Renewal & Reconciliation

Overview and Key Learning Experiences

General Summary
The Renewal and Reconciliation level brings this resource full circle. The Learning Experiences (LEs) here place learners at the centre of the treaty relationship as the people who will determine its future strength and meaning.

Treaty Renewal
The Treaty Renewal LEs provide learners with an overview of the Nation’s efforts and successes with renewing the treaty relationship since the 1970s. It is during this period that the treaty relationship was recognized by the highest law in Canada: it was enshrined in the Constitution and affirmed by the Supreme Court multiple times. These legal decisions and events began to transform many aspects of the relationship between Mi’kmaq and non-Mi’kmaq in significant and longstanding ways. Requirements to engage indigenous people—a process called consultation—have become a normal practice for many businesses and organizations. Indigenous peoples are increasingly able to articulate their priorities and needs vis-a-vis a range of sectors across Canadian society through these developments.

Many elements of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) emerged from the decades that precede the TRC and its calls to action. The roots of reconciliation are found in community organizations and Mi’kmaw leadership throughout this time period. An important Learning Experience, RR2: Roots of Reconciliation, anchors later LEs that address the TRC and its impacts.

Treaty Day
Treaty Day is an important (and easily accessible) way for both learners and educators to witness and to engage the treaty relationship. The day was established between the Mi’kmaq and the British as part of the 1752-53 Treaty, although it was not recognized until Kji-Saqmaw Donald Marshall Sr. revived it in 1986. The LEs in this section challenge learners to involve themselves and their communities in Treaty Day.

Reconciliation
The TRC’s 94 Calls to Action sought to change the lives of indigenous people through direct action undertaken by all Canadians. After nationwide hearings, the final report identified multiple impacts of the residential school system on indigenous peoples, including: education, health, and culture. The report concluded that Canada’s goal for residential schools was cultural genocide: a painful truth. The Learning Experiences in this section are forward-looking and ask learners to think about what changes need to be made today to bring equity to indigenous lives across Mi’kma’kik and beyond. As with the other sections in this level, the LEs here emphasize the role that the learners of today will play in creating a future that does not repeat the past.

Mi’kma’kik in Global Context
The final section in this resource addresses the recognition of indigenous rights across the world and relates Mi’kmaw experiences to those of other indigenous peoples globally. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) frames the LEs in this section. Canada signed onto UNDRIP as a full partner in 2016 and entrenched the Declaration into Canadian law with the UNDRIP Act in 2021. Learners may be excited to discover that the Sante’ Mawio’mi played a key role in the development of UNDRIP in the 1980s. These last LEs provide a global context for Mi’kmaw success in renewing the treaty relationship and advocating for their rights as indigenous people.