Local students are learning more about Chatham-Kent’s Indigenous roots.
This is Treaties Recognition Week, honouring the importance of Treaty rights and relationships, and fostering a greater understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and communities.
On Thursday, November 7, Dean M. Jacobs from the Walpole Island First Nation Heritage Centre will be visiting the Chatham branch of the public library at 7pm. Jacobs will be speaking about local pre-Confederation Treaties and what they mean for advancing “Truth and Reconciliation” based on mutual trust and respect.
The majority of Chatham-Kent is covered by Treaty 2, or the McKee Purchase, signed on May 19, 1790. There were over 50 signatories to this Treaty, including settlers and Indigenous leaders. The treaty payments included cloth and linen, tools for hunting and cooking, looking glasses, combs, ribbons, and laced hats.
There are more than 40 treaties and land agreements across Ontario, forged with the intention of ensuring mutual respect, understanding, and coexistence, are foundational to the relationships between Indigenous nations and settler societies.
CLICK HERE to learn more about Treaties Recognition Week.
