By Shane O'Neill

Sovereignty and treaty relations forum opens at PAGC

Jan 16, 2017 | 4:00 PM

Building a better future for the next generation.

That was the key message from the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) at the opening of the Sovereignty and Treaty Relations Forum Monday. Members of the public and students from 28 communities across the PAGC were invited to take part in the four-day forum at the Senator Allan Bird Memorial Centre in Prince Albert.

The forum was the idea of Senator James Burns of the PAGC as a way to educate the community on the history of Indigenous peoples in North America before European contact and the history of treaties. He said there’s one thing he hope the students participating take away from the forum.

“Knowledge!” he exclaimed on Monday. “We want them to have the knowledge, the background, where they can begin to plan for the future.”

Denise Genereaux, a Grade 11 student at Bernard Constant Community School in James Smith Cree Nation said she believes it’s important for her generation to learn about treaty relations and First Nations’ issues.

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“I’m hoping to learn a lot and take that [information] back to my community to share with others, so they know,” Genereaux said.

On the first day of the forum participants heard from speakers Ron Michel, Grand Chief of the PAGC, Vice Chiefs Joseph Tsannie and Chris Jobb, and Bobby Cameron, Chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations. Topics included inherent rights and treaties, devolution policies, historical doctrines of discovery from the Catholic Church, colonial policies of the British Empire and Canada’s Colonial policies since Confederation.

Burns said as Canada celebrates 150 years since Confederation, it’s important for all Canadians to understand the history of Indigenous and treaty issues in order to make the next 150 years successful.

“We’re going back 150 years, bringing it forward, learning from it and [moving] for the next 150 years, so everybody has a better place to live,” he said.

The forum will continue until Thursday with different panel discussions and presentations scheduled throughout the week.

Shane O’Neill is paNOW’s city hall reporter and weekend anchor on 900 CKBI. He can be reached at shane.oneill@panow.com or tweet him @stroneill.