Education minister orders ‘hateful’ lessons on residential schools to be withdrawn

EDMONTON Melissa Purcell was shocked when she saw a social studies lesson that described Canada’s residential school education as “generally appropriate.”

“That does not capture the residential school experiences of our First Nations, Métis and Inuit across the country,” said Purcell, an Alberta Teachers’ Association staff officer in professional development and Indigenous education.

Purcell, who leads the Walking Together — Education for Reconciliation project, helps equip teachers across Alberta to best teach about Indigenous history and experiences.

This week, a student in St. Paul posted a picture of her social studies classwork online that asked students to identify a “positive effect” of residential schools from four choices.

Education Minister David Eggen and two school division superintendents swiftly apologized, saying the lesson was inappropriate and shouldn’t have made it to students.

Eggen called the 94-page document “hateful,” and told schools to pull it out of circulation.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which was active from 2008 to 2015, estimates about 150,000 Indigenous children attended the schools between the 1870s and 1996.

Survivors reported physical and sexual abuse in the churchrun schools, which were designed to eliminate their culture and languages. An estimated 6,000 children died at the schools or attempted to run away.

The unit on Canada’s First Na- tions People was prepared by the Alberta Distance Learning Centre for its Social Studies 20-4 course.

One page said: “Residential schools had a positive role in teaching students to read and write, and about ways of life other than their own. There were, however, some negative impacts from these residential schools.”

The lessons’ cartoonish depictions of Indigenous people are dehumanizing and perpetuate negative stereotypes, Purcell said.

It fails to describe the negative outcomes that “far outnumber any positive experiences,” she said, and omits mention of the deleterious effects on survivors’ children and grandchildren.

“There’s a lot of progress that has been made across the province, and significant change,” she said. “This is a huge reminder that we need to do a lot more work.”

Muriel Stanley Venne, a Métis woman, human rights advocate and president and founder of the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women, said the lessons were simplistic and insulting.

She was horrified to think it was presented to Indigenous students.

“I didn’t feel there was any humanity in any of it,” she said. “Like they were talking about some kind of specimen, and trying to explain it to young minds.”

Ignorance of Indigenous history and culture won’t be a valid excuse for any teacher, principal or superintendent to present outdated material effective Sept. 1, 2019.

That’s when new, mandatory teaching, leadership and superintendent quality standards take effect in Alberta.

They require all teachers to have foundational knowledge about First Nations, Métis and Inuit.

They must know about treaty agreements and residential schools, invite Indigenous elders and speakers into classrooms and provide resources that accurately reflect Indigenous history.

A new K-12 curriculum now under development will also require teachers to discuss residential schools in all grades.

The government is spending $5.4 million on teacher professional development in preparation.

All these moves stem from recommendations by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Purcell also connects teachers with local First Nations, Métis and Inuit sources and teaches them cultural protocols to build relationships.