Melissa Lambrecht - Blog 3

Chapter 3: A historical overview of the education in Canada

This chapter provides a brief historical overview of the education system in Canada. I found that as I read about the history of education, there appears to be a trend, which the English have followed for dealing with minority groups. However, that is not to discount the French Catholic missionaries, who "played a large role in the education of colonies in New France" and also made it their ambition to assimilate the Aboriginal people with little success (56).

In 1839, John Lambton presented his recommendations to British Parliament along with Sir Arthur William Buller's sentiments in the Durham Report, which stated that a "reform of Lower Canada education required the Anglicization of the French Canadians" (59). This report stated that the solution to Lower Canada's education system was "to assimilate French Canadians into British culture, which was regarded as superior in all ways" (59). After decades of opposition and attempts at appeasement the British North America Act (1867) was issued at the time of confederation, which made matters of education a provincial issue. There were other attempts to limit French instruction in schools through Regulation 17, which limited French instruction to the first two years of elementary schooling (63). However, despite the efforts of the English to remove French language and culture, reforms such as Bill 101 (1977) and the constitutional amendment of 1997 continued to strengthen the role of French language (65). If the English had been successful in removing French language from the education system; consider for a moment how that would have effected the education experience for the majority of our peers, who took French beginning in grade 4 or were in an immersion program.

The horrific events that began in 1880 have more recently been discussed and made public following the formal apology of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2008. I am speaking about the residential school systems implemented by" Canadian politicians and policy-makers, which had clear purpose of fully assimilating Aboriginal children" from their 'savage' upbringings (72). This was an aggressive civilization and deliberate attempt to forcibly remove any culture and traditions of Aboriginal people and is in my opinion was an act of attempted genocide, I say attempted in that the government was not successful in assimilating or eliminating Aboriginal people or their culture entirely. Hundreds of years after the initial residential school opened, generations of Aboriginal peoples are still suffering from the after effects of these institutions.

There have also been instances of segregation in Canada's education history. I was surprised to discover that Black, Chinese and Japanese segregation in schools had occurred in Canada's history. However, despite the best attempts of the government to marginalize and segregate minority groups, these cultures and traditions exists in Canada today. I think it is important to critically consider the facade that Canada presents on the global stage. We are seen as a peace keeping nation, with multicultural diversity and much better than our brothers to the South. When in reality we are just as guilty as the United States in government attempts to assimilate minority groups, yet our reputation remains unscathed.  

Discussion Question:
How can we as teachers change the effects of our educational history and celebrate cultural diversity in early years classrooms? How can we make students aware of our history and educate them in an age appropriate way?