The Treaty relationship between First Nations and the Crown is fundamental when it comes to understanding Canada’s history.
With this in mind, both Canada’s History magazine and Kayak: Canada’s History for Kids published special issues, in English and in French, on the history of Treaties in Canada.
Treaties and the Treaty Relationship was co-edited by Loretta Ross, Treaty Commissioner of Manitoba, and featured stories by Indigenous authors, scholars, and elders. More than 125,000 complimentary copies have been distributed to Indigenous communities, subscribers, museums, heritage organizations, RCMP detachments, journalism schools, post-secondary institutions, and via French-language community newspapers.
Kayak, meanwhile, devoted its September 2018 issue to Treaties and Treaty-making, under the guidance of co-editor Cynthia Bird of Peguis First Nation in Manitoba. The issue was titled “We are all Treaty people.”
More than 19,500 copies were published in English and nearly 35,000 in French, with digital copies available online. All of the illustrators (with the exception of the Kayak’s long-time comic creator) were First Nations or Métis.
To read digital versions of the special issues, go to: CanadasHistory.ca/TeachingTreaties.