This year’s gathering follows this historic settlement and was expected to attract over 1,000 participants, including political leaders, Treaty experts, and cultural figures over two days. Among the notable presenters was Anton Treuer, a distinguished Ojibwe scholar and Professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University, who has been at the forefront of advocating for Indigenous language revitalization and cultural preservation. He also holds a PhD in History.
Dr. Treuer’s presentation was marked by his powerful reflections on the connections between language, land, and sovereignty. “To access what our people understood—the Anishinaabe way of thinking—you need to access that through Anishinaabemowin, our language,” Dr. Treuer stated. “There is no way to connect to the Indigenous understanding without the Indigenous language.” His remarks highlighted the critical role of language as a key to understanding and preserving Indigenous cultures.
A central theme of the gathering was clarifying misunderstandings about Indigenous consent to the treaties. Dr. Treuer addressed these misconceptions head-on, emphasizing the misinterpretations that have persisted for generations. “There’s a widely held belief that our people consented to the treaties and land sales. That’s incorrect,” he asserted. “We agreed to change the status of certain lands from our exclusive domain to shared use with the newcomers. For example, in the Robinson-Huron Treaty, the English were granted the right to travel through our territory, not ownership of it.”
Dr. Treuer also delved into the broader implications of colonization, describing how it has systematically undermined Indigenous peoples. “Colonization works by getting the colonized to participate as agents of the colonial government,” Dr.Treuer explained. “They took members of one tribe, gave them jobs in the colonial army, and sent them out to vanquish the next tribe. It’s the same with residential schools—hiring Native people to abuse their own.” This perspective provided a sobering look at the long-term effects of colonial systems on Indigenous communities.