Students and staff across the St. Clair Catholic District School Board will participate in a series of meaningful learning experiences to mark Treaties Recognition Week, taking place from November 2 to 8, 2025.

This annual observance is dedicated to deepening awareness of treaty rights, relationships, and the shared responsibilities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples across Ontario.

Throughout the week and beyond, students will engage in Treaty Education and Land-Based Learning experiences that strengthen understanding of Indigenous histories, worldviews, and relationships with the land. Guided by local Knowledge Carriers, Elders, and Indigenous community partners, learners will explore how treaties continue to shape our lives today — reflecting on their own relationships with the land, considering multiple perspectives, and expressing their learning through creative mediums such as art.

Community Partnerships and Learning Connections Across St. Clair Catholic Schools:

• Dean Jacobs (Bkejwanong Territory) will share connections on identity, relationships, and sovereignty.
• Cedric, Sandra, and Leigh Ann Isaac (Bkejwanong Territory) will engage students in exploring the connection to land and relationships through story and song.
• Neva Isaac Sands (Bkejwanong Territory) will help learners explore the significance of the Dish with One Spoon and Two Row Wampum Belts, and how these agreements inform our responsibilities today.
• Steve Tooshkenig (Bkejwanong Territory) will focus on responsibility versus ownership as core principles of treaty relationships.
• Lynda Lou Classens (Walpole Island First Nation Library) will share land-based storytelling experiences.
• Moses Lunham (Kettle and Stony Point First Nation) will lead an Art for Action Treaty Awareness Series.

Additionally, filmmaker and graphic design artist Derek Sands (Bkejwanong Territory) has created commemorative ‘We Are All Treaty People‘ Treaties Recognition Week flags, which will be raised at all St. Clair Catholic schools and buildings to honour these ongoing relationships.

To support classroom learning, every grade will access materials from the Board’s Treaty Learning Tool Kits, featuring texts by Indigenous authors, land-based resources, and wampum belt teaching kits.

Later in November, the learning will continue with Biindegaygizhig (Chippewas of the Thames First Nation) and Jason Henry (Kettle and Stony Point First Nation), who will provide deeper insights into local treaty history and commitments.

Treaties Recognition Week serves as a reminder that treaties are more than historical agreements — they are living relationships that call us all to uphold peace, partnership, and mutual care for the land and for one another.

For more information and classroom resources, visit the Indigenous Education Treaties Recognition webpage:
🔗 https://fnmi.sccdsb.net/treaty-recognition