Treaties, Land, and Resources

The Department of Treaties, Lands, and Resources was established in 2021 to provide information and assistance to the six KO communities in land-based planning, program delivery and knowledge acquisition.

We understand and emphasize that when we work, we are in the Homelands of the original inhabitants – the Anishinaabe (Ojibway), Anisininew (Oji-Cree), and the Cree Nations. As such, our research and support will embrace the communities’ views of jurisdiction and land relations. The fabric behind our work is the traditional understanding of Treaty, the sacred act of harmonizing relationships.

We promote the value and use of both Traditional Knowledge and Western Knowledge systems as part of the harmonization of nation-to-nation relations, and our relationships to the land. We promote the growth of knowledge and the building of individual and community capacities to use that knowledge wisely.

OUR DEPARTMENT RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Keeping communities well and connected to their territories.
• Supporting the communities’ vision of development through land-based planning & activities. This includes human development that provides community members the opportunities & freedoms to live a life they value.
• Facilitating community involvement in our research & programs, especially focusing on intergenerational connections of learning.
• Supporting the communities’ position of jurisdiction over lands and resources as interpreted through the Elders’ knowledge of the Treaties.
• Facilitate the building of respectful and effective relationships with outside interest groups and stakeholders in the land.