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Racist school course sparks outrage as Canada reckons with colonial legacy
Source: The Guardian
Racist school course sparks outrage as Canada reckons with colonial legacy
Course in Nova Scotia asked racist questions about residential schools, which forced the assimilation of Indigenous children
Leyland Cecco in Toronto
Fri 18 Jun 2021 18.49 BST
A series of racist questions in a high school English course sparked outrage among parents and students and highlighted persistent shortcomings in how Canada teaches the grim legacy of colonialism and its impact on Indigenous peoples.
Students taking a grade 10 correspondence course in the province of Nova Scotia were asked to list the benefits and disadvantages of being placed in one of the country’s notorious residential schools, where 150,000 Indigenous children were sent as part of a campaign of forced assimilation.
Controversy over the course comes as Canada reckons with the discovery of 215 unmarked graves at a residential school in the city of Kamloops, British Columbia.
“Coming off the heels of all the news about the children being unearthed was such a stark moment to be looking at this,” shalan joudry told CBC News. Her daughter, Malaika Joudry-Martel, was enrolled in the course.
The pair, residents of Bear River First Nation, said they cried when they saw the questions, which included: “Why are poverty and alcoholism common problems among First Nations populations?” and “Why is unemployment high among First Nations?”
-snip-
In the same week, however, an advisor who helped shape a controversial social studies curriculum in the western province of Alberta has come under fire for an article in which he argued that Indigenous peoples should not be “entitled to some unique aristocratic victim status in this country”s.
-snip-
Course in Nova Scotia asked racist questions about residential schools, which forced the assimilation of Indigenous children
Leyland Cecco in Toronto
Fri 18 Jun 2021 18.49 BST
A series of racist questions in a high school English course sparked outrage among parents and students and highlighted persistent shortcomings in how Canada teaches the grim legacy of colonialism and its impact on Indigenous peoples.
Students taking a grade 10 correspondence course in the province of Nova Scotia were asked to list the benefits and disadvantages of being placed in one of the country’s notorious residential schools, where 150,000 Indigenous children were sent as part of a campaign of forced assimilation.
Controversy over the course comes as Canada reckons with the discovery of 215 unmarked graves at a residential school in the city of Kamloops, British Columbia.
“Coming off the heels of all the news about the children being unearthed was such a stark moment to be looking at this,” shalan joudry told CBC News. Her daughter, Malaika Joudry-Martel, was enrolled in the course.
The pair, residents of Bear River First Nation, said they cried when they saw the questions, which included: “Why are poverty and alcoholism common problems among First Nations populations?” and “Why is unemployment high among First Nations?”
-snip-
In the same week, however, an advisor who helped shape a controversial social studies curriculum in the western province of Alberta has come under fire for an article in which he argued that Indigenous peoples should not be “entitled to some unique aristocratic victim status in this country”s.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/18/canada-racism-high-school-outrage-residential-schools
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