How not to teach Canadian history

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
36,362
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Vancouver Island
Interesting but written by someone without a clue. Not all native societies were the same, much like the rest of the world. Some were reasonably advanced agrarian societies and some were very primitive where life was short and brutal. As for the residential schools only some one that grew up in a vacuum in an eastern city could not have known about them. I knew as a teen in the late 60s although not to the extent that has been since revealed.
 

wulfie68

Council Member
Mar 29, 2009
2,014
24
38
Calgary, AB
Uncivilized. Primitive. Inferior. Apparently, that is what the rest of us Canadians think of First Nations' people.

OK this is pretty generalized but anything that is trying to categorize how one group of people is viewed by other groups is bound to be that. None of those words fit the history that I was taught by teachers. Objectively, when viewing the technologies of native groups vs the Europeans who arrived in the 15th and 16h centuries, primitive is the only one that could fit. Civilization is completely subjective. Inferiority is also largely subjective without some specific areas to compare (i.e. the weaponry of the native groups was inferior to the weaponry of the Europeans... and this is a technological comparison thus contributing as much to primitive vs non).

Now at times I have (in my worst stereotyping periods) viewed natives as inferior and uncivilized, largely because of my experiences with Alberta Crees and their lack of regard for our laws. How does an 8 yr old respond when someone steals their new bike from the bike rack in his backyard, which is later recovered from a native kid, much worse for wear? Maybe that native kid didn't steal it but the evidence isn't convincing to that 8 yr old mind. How does a 12 year old react when his nemesis is a native kid who is bigger and bullies smaller kids? He doesn't focus so much on the non-native sidekicks, as the main bully. How does a 19-20 yr old man respond in the aftermath of an accident where a young woman he is fond of was killed, and its related to him by a survivor, that the native driver of the car causing the accident laughed at the hospital about "killing some whitey". Incidents like these leave their mark, even when the majority of native kids you grow up and live around are decent people who just want to live their lives and enjoy them, like anyone else. I know native kids can probably relate similar stories about non-natives too, but when we see the large proportion of native inmates in our prisons, it reinforces the stereotypes. I haven't read the report but I think the effort to understand the cultural differences has to go both ways.When I look at the stats like the prison demographics (and couple them to my own life experiences), I do think there has been reluctance by some native groups to do that as well, in large part because I do think they fear losing their cultural identity.

Reflecting back on it, Canadian history, as it was taught to those of my generation anyway, only began once the Europeans arrived and was seen through that prism.

This is true for my education in 70s-80s Alberta as well. Canadian history was taught starting with Cabot and Cartier. Depending on the teachers, the Iroquois, Huron and other nations could be either protagonists or antagonists, depending on their nationalistic view point (and the French vs English perspective did colour that issue almost always). Realistically, a lot of education depends on records, so I do wonder how we base a curriculum on what in many cases was oral histories? How do we provide context and gain perspective? Teaching elementary students and teenagers isn't the same as deciphering information as an adult.
 

skookumchuck

Council Member
Jan 19, 2012
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Van Isle
As the CBC's three-part documentary 8th Fire recently showed, aboriginal culture in this country can be vibrant and entrepreneurial, as it has probably always been.
A common means of revising history as a means of social engineering is the "sin of omission". The explanation when challenged, is that of relevance.
I have no problem with accentuating the positive if it is tempered with reality but if one is going that route lets tell it all as we do with European history.
This historical account regarding Fort Rupert on Vancouver Island has never been used in a school history class in modern times. Why not? It shows the warts on both sides......
Black Diamond City: Nanaimo, the Victorian era - Jan Peterson - Google Books
 

Dexter Sinister

Unspecified Specialist
Oct 1, 2004
10,168
536
113
Regina, SK
After seeing my kids going through high school, I'm inclined to think we don't teach Canadian history at all. What they got looked to me like a series of lessons about victimization: aboriginals, women, recent immigrants, internments of certain ethnic groups during various wars, racism, Quebec's grievances, etc. And then I read Jack Granatstein's little book, Who Killed Canadian History, which makes essentially the same point, much more forcefully and with more and better documentation than I had, and he answers the question of his title with what amounts to "political correctness."
 

Bar Sinister

Executive Branch Member
Jan 17, 2010
8,252
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Edmonton
No real history course is taught in Alberta, Canadian or otherwise. Instead the curriculum consists historical snippets with very little thought to continuity. In most schools pure history courses are not even offered as options.
 

WLDB

Senate Member
Jun 24, 2011
6,182
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Ottawa
I'm majoring in history right now for my undergrad. Even in University native stuff is barely touched on in Canadian and American history courses which I find a little strange. When they are brought up its mostly in relation to government policy towards them.
 

LiesOfTheIntell

Time Out
Feb 19, 2012
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0
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London, Ontario
The problem is everyone is biased, and most of us don't want to admit we are.
Then they shouldn't call it a science and perhaps relegate this field of study to Community College.

However I do think truths in History can be discovered. That many Hist. Prof's are biased, is a rather damnable indictment upon the whole system.
 

damngrumpy

Executive Branch Member
Mar 16, 2005
9,949
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kelowna bc
What I find interesting if this way the record for many white folks of which I am one,
there would be outrage and a world wide condemnation. The sad fact is, we had a
regime or a succession of them that not only believed they could make little white
kids out of native ones by denying them their cultural heritage and making their
practices illegal would assimilate them into Canadian society by force. Not unexpected
from the old British line of the day. After all they did the same thing in Scotland a few
centuries back. Several hundred years later the Scots still have not forgotten and
are preparing for a separation vote after centuries of English occupation.
The Natives have stuck with their best efforts and have learned from the current
education system, they have raised their own lawyers and business people and now are
working toward their own nations within the country. The reason? Every Time they
trusted the National Government, they were confronted with disappointment or worse.
I think it might be a touch biased, in the fact that many of the one on one horrors these
people faced are described in abstract terms. It is better to have a reconciliation
commission talking about abstracts rather than discussing how these despicable acts
and illegal actions impacted generations of a few groups in society.
The monstrous crimes committed by the Churches and their allies the Federal Government
are being played down if anything. Reconciliation cannot be achieved without justice
and a recognition by way of cementing compensation in law.
Some of the things these people did, are simply not defensible and I doubt that God could
even forgive them. Gee I hope my statements are not considered to abstract.