleod, Commissioner of the North West Mounted Police. As part of the terms of bringing British Columbia into Confederation in 1871, the Canadian government had promised to build a transcontinental railway within ten years. From 1871 to 1876, the government of Canada had concluded treaties with all tribes in the North West Territories with the exception of those inhabiting approximately 50,00 square miles of land south of the Red Deer River and next to the Rocky Mountains. These lands were occupied by the Treaty Seven First Nations. Treaty Seven was signed on September 22, 1877 at the Blackfoot Crossing of the Bow River, at the present-day Siksika Nation reserve, approximately 100 km east of Calgary. The government promised Native people reserve lands based on one square mile for every five persons, a $2000.00 annual payment with some minimal provisions for farming equipment, ammunition for hunting, clothing supplies as well as providing for education for children. MAKING TREATY SEVEN – THE PLAY The original interdisciplinary production, MAKING TREATY SEVEN, was presented in a tent in Heritage Park with a cast of 30 actors, writers, poets, dancers and performance artists. The project was launched by the late, great Michael Green as a Calgary 2012 legacy project. The goal of the original production was to create a truthful, respectful theatrical performance to help audiences understand the true spirit, intent and historical significance of the treaty. It was a co- 3 creation of First Nation and non-First Nation artists informed by the stories of the respected Elders of the Treaty Seven Nations. A treaty is a promise. Many of the promises made to the First Nations people were broken. The play explores many of those issues, including the failure of the government to make annual payments and children taken from their families and placed into abusive residential schools. WE ARE ALL TREATY PEOPLE – THE PLAY Quest Theatre and Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society’s play, WE ARE ALL TREATY PEOPLE, is hosted by a Trickster character who encounters a girl of aboriginal descent and a girl of colonial descent. They wonder if they can be friends, even though they don’t know or understand their shared history of this land. Trickster tells them the story of southern Alberta and Treaty Seven, including the context in which it was signed, the promises that were made and broken and the issues that still challenge us today. Although sore points are touched upon, such as negative racial references, the whiskey trade and residential schools, the story is told with song, prayer, creative movement and puppets with the intent to heal and create understanding. The girls in the story defy the Trickster and do become friends. WE ARE ALL TREATY PEOPLE MAIN CHARACTERS Alanna – a girl of Aboriginal descent who grew up on the Tsuu T’ina reserve in Southern Alberta. Maya – a girl of colonial descent (in her case, English, French and Irish) who grew up near downtown Calgary. Trickster – a wise being, sometimes a troublemaker, who tells Alanna and Maya the story of southern Alberta and the Making of Treaty 7, including the context in which it was signed, the promises that were made and broken, and the fallout of issues that still challenge us today. Trickster advises against the girls becoming friends because they do not know or understand their shared history of this land. 4 TERMS AND REFERENCES Iniistsii so that you know Oki “hello” in Blackfoot language Umba wastitch “hello” in Nakoda language Danit’ada “hello” in Dene language Signatories of Treaty 7 Blackfoot Confederacy, Kanai, Siksika, Piikani, Nakoda, Tsuu T’ina and the representatives of Queen Victoria in Canada Iinii “buffalo” in Blackfoot language Tatonka “buffalo” in Nakoda language Hanate “buffalo” in Tsuu T’ina language Aakii “woman” in Blackfoot language Woosa in the future Smallpox a highly infectious, contagious disease that turned into an epidemic killing an estimated 80% of the Treaty 7 Frist Nations people Treaty a treaty is a promise, an agreement, a physical document, a deal, a spiritual understanding that speaks of two different paths that exist side by side but do not interfere or infringe on each other’s journey Indian Act the principal statute through which the Federal Government administers Indian status, local First Nations Governments and 5 the management of reserve lands and communal finances Metis people of mixed European or Canadian and Aboriginal ancestry Missionary a person sent on a religious mission, especially one sent to promote Christianity in a foreign country Hudson’s Bay Company a merchant company founded in London England that branched into Canada, primarily as a fur trading business The North West Mounted Police known as Redcoats, the forerunners (1873-1920) of our current Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald considered areas in Alberta and Saskatchewan as untamed and lawless. With the goal of settling the West to extend Canadian sovereignty from coast to coast, it was important to establish good relations between an increasing number of settlers and the First Nations communities.