Our Children Our Future Our Vision - People for Education

Our Children, Our Future, Our Vision
impacts that this assimilatory policy had on First Nations. Subsequently however, Minister of Indian
Affairs John Duncan attempted to minimize Canada’s culpability by describing residential schools as
“a policy gone wrong” and denied that it was a form of “cultural genocide” or that it was “lethal”. 66
Neither in the apology or subsequent statements has there been recognition of the Treaty right to
education, an increase in funding for language preservation, a formal repeal of the 2% funding
cap, or the implementation of First Nations’ jurisdictions to manage our own education systems.
Residential school policy may now be a thing of the past, but the assimilatory educational agenda
continues in provincial schools. Many provincial schools do not teach Indigenous languages, philosophies,
or traditional knowledge or practices, but instead reinforce the histories, stories, heroes,
values, ideologies, and knowledge systems of the dominant society.
The closing of residential schools and the subsequent transfer of Indigenous children to provincial
schools has been no less destructive to traditional Indigenous knowledge systems and languages.
This combined with the substantial increase in the numbers of children being taken from their
families and communities and placed in foster care results in similar effects.
Even with provincial teachers who are sympathetic to and knowledgeable about First Nations, they
are not the traditional knowledge holders or language speakers and thus cannot stand in place of
First Nation education systems. The fact of separation of language speakers from their children
and grandchildren denies them the opportunity to pass on the language. 67 The message in provincial
schools is that the dominant language is more important which results in Indigenous children
speaking their language less and less. Bear-Nicholas argues that not only does provincial control
of education result in the loss of Indigenous languages and cultures, but it also results in serious
mental harm to Indigenous children “which in turn plays a central role in the low academic performance
rates of Indigenous children” – a process known as “cognitive assimilation”. 68
But it is unequivocally assimilation since Indigenous children who
manage to complete subtractive education programs must also
assimilate to a considerable degree to the culture of the dominant
society in order to succeed. As a result, the only real choices offered
to Indigenous children in subtractive education are the choices of
Students of Indian Residential Schools” (11 June 2008), online: INAC
[Apology].
66 APTN National News, “Saganash calls on Duncan to apologize over residential schools comment” (27 October
2011), online: APTN . See
also: J. Barrera, APTN National News, “Federal official wanted emails deleted outlining plan to stonewall on residential
school genocide questions” (13 January 2012), online: APTN .
67 A. Bear-Nicholas, “Educational Policy for First Nations in New Brunswick: Continuing Linguistic Genocide and
Educational Failure or Positive Linguistic Rights and Educational Success?” (Fredericton: Andrea Bear-Nicholas,
2008), online: [Linguistic
Genocide] at 3.
68 Ibid. at 4. These mental harms include: “social dislocation, psychological, cognitive, linguistic, and educational harm”.
Chiefs of Ontario
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