Curriculum and Colonialism

I spent the better part of the past weekend infuriated about an article that was being shared by a number of friends on Facebook. The article was written for the National Post by a Cree man from Alberta who does not support Idle No More and ultimately believes colonialism was a thing of the past. He argues that no one deserves a free ride, and that Canadians, regardless of race or ethnicity, must develop their own path to achieve success because life is a level playing field. He also mentioned several times that the atrocities of colonialism were commited by people who no longer alive, to people who no longer exist. He raised multiple other opinions that had a troublesome lack of credibility, but he essentially believed that the Idle No More movement crushed the dream of Canadian equality.

Normally when I see ignorant opinions being circulated through social media I restrain myself from making comments, but this time I simply could not resist, especially given the amount of negative attention the Idle No More movement has elicited. The part of the article that bothered me the most was that colonialism is a thing of the past and that these people no longer exist, when the last residential school closed in the 1990s. I have met several people who attended residential schools, and many children and adults have parents or grandparents who had the misfortune of attending residential school. I found it extremely unsettling that this man believed that Aboriginal people should move on. This attitude is what creates and maintains racism and culture loss within society.

It was ironic that my reading for this week was Atleo and Fitzner's because the authors emphasized that colonial discourses remain in today's society and exist within school curriculums. Had I read their article before my comments on the article and on other posts I may have used some of their points. Curriculum is still Eurocentric, and although it is becoming increasingly encouraged to include Aboriginal content, it will take decades for Aboriginal content to become normal within the school system. The attitude that Aboriginal people should "get over the past," (the most common and most discouraging discourse) comes from a lack of knowledge about the subject. It takes generations for trauma to pass through and diminish, and relatives of residential school survivors may be separated by only one or two generations. Many of the issues within Aboriginal society stem from the residential school experience. Those who attended were made to believe they and their culture was worthless, and they were not shown love or respect. Inevitably, when residential school generations had their own children, parents had a difficult time showing love because they had never been shown love themselves. This creates a problem for a generation of people, and it is a problem that people generally fail to understand.

I believe that if students were educated from a young age about the effects of residential schooling and how and why those effects still exist combined with Aboriginal ways of knowing, future generations would become more tolerant over time. It is unfortunate that it will take years for a significant change, but beginning to teach children now is a start. Increased knowledge means decreased discrimination, and teachers and curriculum need to incorporate a more inclusive education for future generations.