Ontario government moving forward with Indigenous lesson plan but cancels meetings to improve it
Thestar.com
July 9, 2018
Robert Benzie
Ontario’s new Progressive Conservative government is sticking with an updated curriculum to reflect the experience of Indigenous peoples although efforts to improve the lesson plan are being scaled back.
“The Ministry of Education will continue to move ahead with the updated Truth and Reconciliation Commission curriculum revisions,” said Ben Menka, a spokesman for Education Minister Lisa Thompson.
Ontario Education Minister Lisa Thompson, left, with Lisa MacLeod, minister of children, community and social services and minister responsible for women's issues arrive for the first cabinet meeting last month. Thompson’s ministry cancelled this week’s planned discussions on further updates to the Indigenous curriculum.
Menka said Monday the ministry would “work with experts, elders and Indigenous communities to develop the support materials for the updated curriculum.”
But ministry bureaucrats at the last minute cancelled this week’s planned discussions on further updates --apparently due to a new ban on non-essential travel.
“The Ministry of Education cancelled three writing sessions: Truth and Reconciliation Commission curriculum revisions; American sign language; (and) Indigenous languages in kindergarten,” said Menka, noting “the ministry moved ahead with the cancellation unilaterally, with no direction from the minister of education.”
That’s in part due to an across-the-board austerity push by the new Conservative administration sworn in on June 29.
“In keeping with the commitment Premier Doug Ford made to run government more efficiently, all ministries will seek to carry out initiatives in the most cost-effective way possible,” said Menka.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Derek Fox warned that cancelling the writing sessions was “a step backwards on our journey towards reconciliation.”
“Truth-sharing and education on the Indian residential school experience is one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 calls to action,” said Fox.
“The education of the youth in Ontario shouldn’t be dictated by the party in power, but left to professionals who acknowledge that identity-building is the only positive move forward,” he said.
Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario president Sam Hammond tweeted that he was “very concerned that the government has cancelled all curriculum writing sessions including the #TRC session that was to begin tomorrow.”
New Democrat MPP Peggy Sattler (London West) worried that the Tories are up to something.
“Doug Ford needs to come clean with families, teachers, educators and students about what’s going on here,” said Sattler.
“The curriculum in Ontario’s public schools is outdated, and we simply have to do better for our children,” the NDP member said.
“If it’s true that Ford has scrapped the summer curriculum writing sessions, that’s a major shift in the plan for students and schools. Why? And if he’s cutting the modernization program, what is he replacing it with? Have the Ford cuts come for our children’s education already?” she said.
“Teachers, educators, and families have been clear that they support bringing Indigenous education into the classroom, and are right to be alarmed if this is the approach the Ford government plans to take. Mr. Ford needs to lay out his position, and describe his commitment to truth and reconciliation.”
The new curriculum was developed in partnership with Indigenous leaders and stems from a key recommendation of the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission so Ontario students can learn about residential schools and other dark chapters of Canadian history.
Thompson, meanwhile, has other challenges ahead at her ministry.
Ford has promised to revamp the modernized sex-education curriculum in a bid to appease social conservatives who fear it is not age-appropriate.
The new premier has also pledged to improve the way math is taught in order to stem the slide in students’ math scores on provincial tests.
