Meet the teens who retraced a 150-year-old river route to commemorate Treaty 6

A select group of high school students embarked on the trip of a lifetime this spring, commemorating the 150th anniversary of Treaty 6 — one paddle stroke at a time. 

Some 30 Lloydminster Public School Division students were hand-picked for the journey, a 350-kilometre canoe trip following the footsteps of Canadian history. 

Fighting wind, waves, and weariness was all part of the experience for Avery Outreach School student Creedence St. Germaine. 

“The first hour was pretty sore,” said 17-year-old St. Germaine. “I got used to the soreness in the shoulders and stuff and just kept paddling.” 

After 72 hours traversing more than 100 kilometres of the winding, at times rugged, waters of the North Saskatchewan River, 14-year-old Allie Hillis says she now possesses a deeper understanding of herself. 

“I learned that I’m stronger than I thought I was when we had to paddle against the wind,” Hillis, a Grade 8 student at Lloydminster’s E.S. Laird Middle School, told CBC News earlier this month. 

Staff and students made the eight-day voyage from Fort Pitt, 15 kilometres east of the Alberta/Saskatchewan border, to Fort Carlton in central Saskatchewan — retracing the route taken by First Nations and Crown representatives during the negotiations and signing of Treaty 6 in 1876.

Treaty 6 territory spans across central Alberta and Saskatchewan. One of the 11 numbered treaties signed between the First Nations, the Creator, and the Canadian Crown, Treaty 6 is a sacred agreement outlining how the First Nations and settlers would share the land, plants, air and animals.

Clint Chocan, a First Nation, Métis and Inuit education consultant for the school board, was one of many trip organizers. But a familial connection made his role in the journey even more meaningful. 

“My great-great-great grandfather happened to be Seekaskootch who signed Treaty 6 for our Nation,” Chocan, a member of Onion Lake Cree Nation, told CBC News.

“It’s something that I’m deeply connected to and deeply rooted with.” 

Three crews made up of students from five Lloydminster schools tackled the voyage in legs, each paddling for three days and camping along the bank for two nights. 

Avid paddler and E.S. Laird principal Luke Maw was excited to share the rich history along the North Saskatchewan River with students. He said he knew it would be both an educational experience, and a transformational one. 

“I’ve seen it time and time again where canoe trips change people,” Maw told CBC News. 

“The challenge back to our students now is — how will people know that you’re changed?” 

More than history

For 18-year-old Libby Sherbinin, the trip was more than a chance to test her grit.

“It was really great to learn that I can make friends with people and work really well with people that I haven’t known before and that come from different backgrounds than me,” said Sherbinin, a graduating Lloydminster Comprehensive High School student. 

“I think that’s exactly what a treaty is — it’s building relationships … coming to an agreement and respecting that agreement, despite differing perspectives on it. 

Part of the first crew who pushed off from Fort Pitt, Sherbinin said battling strong headwinds one day and temperatures over 30 C the next gave her a new perspective on the first voyage.  

“I don’t think we would have been able to make it going upstream like they had to, it was challenging enough going downstream,” said Sherbinin. 

“It would have been probably 10 times more challenging.” 

St. Germaine, a member of Pelican Lake First Nation, said he was proud to learn more about his Cree culture on the trip.

“Feel pretty blessed to be from Treaty 6 and the reserve I’m from,” he said. “Really means a lot that I got to represent for the schools and for the treaty.” 

Hillis’s greatest takeaways were about caring for the land she and her family farm on, and seeing the agreement between the Crown and First Nations as more than history. 

“The Treaty isn’t just a document, it’s a living thing,” she said. “We still have promises that we have to fulfill.” 

After returning, each of the five participating schools were given a commemorative paddle as a reminder of both the voyage, and what it means to live in Treaty 6 territory. 

“This is not something for just Indigenous people. This is not something just for Europeans. Together we’re all treaty people,” said Maw. 

“Although the trip’s over, the journey is not. This is something that’s going to live on forever in our students.”