Rita Joe, a Mi'kmaq poet from Nova Scotia who is a featured Indigenous author in some English classes, was orphaned at a young age and sent to a residential school.
Thunder Bay, Ont.-In some schools, teachers are making a drastic change in literature curriculum to focus more on Indigenous works. One of these is the Thunder Bay Catholic School District where Grade 11 compulsary English classes now focus on Native authors., such as Rita Joe's poem, I Lost My Talk, about attending a residential school and having to relearn native language.
Increasingly, school boards across Canada are revisiting their English curriculums to reflect a culturally diverse student population. According to The Globe and Mail, those changes are more pronounced in Thunder Bay, a city they say has come under the microscope in recent years for its struggles with systemic racism and reconciliation with Indigenous people.
At first some teachers and students were concerned about the curriculum change. They wondered if non-Indigenous educators could teach the subject matter or if the curriculum would be rigorous enough for students.
However, the teachers received training and the literature proved to be up to the task. The new procedure also follows one of the recommendations in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action on making Indigenous contributions part of school curriculum.
Other school boards across the province are starting to take a similar approach to their Grade 11 English course. School boards receive more funding from the provincial government for offering courses on Indigenous topics. The Thunder Bay Catholic board said the money goes toward native-language classes and other initiatives focused on Indigenous education.
Damien Lee, an assistant professor in sociology at Ryerson University and a member of Fort William First Nation, told The Globe and Mail that it is important for educators to move toward changing curriculum that is reflective of students. He said the change to the English curriculum at the Thunder Bay Catholic board is "a great step," especially during this era of reconciliation.
"That kind of mainstreaming of Indigenous authors opens the space to see the humanity of Indigenous peoples for what it is rather than just as a novelty"
Meanwhile, in the United States a similar emphasis is occurring. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community announced a $5 million philanthropic campaign to fund resources, curriculum, and training on Native American heritage for teachers and administrators across Minnesota.
A report by the National Congress of American Indians highlights the need for these kind of initiatives. In analyzing states' efforts to bring content about indigenous people into K-12 classrooms, the report found that 87% of state history standards include no mention of Native American history after 1900, and 27 states don't mention Native Americans in their K-12 curriculum.
Conversely, 90% of states surveyed reported that they are working to improve the quality of and access to Native American education curriculum. Many states indicate that Native American education is included in their content, although few require it be taught in public schools. Educators don't have to wait for a state mandate to begin integrating Native American studies into their coursework, no matter their subject.
Washington appears to lead the way in Indigenous content. In 2015 it became the second state, behind Montana, to mandate tribal history be taught in all school districts. Washington officials also require schools to get input from the state's 29 federally recognized tribes in the process.
"For Native people, it's a matter of having their story told and being accurate and having a local perspective," says Michael Vendiola, the education director for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and former program supervisor for the Washington's Office of Native Education. "It severely impacts the success of tribal students in the public school system because most of the time (what is taught comes from) a very narrow point of view-totem poles from Alaska or a bit of Navajo ceremonies. There are over 500 tribes in the U.S. which are clearly more diverse than that."
Some of the challenges of such curriculum moves is funding as well as finding the resources, such as Native American curriculum writers.
