A Short History of Indigenous Education in Canada
Overview
The mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has come to an end, bringing a historic opportunity to build a shared future together.
Mutual understanding is fundamental to achieving genuine reconciliation between Indigenous people and all Canadians.
Education has an important role to play. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls for Action expect Education systems to redress past wrongs and rejuvenate the distrustful relationships that prevailed historically up to today.
Envision what reconciliation means and how education can be an important site for renewing the relationship.
Learn what it means to be an ally and think through concrete ways of contributing to social justice and positive change.
Learning Module
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Describe at least three ways Indigenous education has been defined and understood.
- Describe how education can be used as a form of colonization.
- Understand how education has played a role in the marginalization and subjugation of Indigenous peoples.
- Discuss some themes and trends in anti-colonial education for Indigenous self-determination.
- Describe characteristics of traditional Indigenous pedagogy and make links to education ‘innovations’ today.
Module Topics
You will explore the following topics in this module:
- The medicine wheel
- Pre-contact learning
- Early contact changes Indigenous Education
- Colonial education
- Contemporary learning
- Reclaiming control over education
- Recognition, apology and reconciliation
- Reconciliation in action
- Suggested activities
- Further resources
Module
Resource List
- Module - Indigenous Worldviews (PDF)
- The Medicine Wheel (Video)
- Pre-Contact Learning - Part 1 (Video)
- Pre-Contact Learning - Part 2 (Video)
- Indigenous Education in Early Contact Period (Video)
- Colonial Period - Part 1 (Video)
- Colonial Period - Part 2 (Video)
- Residential School Survivors (YouTube)
- 60’s Scoop (YouTube)
- Contemporary Learning - Part 1 (Video)
- Contemporary Learning - Part 2 (Video)
- Residential School Settlement (PDF)
- Analysis of the Apology (Video)
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission (PDF)
- Speech Highlights from TRC (YouTube)
- Kakalakkuvik (Where the Children Dwell) (YouTube)
Indigenous Education Resources by Jean-Paul Restoule is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
If you have any questions about the accessibility of the module or if you are having trouble accessing information, you can contact us.
