Page 59 - Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation

Photo by Kim Muskratt

These are wampum belts. Wampum belts were used by our people to
record treaties.

After a lengthy court process in the 1990s and early 2000s,
efforts were made to address compensation of agreements
that were never fulfilled in the Williams Treaties (see The
Williams Treaties: A Chronology of Events on page 70 of the
Resources section). In 2018, the First Nations and governments
of Canada and Ontario arrived at a negotiated settlement of the
Williams Treaties.

Treaty rights and how they are interpreted are an ongoing
concern for our First Nation. Ensuring that both parties honour
the spirit and intent of the treaties, making sure that treaty
agreements are fit to modern times, and ensuring that our right
to our traditional lands is not taken away, are some of the major
issues in present-day treaty negotiations.

In the case of our community, treaty rights carry extra weight,
since we are rapidly becoming a community of non-status First
Nations. It is very important for our leaders in the years to come
to ensure that our rights under the treaties are protected for all
of our community members, not just those who CIRNAC says
are status.

Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation 57

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