UBC Wiki:Discrimination Against Indigenous People Through Education

From UBC Wiki

Currently, approximately 8% of Aboriginal people hold university degrees, compared with 22% of the general Canadian population.The lack of education attainted by the Indigenous community can be see as a direct result of intergenerational trauma and discrimination[1]. Multiple Aboriginal individuals are not able to gain further post-secondary education as it is incompatible with them. Or many of them are constantly battling their way in life through traumas from residential schools that have affected a whole generation of Aboriginal peoples. In 1972 the document Indian Control of Indian Education outlined a vision that would put Indigenous students at an equal standing with other Canadian students[2] . However, despite this document the quest to implement this education that meets the social and cultural needs of the Aboriginal people’s community still continues [2]. Levels of educational attainment among the Aboriginal peoples have continued to be lower than the rest of the Canadian population [2]

Historical Factors Contributing to the Discrimination of the Indigenous in Education

Indian Act

The Indian Act was first passed in 1876 and provides a way of understanding the Native identity [3] . It is a Canadian federal law that governs matters regarding Indian status, bands, and reserves. The Indian act enables the government to determine who qualifies as Indian in the form of Indian status [3]. The Indian act oppressed the Indigenous community by banning certain traditional ceremonies of the Indigenous community such as the “Potlatch Law” in 1884 [3]. The Potlach was one of the most important ceremonies for and marked important occasions as well as served a crucial role in the distribution of wealth. Section 141 outlawed the hiring of lawyers and legal counsel by Indians, effectively barring Aboriginal peoples from fighting for their rights through the legal system. Indian Act in 1951 the more oppressive sections of the Indian Act were amended and taken out [3]. It was no longer illegal for Indians to practice their customs and culture such as the potlatch. They were now allowed to enter pool halls and to gamble—although restrictions on alcohol were reinforced [3]. Indians were also now allowed to appear off-reserve in a ceremonial dress without permission of the Indian Agent, to organize and hire legal counsel, and Indian women were now allowed to vote in band councils [3].

The act was an attempt to generalize a vast and varied population of people and assimilate them into non-Indigenous society, and therefore forbade First Nations peoples and communities from expressing their identities through governance and culture. In order to do this the act allowed the creation of residential schools [4]. Attendance in these schools was made mandatory in the Indian Act in 1920 [4].

Residential Schools

In 1996 the last Indian residential school (IRS) that had run for a century closed down leaving behind countless traumatic experiences associated with the word school [5]. The Canadian government and Canada’s churches built the residential school system as a means to solve the “Indian question” in Canada — the perceived threat and barrier posed by Indigenous Peoples to the ongoing construction of the newly forming nation of Canada. From the time period of 1831 to 1996 residential schools were the highest education Aboriginal peoples could receive. This was a result of the forceful colonization of Europeans in North America. These schools were seen as a prison to multiple Aboriginal children as they were forced into separation from their families at ages as young as three [6]. The IRS were a way of abolishing the Aboriginal people’s cultural identity, in other words, the schools were made to conduct a genocide [5]. Children were forcibly removed from their families and placed in schools in which they faced abuse, cultural shaming, chronic stress and trauma. In 1920 an amendment to the Indian Act made this education mandatory for children aged 7-15 or harsh consequences would be faced [6]. Conditions of residential schools are often depicted in a negative light. Children were frequently beaten for speaking their native language, or for associating with students of the opposite sex [6]. Education materials were often inferior, with inadequate health and living facilities, and nutrition standards were neglected [6].Accounts from Survivors and staff showed that the buildings were often in a poor state and, in some cases, were even dangerous[7]. Fires frequently ripped through the schools and several of the buildings burned down completely, only to be rebuilt later. Some northern schools ran out of tents and temporary shelters [8].

This shows that residential schools were the only place Indigenous children were allowed to receive education from nearly a century. These schools oppressed Indigenous students and taught them that their race is “savages”. The teachers at these schools partook in discriminatory actions against the Indigenous children such as abusing them if they spoke their mother tongue.

Lack of Funding for Reserve Schools

Schools on reserves are funded at per-student levels below what most provinces pay to support their schools, even though the needs and costs on reserves are significantly higher [9]. There are numerous inequitable school facilities for the Aboriginal peoples and teacher housing, inappropriate curriculums, massive shortcomings in electricity, and absence of pencils and paper [10]. Many Aboriginal students have identified that most aspects of the curriculum are not related to their experiences and did not resonate with what they already know [11]. They view many of the textbooks used as outdated and having little relevance to their learning [11]. Since there is a lack of funding for reserve schools teachers are starting to leave the reserve schools to teach in the public school system, which offers a more competitive salary and has the necessary educational resources like up-to-date textbooks, libraries, and technology. In December of 2017, the Parliamentary Budget Officer reported that the education gap was estimated at $665 million [12]. Which depicts that reserve schools are lacking adequate resources to teach their students, which in turns results in a gap of educational attainment between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.

Racial Discrimination in Schools

Multiple Indigenous students feel excluded from receiving their rightful education. In an interview was conducted with various Indigenous students across Canada who talked about their experience as an Indigenous student; one of the participants a student named Kimi talked about how she’d receive “crappy” grades on her papers because the teacher would make an assumption about her through her ethnicity [11]. Another person revealed how her teacher would single her out in the French class asking her if she understands what is being taught, although she was one of the best French students in the class [11]. Thus, resulting in numerous Indigenous students developing hatred towards schools when their teachers and peers who automatically assume that because they are different they cannot be as intelligent as others. Further, there is evidence that Indigenous students attending predominately white high schools or university after previously attending reservation schools encounter more racial prejudice [13]. School discrimination negatively influences Indigenous youth’s academic performance and self-esteem thus resulting in a high drop out rate; for instance, Indigenous students are 2.5 times more likely to drop out of school than non-Indigenous youth [13]. Further Indigenous students feel devalued after seeing the representations of Indigenous peoples in Canadian curriculum and textbooks as being presented in problematic ways such as; representing Indigenous people as being savages, uniquely spiritual, protestors, and invisible [14].

Teachers are Teaching From a White Perspective

Nine out of the ten teachers working in the local public schools in British Columbia during the 2010 / 2011 school year self-identified as White women; although, over 90% of students attending school at this time were of Aboriginal ancestry [15]. Non-Aboriginal teachers make up the majority of those who teach Aboriginal students and are called upon to deliver Aboriginal content and perspectives [15]. Teachers report that they acknowledge that they are not able to do a good job of incorporating Indigenous perspectives because they themselves do not know much about the Indigenous community [14]. Thus, they tend to teach from an Eurocentric perspective because that is what they have been taught [14]. The Indigenous students tend to feel humiliated when the teachers describe the history as the European newcomers helped the Indigenous community by coming to Canada [11]. Therefore, many students feel that education today is similar to that of residential schools where Indigenous people were oppressed and devalued [11]

Reform

Respect for Indigenous history and culture itself is a strong element that we need to begin working on. The education system is undoubtedly flawed in this regard and requires serious work. Therefore, we can solve this by giving Aboriginals an equal standing in a society which would lead to them gaining confidence in their self-identity. We can first increase the funding that many of the reserve schools lack [9]. With proper funding, Aboriginal students will be able to have access to pens, pencils and be taught a curriculum that resonates with what they already know [10]. Also, the education system needs to look at the culture and value system of Aboriginal peoples to get a better understanding of how they should teach Aboriginal children. The idea being biased towards a child for his/her ethnicity needs to be stopped [11]. Adaption into the education system doesn’t mean the complete assimilation of the Aboriginal people’s culture and unequal treatment, but rather both accommodating each other and meeting each other’s needs. Thus, leading to the recommendation that schools should introduce smaller classes where the teacher is able to have a one on one interaction with their students and therefore, creating less room for judgment based on ethnicity.

Link to Further Information

https://aptnnews.ca/2018/02/22/lack-funding-piling-dreams-first-nations-children-blackstock/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LchiS8eQ7UM

https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1509019844067/1531399883352

References

  1. Currie, C. L., Wild, T. C., Schopflocher, D. P., Laing, L., & Veugelers, P. (2012). Racial Discrimination Experienced by Aboriginal University Students in Canada. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 57(10), 617–625. https://doi.org/10.1177/070674371205701006
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Wotherspoon, T. (2014). Seeking Reform of Indigenous Education in Canada: Democratic Progress or Democratic Colonialism? AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 10(4), 323-339. doi:10.1177/117718011401000402
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 The Indian Act. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_indian_act/
  4. 4.0 4.1 Indian Act. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/indian-act
  5. 5.0 5.1 Bombay, A., McQuaid, R. J., Schwartz, F., Thomas, A., Anisman, H., & Matheson, K. (2018). Suicidal Thoughts and Attempts in First Nations Communities: Links to Parental Indian Residential School Attendance Across Development. Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, , 1-9. doi:10.1017/S2040174418000405
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Sharpe, G. (2011). Residential Schools in Canada: History, Healing, and Hope. International Journal of Learning and Development, 1(1) doi:10.5296/ijld.v1i1.1146
  7. Canadian Geographic. (2018, June 15). History of Residential Schools. Retrieved from https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/history-of-residential-schools/
  8. Canadian Geographic. (2018, June 15). History of Residential Schools. Retrieved from https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/history-of-residential-schools/
  9. 9.0 9.1 Levin, B. (2009). Aboriginal Education Still Needs Work. The Phi Delta Kappan, 90(9), 689-690. doi:10.1177/003172170909000917
  10. 10.0 10.1 Tatz, C. (2008). Aboriginal Education Again. Sydney Institute Quarterly, the, (34), 14-18.
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 Neeganagwedgin, E. (2013). A Critical Review of Aboriginal Education in Canada: Eurocentric Dominance Impact and Everyday Denial. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 17(1), 15-31. doi:10.1080/13603116.2011.580461
  12. First Nations students face continued funding shortfalls, advocate says | CBC News. (2017, August 31). Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/first-nations-students-face-continued-funding-shortfalls-1.4267540
  13. 13.0 13.1 Corson, D. (1998). Community-based Education for Indigenous Cultures. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 11(3), 238–249. doi: 10.1080/07908319808666555
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 Crawford, D. M., Cheadle, J. E., & Whitbeck, L. B. (2010). Tribal vs. Public Schools: Perceived Discrimination and School Adjustment among Indigenous Children from Early to Mid-Adolescence. Journal of American Indian education, 49(1-2), 86–106.
  15. 15.0 15.1 Conner, B.(2013). An Examination of the Role of White Teachers Working in Aboriginal Communities. 1-45