By LINCOLN DEPRADINE
Calls continue for amendment to schools’ curriculum, including at the university level, to better reflect the history and contribution to Canada of people of African descent.
“We desire a curriculum that is more factual and inclusionary,” said Dr. June Francis, co-director of the Institute for Black and African Diaspora Research and Engagement at British Columbia’s Simon Fraser University, where she’s a professor.
Francis joined several other speakers in a series of panel discussions held as part of a symposium—presented by TD Bank and Heritage Canada—that examined the theme, “Building a Black History Education Curriculum”.
The event formed part of the 2024 celebration of “100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women”.
Among the panels was one comprising Peel District School Board’s Dr. Camille Logan, chief executive officer of York Region Children’s Aid Society, Ginelle Skerritt and educator and artistic director, Amah Harris. Their topic of discussion was: “Trailblazers and Trendsetters: Stories of Black Canadians (pre-1985)”.
Francis and York University assistant professor Dr. Natasha Henry-Dixon, educator and trade union activist Lisa Skeete and renowned musical performer Tiki Mercury-Clarke, examined the topic: “Sheroes & Heroes Among Us: Tales of Communities, Courage and Resilience in Black Canadian History”.
Henry-Dixon, recommending curriculum change, said it’s needed “to counter the persistent, deliberate erasure and marginalization” of Black Canadians’ place in Canada’s education system.
The change is required “in order to disrupt the role that anti-Black racism has played in shaping where Black people have been in Canadian society, and as well as to map their resistance and their resilience”, she said.
Francis said a curriculum “by us”, serving every student and educator and “built also for our community”, should be in place all the way up to the university level.
“We need to ensure research and teaching in universities are appropriately done by us, for us,” said Francis. “If we don’t correct this at the university level, we will continue to have teachers who are ill-prepared to teach our students.”
Black people were not “just forgotten in the educational system”, said Francis. “It was an educational system that was designed to support colonization and enslavement and the promotion of White supremacy and Eurocentrism. So, it’s not by accident that Black people have been erased. It was intentionally done to exclude us.”
