Indigenous Report – Ontario announces the development of a new Indigenous curriculum for grades 1-3
According to Canada’s 2016 Census, the Indigenous population in Toronto is 46,315, however agencies serving the indigenous community in Toronto estimate that there are 70,000 indigenous residents living in Toronto. Many indigenous habitants reside in the downtown east areas of Toronto, including the low- income neighbourhoods of Regent Park, Moss Park and St. James Town. Far to often, however, Indigenous residents are invisible. In an effort to change this, we at Regent Park Weekly News is committed to bringing you news and stories on Indigenous communities in the down town east and City of Toronto.
On September 29, 2021, one day ahead of the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Ontario’s Education Minister, Stephen Lecce announced new funding and curriculum aimed at ‘strengthening Indigenous learning.
The curriculum, which will be mandatory for all students, is being developed for grades 1-3. The announcement came after growing calls for the government to devote more of the school curriculum to Indigenous education – following the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at residential schools earlier this year.
The curriculum includes, the role of family and resilience in First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities and nations. First Nations, Métis and Inuit historical and contemporary realities, Indigenous peoples’ interrelationship and connection with the land, the residential school system and the reclamation and revitalization of identity, language, culture and community connections. The curriculum is set to be ready for the 2023-2024 school year.
In addition to the curriculum, $23.96 million will be invested this school year into “targeted support for First Nation, Métis, and Inuit students” to pay for “culturally appropriate and safe education opportunities” for them. Ontario will also begin offering Inuktitut as a language option for students.
“It has to be every day where we realize our commitment to reconciliation, and embed that into learning,” Lecce told reporters at the morning of the announcement.
This past September 30th marked the first “National Day for Truth and Reconciliation” in Canada. The federal statutory day honors the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families and communities, and all federally regulated workplaces (such as the federal government, banks, post offices) were closed.
Skeptics challenging the sincerity of the government’s announcement, point out that Ontario has not made the national day for Truth and Reconciliation a provincial statutory holiday and argued that the previous Liberal government had committed to update course content at the elementary and secondary levels in 2016, to teach all students about the legacy of residential school. But in 2018 those plans were scrapped by the current progressive conservative government, right before curriculum-writing sessions with Indigenous educators and elders were set to begin.
Ontario’s curriculum currently includes Indigenous topics in social studies for grades 4,-6 and in history classes in grade 7, 8 and 10. As it stands, the province’s curriculum includes mandatory learning on residential schools in Grades 8 and 10, introduced in 2018.
Speaking of the new curriculum announcement, Joanne Meyer, the chief operating officer of the Métis Nation of Ontario, said “this would ensure that age-appropriate mandatory curriculum content pertaining to residential schools, treaties and the lives of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples is made available to all students.”
By Jessica Mvutu
(Jessica is a journalist with the Focus Media Arts Centre)
On September 29, 2021, one day ahead of the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Ontario’s Education Minister, Stephen Lecce announced new funding and curriculum aimed at ‘strengthening Indigenous learning.
The curriculum, which will be mandatory for all students, is being developed for grades 1-3. The announcement came after growing calls for the government to devote more of the school curriculum to Indigenous education – following the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at residential schools earlier this year.
The curriculum includes, the role of family and resilience in First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities and nations. First Nations, Métis and Inuit historical and contemporary realities, Indigenous peoples’ interrelationship and connection with the land, the residential school system and the reclamation and revitalization of identity, language, culture and community connections. The curriculum is set to be ready for the 2023-2024 school year.
In addition to the curriculum, $23.96 million will be invested this school year into “targeted support for First Nation, Métis, and Inuit students” to pay for “culturally appropriate and safe education opportunities” for them. Ontario will also begin offering Inuktitut as a language option for students.
“It has to be every day where we realize our commitment to reconciliation, and embed that into learning,” Lecce told reporters at the morning of the announcement.
This past September 30th marked the first “National Day for Truth and Reconciliation” in Canada. The federal statutory day honors the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families and communities, and all federally regulated workplaces (such as the federal government, banks, post offices) were closed.
Skeptics challenging the sincerity of the government’s announcement, point out that Ontario has not made the national day for Truth and Reconciliation a provincial statutory holiday and argued that the previous Liberal government had committed to update course content at the elementary and secondary levels in 2016, to teach all students about the legacy of residential school. But in 2018 those plans were scrapped by the current progressive conservative government, right before curriculum-writing sessions with Indigenous educators and elders were set to begin.
Ontario’s curriculum currently includes Indigenous topics in social studies for grades 4,-6 and in history classes in grade 7, 8 and 10. As it stands, the province’s curriculum includes mandatory learning on residential schools in Grades 8 and 10, introduced in 2018.
Speaking of the new curriculum announcement, Joanne Meyer, the chief operating officer of the Métis Nation of Ontario, said “this would ensure that age-appropriate mandatory curriculum content pertaining to residential schools, treaties and the lives of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples is made available to all students.”
By Jessica Mvutu
(Jessica is a journalist with the Focus Media Arts Centre)
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