Per Discussion
"Students in public schools and Catholic schools of ON are living in a bubble when it comes to the foundations and history of Canada. To quote Dr. Kate Freeman, Shawn McDonald, Dr. Lindsay Morcom "It’s very important that teachers realize that the education system has been used to rob Indigenous people of their languages, their cultures, and their communities through the residential school system " (2018) This statement calls for needed attention as the Social Studies curriculum begins preparing them for what is to come in the high school history education but by that time the students have already developed a conception that Canada is and always was a culture mosaic. To extent “Canada” itself has always been, but it was what came before that which is important. According to the 2016 Canada Consensus "In 2016, 260,550 Aboriginal people reported being able to speak an Aboriginal language well enough to conduct a conversation." This piece of data is terrifyingly misguided as well as the page it is shared on seemingly speaks about these numbers in an enthusiastic tone (and that is understood why and what not), but as a citizen in a country that prides itself on its second unofficial language being a toss between two or more languages that are not mandatory in high school education, it is a bit discouraging. The consensus included 900,000 plus people. The curriculum that is offered now begins to tie up the loose ends of the past educational curriculum but needs to offer more than a bit of knowledge to help students truly understand where Canada came from. From the Charter of rights and freedoms, "guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society." (1981) The native people lived by a simple philosophy in life and once the Europeans arrived, things became complicated. A modern world mingling with a world that didn’t want to remove itself from what had always been. Not unlike today, there are many traditions that these cultures (we call the First Nations) have many beliefs that offer more than animism and theism in general. Their teachings offer a fundamental respect for all living things and that is what kept their cultures alive for the amount of time it has. As requested in the TRC, "We call upon the federal government to acknowledge that Aboriginal rights include Aboriginal language rights. " (2015) This fundamental belief of respect for one another (including the earth itself) is a crucial teaching that applies further than simple religion and language but also into the basic science elementary school students learn. Biodiversity, food chains, etc. The reading of culture and tradition is poetry in itself. The Ojicree practice chanting that offers teachings and stories in many different respects. The students we teach in our schools are indeed learning English but why can’t they also be observing another language’s translated chants or scripts of dialogue, etc. This allows students to view a text from a different viewpoint. The teachings of cultures are applicable to language arts on most levels. Yes, they would most likely need to be translated but its not as if they are not already. Overall, the idea of learning about indigenous studies is a matter of developing understanding of the world around us, and respect for not just fellow Canadians, but other humans. This is not just an English world, or a French World, it is multi-cultural and just as we show willingness to work closely with one culture, we certainly should for all."
Sources:
https://www.edcan.ca/articles/truth-reconciliation-classroom/. 2018.
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016022/98-200-x2016022-eng.cfm . 2017.
National Center for Truth and Reocnciliation (2022)
No comments:
Post a Comment