Assessing Awareness of Indigenous Realities

ijzf — Wed, 12 May 2021 13:03:58 +0000

Assessing Awareness of Indigenous Realities ijzf Wed, 05/12/2021 - 09:03

Seven Generations Graduation Quilt for the Aboriginal Teacher Education Program graduating class of the 2012, displayed in Fort Frances, Ontario.

The Awareness Project brought members of the research team to Fort Frances, situated in the Rainy River District in Northwestern Ontario.

A creek in Fort Frances situated in the Rainy River District in Northwestern Ontario.

View of Signal Hill from the city of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

In 2013, two Awareness Project researchers visit members of the Newfoundland Aboriginal Women's Network in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Miawpukek First Nation, Conne River in Newfoundland and Labrador.

This research seeks to demonstrate that while most educational systems in Canada still cultivate a damaging and impoverishing ignorance of Indigenous people, in Canada there is the will and passion to change.

We assess primary and secondary school curricula. We work with Indigenous educational leaders, community members and specialists to devise a set of questions that measure familiarity with Indigenous existence in Canada including governance issues, current events, culture, geography and what is taught in relevant provincial curricula. We use that questionnaire to analyze student awareness of and attitudes to Indigenous people and seek to determine what students have learned from teachers, the community, media, parents and friends. We explore the processes and decisions followed by school and university officials from the Ministry, consultants, principals, professors and teachers, to investigate the still far too limited efforts to decolonize education.

We join many others in working to make Canada more responsible and aware of its colonial past and present.