It's a good question, again. What has to happen?
There has to be a greater focus on dealing with the provincial premiers and with the provincial and territorial governments. We've asked for changes to the curricula to teach, in all the schools, about aboriginal rights and treaty rights.
For example, in Saskatchewan, it's law: You have to teach treaties in the classroom, from kindergarten to grade 12. You also build on that the impact of the residential schools. You also build on that the impact of the Indian Act, which has been in place since 1876. We need to change the curricula. That comes under provincial government jurisdiction, if you will, so there has to be a very concerted lobby effort at those levels. It's starting to happen across Canada, but that's how you get the curricula changed.
Again, focusing on the territory reserve is one jurisdictional piece, but a lot of our people reside off, so you need a two-pronged strategy. The federal government can do something, and it is through this act, but the provinces have a role to play as well. To address the issue there, that's one piece.
Going one step further, if these curricula are changed such that these rights have to be taught from kindergarten to grade 12, what about the teachers coming out of these institutions, who get their B.Ed. and their teaching degree? Those universities don't teach these teachers how to adequately teach about the spirit and intent of treaty, nor do they teach how to incorporate some of our ceremonies into these mainstream institutions in the Catholic schools, the public schools or the private schools. You have to have that as well.
Change the curricula, but the universities and all their education faculties still have to be brought up to speed. They have to incorporate traditional knowledge and elders' knowledge at that level so the young men and women coming out with their teaching degrees will know what the spirit and intent to treaty means. The words [Witness speaks in indigenous language], “cede, surrender and relinquish”, for example, I don't understand. I don't think Chief Little Black Bear understood them in 1874. He never had a good legal counsel to explain what it meant to put his four-direction mark on that treaty. The spirit and intent about sharing the land, the spirit and intent about a good education—all these things have to be taught.
Yes, we need curriculum changes and universities will also have to adapt.