Treaty 4 Gathering

It is surprising really that I grew up in Canada and it wasn’t until my fifties that I became aware of treaty. Certainly, I’d heard the term before, mostly to do with tax exemption and status, but I didn’t realize that treaty was about living and walking in a good way with one another. As I was driving to work one day, I was looking at the Indigenous-made dream catcher and beadwork necklace that I have hanging from my rear view mirror, and I began to consider what Canada, and specifically Treaty 4 territory, ought to look like had treaty been honoured and lived out in our relationships. How much more would Indigenous culture and ways of being have shaped who I am? and what would this territory look like, and how would it function? I feel a great deal of regret over what was lost to all who live here by the culture-stripping practices of our settler ancestors.