Continue Indigenous curriculum updates

Re Curriculum updates scaled back by Tories, July 10

Even though my name may not indicate that I have Indigenous heritage, I am a status Mohawk from the Six Nations Reserve southwest of Toronto. I am saddened by Education Minister Lisa Thompson’s move to cancel the writing session for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission curriculum revisions because I feel it’s important that children in future generations learn about the true history of our country, both good and bad.

My great-grandparents originally met at the Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ont., which opened in 1837 and was the first residential school in Canada. (The building still stands and is now being renovated.)

To make a long, sad story shorter, this institutionalization caused massive ripple effects on my family. It began with my great-grandparents, who were abused constantly at the hands of the government of the day. In the 1950s, my grandmother was forbidden to marry the love of her life because he was white, and if she did marry him she would be stripped of her Indian status. My mother grew up ashamed that anyone might find out she had native ancestry; in fact, she did not register for Indian status until two years before she died.

It seems that the Conservative party (for which I’ve voted in the past) doesn’t give a rat’s ass about Indigenous people — my people — or the proper history of our country, unless there is a dollar value attached or unless you can exploit us for political gain.

I think slashing the rewrite of the curriculum is wrong. Our community can never move forward from the 160-plus years of abuse as long as the status quo remains.

The provincial government has made a disastrous decision. I’m pleading with Education Minister Lisa Thompson to reverse it! Nathan Sollman, Toronto