What is a treaty? Here's what you need to know in Windsor-Essex

For the 7th annual Treaties Recognition Week in Ontario, it's a time to reflect and get educated about the agreements made between Indigenous communities and the Crown, and their long-lasting implications.

Renewing those treaty relationships is one of the many steps towardreconciliation as outlined in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action.

Treaties were agreements made between Indigenous communities and the Crownaround how to co-operate and live together.

"It's an agreement where there have been arrangements to define the terms of use either for land or for resources, so that it wouldprovide direction on how people could live together in harmony and in peace," said Kettle and Stony Point First Nation's Christy Bressette, who is also the vice provost and associate vice president for Indigenous initiatives at Western University.

They were intended to last forever.

"As long as the river flows and the grass grows,"explained Windsor's Indigenous storyteller Theresa Sims. She is an Indigenous community leader, knowledge keeper and elder, of the upper Mohawk, Turtle Clan ofSix Nations of the Grand River.

"We've kept our side," said Sims, stating the government did not do the same.

What is a treaty?

Treaties are historic agreements made between Indigenouscommunities and the Crown in good faith with the intention of allowing the Crown to respectfully use their land and share their land however, that's not how treaties played out in reality.

"We look at the situation we're in today, we see the condition of where Indigenous peoples live and what they're left with. Obviously the treaties have not been followed," Bressette explained.

"Indigenous people have lost a lot of their rights and lost a lot of their lands and you could see the impact of that in many of the challenges that we see in Indigenous communities today."

In the written treaties, recorded by the Canadian governmentor British Empirebefore it, there is language that describes the handing over of land by Indigenous people.

But many Indigenous people across the country say that was not the deal, and their own records say they agreed that the land would be "shared," not given away.

What treaties are tied to Windsor-Essex?

According to the Government of Ontario, there are two treaties that directly affect Windsor-Essex.

Treaty Number 2, also knows as the McKee purchase, was signed on May 19, 1790, and it covers most of Windsor-Essex, including Point Pelee which is the traditional homeland of Caldwell First Nation.

Treaty 35 was signed by the Crown and the Huron Wendat on Aug.13, 1833, which covers the areas of LaSalle and Amherstburg.

While settlers marked things in writing, Indigenous people recorded history through wampum belts, and that's what local elder Sims follows.

The treaty of significance for southwestern Ontario, according to Sims, is the One Dish One Spoon agreement made between the Anishinaabe and Haudenosauneeafter the French and Indian War, and noted with a wampum belt. She explained that it covered all of southwestern Ontario from the Windsor area up to Quebec, as a promise to care for the land with an understanding that no one would take more than what they needed.

WATCH | Sims describes the Dish with One Spoon agreement:

One Dish One Spoon

2 years ago

Duration 0:37

Elder Theresa Sims explains the intentions behind the One Dish One Spoon agreement.

In the years that followed these agreements, Sims explainedterritory was taken away,reserves were developed, and many freedoms were lost, particularly with the establishment of residential schools.

What now?

Bressette stresses it's important for people to understand that treaties are still relevant today.

"Anybody who is a newcomer to Canada is a treaty person, because they're coming into the area where there have been agreements, formal agreements, between the original peoples of these lands and the newcomers," she said.

"So, everybody is a treaty person."

She would like to see the treaties studied with a greater effort to return to their original spirit and intent.

"It's really going to be a challenge to be able to have reconciliation in Canada when that critical matter has still not been addressed," Bressette said.

The University of Windsor markedTreaties Recognition Week with the screening of two films and a presentation from York University professorAlan Corbiere.

His focus is the Treaty of Niagara, an agreement from 1764, which has also had a profound effect on all of southwestern Ontario.

LISTEN | Hear more about the Treaty of Niagara: