(Ottawa, ON) March 23, 2022 – On this week’s episode of Roots and Hoots, host Gordon Spence is pleased to be joined by old friend Peter Kulchyski. Peter is of Polish and Ukrainian descent and grew up in Northern Manitoba. He is a full professor in the Department of Native Studies at the University of Manitoba, and has published extensively in the areas of Northern Indigenous history, law, politics and culture in Canada. He is currently working on a third volume, in a series co-authored with Frank Tester, on contemporary Inuit history, as well as working on a study of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 which the two discuss more in depth in this episode.

Peter has been a lifelong activist and proponent of advancing Aboriginal rights and title. He has travelled often into the remote North, visiting communities, going out on the land and learning about the obstacles people face in trying to access their land-based lifestyles. When consulting with communities, he often seeks payment in meat and fish instead of dollars. Through their conversation, Peter shares details of his time as co-director of the Canadian Consortium on Performance and Politics in the Americas whose focus was on comparing Indigenous realities and legal systems across the Americas by hosting cultural and academic festivals.

This year, Peter is on sabbatical as he works on publishing new works. Gordon and Peter discuss the Doctrine of Discovery and Peter details the importance of his upcoming work around the treaty of treaties, the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The Royal Proclamation is a binding and legal document that has set the precedence for Indigenous relations in Canada and is the basis for negotiations of further treaties between the Crown and Indigenous Nations. It is embedded in the Canadian Constitution and is one of the strongest supports for defending Aboriginal land rights through the Courts, yet few have detailed in print how it came to be thus. Peter shares significant insight into the times it was created and speaks of a power couple of the times, Sir William Johnson and Mohawk leader Molly Brant.

History is not so distant and it continues to inform our present. In this era of Reconciliation, Peter shares his thoughtful concerns for the need to see more meaningful work that goes beyond fitting Indigenous claims within Canadian sovereignty. Reconciliation becomes meaningful, when the party responsible for the problem changes. An aspect of this involves the way Crown lands are currently handled, and how a vision for them being jointly managed amongst Indigenous Nations and the Federal Government, would be a crucial element to advancing Reconciliation. A clash in cultures is what has always been at odds, and as Peter so powerfully elucidates, Canadians have much to learn from the Indigenous ways of life. A learning he further states, that does not involve the erosion of Canadians own cultures, but involves revering and respecting the lands and waters through basic principles we have all learned but many may have since forgotten, the values of sharing and caring.

The LHF is a national, Indigenous-led, charitable organization that has been working to promote healing and Reconciliation in Canada for over 21 years. The LHF’s goal is to educate and raise awareness about the history and existing intergenerational impacts of the Residential and Day School Systems and subsequent Sixties Scoop on Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) Survivors, their descendants, and their communities to promote hope and healing in Canada. The LHF works to encourage people to address discrimination and injustice in order to contribute to the equity, dignity, and respectful treatment of Indigenous Peoples and to foster Reconciliation.

The LHF has more than 25 educational exhibitions that promote awareness of Indigenous history that are free to borrow and is working on making exhibitions available online. LHF also has curriculum for K-12 and for adults, along with Activity Guides, Workshops and Training, podcasts, all aimed at educating Canadians about Indigenous history and the shared history of Residential and Day Schools, the Sixties Scoop, etc. The LHF works to develop empathy and understanding so as to eliminate racism against Indigenous Peoples.

For media inquiries:
Teresa Edwards, B.A. JD.
Executive Director and In-House Legal Counsel
Legacy of Hope Foundation
Phone: 613-237-4806 Ext. 303 info@legacyofhope.ca