RIGHT THE WRONGS
An interview with Justice Murray Sinclair, head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,
Justice Murray Sinclair, head of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, speaks to the Star about teaching a “balanced” version of Canadian history — one that recognizes and celebrates the contributions of First Nations.
Why do we need a new First Nations curriculum?
Children in all schools — residential schools and public schools — once got the same kind of education: the message that First Nations were heathens, pagans, savages, who made no contribution to their country. This resulted in a sense of identity that was self-defeating for indigenous children and created a very negative perception among nonaboriginals, who generally saw indigenous people as inferior. It created this mythological concept that was all wrong, and racially motivated — based on the Doctrine of Discovery (a belief that the Americas rightfully belonged to Christian Europeans who “discovered” them) and the “beauty” of Columbus’ arrival, which actually led to the death of 19 million indigenous people over time.
How skewed is the Canadian history we’ve all learned?
We teach about (European explorers John) Cabot and Jacques Cartier, about the French colonists and English colonists and the history of Upper and Lower Canada — but we don’t talk about the role of First Nations peoples in the creating of Canada. It was actually (Shawnee Chief) Tecumseh who won the War of 1812, not (General Isaac) Brock. Tecumseh actually drove the Americans back — Brock was dead by that time in the battle. But Canadian history is not balanced and it needs to be corrected.
Isn’t the history of residential schools too graphic for young children?
Some of it is, but there are many things about war we don’t teach children when they’re young, either — the blood and violence, and information they can’t handle — yet we teach children about war because there is lots they can handle. It’s the same with First Nations history and residential schools and treaties. You can’t hold it all back until Grade 10.
Why should First Nations history be mandatory?
All material related to the history of our society should be mandatory. There has been some pushback from those who say we’re politicizing the classroom, but you already politicize the classroom by teaching cultural exclusion, not inclusion, and continue to graduate people who are not fully aware of all that Canada is. Our point is, the curriculum is unbalanced. Children should be taught proper Canadian history; that’s how respect will be maintained. Schools drive a wedge because they teach aspects of history that leave out a whole group of children.
What’s the impact of this unbalanced history on aboriginal students?
They’re still dropping out at an enormous rate. In a survey of First Nations children who dropped out around the ages of 15 to 17, most said they decided to drop out when they were 12. So by the middle-school years, they are dissatisfied and want to leave.
Many teachers say they don’t know how to teach this. They never learned it themselves.
We’ve called on universities to educate professionals — teachers, social workers, engineers, even scientists — about indigenous people and to use that information in their fields to start a knowledge base. They need to have an understanding of their country. This is what Canada is all about. It includes indigenous people.
This is a big challenge, to bridge the gap in aboriginal children’s achievement.
It took 125 years to create the problem — seven generations — so it may take generations to fix. The government spent so much time trying to exterminate our language and culture, it’s important to take the time to re-establish language and culture as a foundation for the future. There will be some resistance from indigenous people who have been Christianized and view indigenous spirituality as negative; some communities have banned sweat lodges because they believe what they were told in residential school — that it will result in going to hell. They’re fearful of embracing their culture.