Truth & Reconciliation Assignment

Introduction

In 2011, I obtained my Education degree through Simon Fraser University in British Columbia and even though I have been living in Alberta for the past seven years, I have never been prompted to look for historical documents related to education in this province until now.  Therefore, I was both surprised and impressed by the volume of digitized content available online through the University of Alberta Library Historical Curriculum Collections (Alberta) (2021).  This archive consists of an enormous collection of resources dating back to the late 1800s.  After browsing for a bit, I settled on examining one of the earliest copies of the elementary curriculum guide for the province entitled Course of Studies for the Public Schools, grades I-VIII (Province of Alberta,1918).  This curriculum document appears to be the second edition ever published, as the archive did contain one earlier edition published in 1911.  However, my initial search of the earliest edition revealed barely any content related to Indigenous peoples (Province of Alberta, 1911).  Thus, I decided to conduct my research and analysis on the second edition of the curriculum document in the hopes that it would reveal a more complete picture of how Indigenous peoples were represented in education in Alberta during the early days of Confederation.

Question #1

What knowledge related to Indigenous people did the government hope to convey to children living in Alberta 100 years ago?

After searching the Course Studies for the Public Schools, grades I-VIII (Province of Alberta, 1918) for five initial keywords that capture the terminology that the government has used both historically and currently when referring to Indigenous peoples in Alberta (Indian, Indigenous, Aboriginal, First Nations, and/or Native), it became evident that the early curriculum document did not contain much content related to Indigenous peoples (see Table 1).

Table 1

Initial Keyword Search Results

However, grade five history is when students received their main introduction to Indigenous peoples, as part of a unit on “Characteristic Stories of Western Life” (Province of Alberta, 1918, p. 53).  This section lists that students should learn the following: “Indian trails, buffalo trails, and stories of buffalo hunts; Indian life, customs and legends; how Indian names have been retained, e.g., Saskatchewan River, Old Man River, Medicine Hat, Elbow River, etc.; Indian Reserves, Indian agents, present day Indian as a ward of the nation” (Province of Alberta, 1918, p. 53).  The “Indian as a ward of the nation” really jumped out at me, as ten year olds were being presented with the idea that Indigenous people could not care for themselves and needed the state to intervene in their lives.   A way of thinking that would have been used to justify racist policies and institutions, such as residential schools.

In grade six, students learned about French Canada, which included some information on “Indian Wars and Alliances” and how the English were allies with the Iroquois (Province of Alberta, 1918, p. 55).  Students in this grade also expanded their knowledge on “The Canadian West”, and in addition to learning about notable explorers, missionaries, and the “supremacy of the Hudson’s Bay Company”, they also learned details about “The Indians of the Plains: Appearance, dress, habits, homes, manner of living, occupations, amusements, names, moral and religious customs, tribal organizations, – a comparison of the different tribes” (Province of Alberta, 1918, p. 55).  Reading this section from a historical perspective, it reads as though Indigenous people are being presented as the “other”, whereas the English on the other hand reign supreme and “conquered” the west as demonstrated by the “supremacy of the Hudson’s Bay Company” (Province of Alberta, 1918, p. 55).  Sadly, if I really reflect on this section though, when I learned the history of Canada, I cannot confidently say that the history of Canada was presented much differently 70 years later in the 1990s.

Question #2

What additional stereotypes did the curriculum help to reinforce?

In an attempt to make sure that I was not missing anything from the document and uncover any stereotypes that the curriculum was reinforcing, I searched ten other keywords (see Table 2).  A few of these keywords are considered derogatory today, but they were included in the hopes that they would potentially uncover additional information that I had missed in the original search.  The main, additional stereotype that this keyword search revealed was in grade three, students learned “weaving and basketry”.  While students were to learn the “origin and use of baskets”, they were also taught “the lazy squaw stitch” (Province of Alberta, 1918, p. 93).  Thus, even in “Manual Arts” trying to reinforce a stereotype that Indigenous people are lazy and need the state to “take care” of them.

Table 2

Additional Keyword Search Results

Additionally, I discovered that “playing Indian” was a recommended activity that could be played in “rural and village schools (Province of Alberta, 1918, p. 107-108).  Thus, encouraging students to bring their stereotypes to life, and role playing the act of “conquering” Indigenous peoples.

Conclusion

I tried to highlight some of my main findings that I unearthed from searching this historical curriculum document from Alberta.  I will admit that I was surprised that there was no reference to Métis people in the document considering Alberta contains a large number of Métis communities, but I was not surprised to find that what little content there is in reference to Indigenous peoples is rife with stereotypes.  Ultimately, the entire curriculum is incredibly eurocentric and in the few places where there is content about Indigenous peoples, Indigenous peoples are either othered or presented as being inferior and in need of care by the more industrious settlers.  This early curriculum document is largely a celebration of colonialism.    

References

Province of Alberta. (1911). Course of Studies for the Public Schools [Document]. JAS E. Richards Government Printer.  Retrieved from University of Alberta Libraries: https://archive.org/search.php?query=external-identifier%3A%22urn%3Aoclc%3Arecord%3A858568631%22

Province of Alberta. (1918). Course Studies for the Public Schools, grades I-VIII [Document]. J.W. Jeffrey King’s Printer.  Retrieved from University of Alberta Libraries: https://archive.org/search.php?query=external-identifier%3A%22urn%3Aoclc%3Arecord%3A858568651%22

University of Alberta Library. (2021, August 24). Historical Curriculum Collections (Alberta). https://guides.library.ualberta.ca/historical-curriculum-guides-alberta/digitized-collections