Every year, the Mennonite Central Committee hosts a Peace Conference to highlight a different area of its work.

This year, because it’s the 150th anniversary of Treaty 6, MCC will be partnering with the Office of the Treaty Commissioner to educate the public on the true meaning of a treaty.

Randy Klassen is the Indigenous Neighbours Coordinator with the MCC. He says MCC wants to “take our people, and anybody from the public that’s interested, deeper into understanding what treaty relationships are about. There’s been so much misunderstanding over the generations of what treaty is.”

Klassen adds that sessions will tackle topics like the Indigenous expectations of what Treaty was meant to look like, the injustices that have come into play, what it means to share the land, and how to lean into living as treaty people.

“Most of the presenters are Indigenous, and all of the presenters are connected to the Office of the Treaty Commissioner…Charlie Clark, our former mayor, who is now doing some work with the OTC, will also be one of the presenters.”

He adds that, in speaking with Elders, it was recommended that the conference be held in the heart of where Indigenous communities are active, so it was decided to host the event at Station20 West on 20th Street in Saskatoon.

The second recommendation was to start the day with a pipe ceremony, which will also take place before the event begins.

The conference is on November 7th from 9:00 until 4:30.