Photo: Wirestock/Getty Images Plus

OPINION: ‘Cows and plows’ settlement over a broken Indigenous treaty shows the urgent need for more transparent governance

Members of the Tootinaowaziibeeng Treaty Reserve (TTR) in Manitoba recently voted to ratify the Treaty 4 Agricultural Benefits Settlement Agreement. This cows-and-plows settlement is a step toward rectifying historical wrongs. The process has also highlighted several ongoing governing challenges. This includes exposing a flawed Crown/Indigenous consultation process as well as the need for trust-building with Indigenous leadership.



(Wonganan/iStock/Getty Images)

Canada, First Nations agree on unmet agricultural claims

A handful of specific agricultural benefit claims between the federal government and nine First Nations were settled on Friday. Once fully settled, these claims—unmet promises in treaties 5, 6 and 10 territories throughout the Prairie provinces—will represent almost $1.4 billion in combined compensation to these First Nations.




 Children run through the pathways of a corn maze designed to honour children who died while attending residential schools. Photo: supplied

Every child matters

A corn maze commemorating the lost children is a place to reflect and remember

Children run through the pathways of a corn maze designed to honour children who died while attending residential schools.


Students from the File Hills and other residential schools were not only recruited to become model farmers, they were selected to join the Canadian Expeditionary Forces sent off to fight in the First World War.  Photo: Courtesy of University of Regina archives “A Failed Experiment” Collection.

Reconciling the painful past creates hope for a more promising future

The File Hills Colony near Balcarres, Sask. epitomized everything that was wrong about colonial attitudes towards Indigenous peoples. But new models for Indigenous agriculture are emerging

More than a century after its creation, there is no visible sign remaining of the File Hills Farm Colony in southern Saskatchewan. But the painful memories of an experiment that epitomized the culture of assimilation permeating that era’s attitudes towards Canada’s Indigenous peoples still live in the collective memories of residential school survivors. Likewise for some of the racist attitudes and policies that still exist today. 

Treaty land sharing: Farmers and Indigenous communities gather to discuss their common connections to land. Photo: Bill DeKay

Sharing the countryside

Finding a new way of living together is key to the future of rural Canada

The launch of the Treaty Land Sharing Network was about people who share the countryside, together setting a different course than the one scripted for them.



Lawrence Lamouche, is the traditional lands manager — and the main bison tender — for the Woodland Cree First Nation.

For the first time in generations, bison have returned to traditional lands

The herd is small but Woodland Cree First Nation manager says they’re learning the bison ranching ropes

Reading Time: 4 minutes After many, many years, Wood bison have returned to the Woodland Cree First Nation. “Back in the day, sakâw mostos (the Cree term for Wood bison), this would have been their natural habitat,” said Lawrence Lamouche, traditional lands manager for the Woodland Cree First Nation, located about 85 kilometres northwest of Peace River. The Nation, […] Read more