New report highlights progress — and disappointments — in province’s Indigenous education. Elementary school science courses got a failing grade

Ontario’s public schools have made significant progress in Indigenous education over the last decade but in some areas — such as the elementary science curriculum — change has stalled, says a new report by People for Education.

The report is based on a survey of more than 1,000 Ontario principals in 1,044 Ontario publicly-funded schools within 72 school boards, and used recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action on Indigenous education as the foundation for its analysis. Successes, along with failures, were found.

“It is heartening to see how much progress has been made,” said Annie Kidder, executive director of the research and advocacy group, citing the influence of government policy, pressure from the commission’s work and “a general feeling among the public that this is important work that should be done.”

At the same time, Kidder said that Ontario’s Education Ministry needs better data collection to properly identify Indigenous students and should mandate an existing grade 11 English course focused on Indigenous voices.

It is also unclear, the report said, if funding for Indigenous programs is “allocated where it is most needed,” since the province “appears to be behind in its collection and reporting of race-based and Indigenous student data.”

Called Still Waiting for Truth and Reconciliation, the progress report from People for Education has data analysis that provides hope for ongoing improvement, Kidder said.

“It’s always that combination of wanting to tell the real story of what’s happening on the ground, but also listening to the people on the ground about where the pressures are and what needs to change.”　

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada published its final report on the impact of the residential school system, the report said, and one outcome was the Calls to Action that detailed a range of improvements needed in areas such as health, justice and, education.

Officially released on Monday, the report quoted Justice Murray Sinclair, commission chair, on the importance of Canadian schools to lead the way.

“Education is what got us into this mess — the use of education in terms of residential schools — but education is the key to reconciliation,” Sinclair said. “We need to look at the way we are educating children. That’s why we say that this is not an Aboriginal problem. It’s a Canadian problem.”

The People for Education report offered details on improvements and deficits for the advancement of Indigenous studies in Ontario schools.

On the positive side, analysis showed that 72 per cent of secondary schools reported offering an Indigenous studies course in 2022-23, compared to 40 per cent in 2013-14.

Noting that professional development on Indigenous education is “an increasingly common starting point,” the report also said that elementary school staff who received training on Indigenous issues more than doubledto 76 per cent in 2022-23 from 34 per cent in 2012-2013. In the same period, professional development for secondary school teachers jumped to 82 per cent from 34 per cent.

Indigenous language programs increased slightly between 2012 and 2022, to 13 per cent from four per cent in elementary schools, and to 20 per cent from 11 per cent in secondary schools.

And, in northern Ontario, analysis showed that activities such as drumming, medicine walks, dancing and storytelling were reported in 72 per cent of schools in 2022-23, compared to 30 per cent in the greater Toronto region.

Kidder said Ontario is “slowly” implementing a process for self-identification but she is calling for a more precise data collection.

The ministry, she said, recently provided figures stating that 50,496 students in provincially-funded schools identified as Indigenous, but she also said the government estimated that the real number is likely more than 78,000.

“It’s incredibly important that we know who is in our schools, that we know how many Indigenous students are in schools and where they are so that we can actually measure the progress that’s being made,” Kidder said.

The report also cited an example, in spring, 2022 when the science curriculum for grades one to eight was “unilaterally changed,” removing an Indigenous influence just three weeks before its release.

The original curriculum, according to the report, said that students would “explore real-world issues by connecting Indigenous sciences and technologies and Western science and technology, using ways of knowing such as the Two-Eyed Seeing approach …”

Those sections were removed “with no consultation” with Indigenous groups who worked on the curriculum, Kidder said.

“I think that’s why it was so disheartening — the unilateral change to the science curriculum — because before it was changed, it pointed to the fact that there are there are many ways of looking at science and there are many kinds of knowledge that can be applied to scientific information.”

According to the report, the ministry’s final version said that students will “analyze science and technology contributions from various communities.”

In order to meet the commission’s Calls to Action, the People for Education report makes several recommendations.

It wants the Education Ministry to mandate the grade 11 course called “English: Understanding Contemporary First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Voices” in place of English or French. Kidder said 14 school boards are in the process of making that change.

“The other big shift is learning more about Indigenous history, culture and perspectives, and one of the ways to do that is to mandate it in a course,” she said.

“Up until now, it might have been one unit stuck on at the end of the year, so this is a way of ensuring that it is part of how and what all students learn.”

The report also called on the government to increase the number of elementary and secondary schools offering Indigenous languages and other programs by providing funding and resources for recruitment, hiring, and retention of Indigenous education workers and teachers along with, “frequent, timely, and meaningful” professional development for educators.

The report also calls for a task force of “diverse and regionally reflective Indigenous educators and Elders” to support the Ministry of Education and public school boards across Ontario, and meet the Calls to Action recommendations.

Moira Welsh is a Toronto Star journalist leading The Third Act project, pushing for changes in the way older adults live. Follow her on Twitter: @moirawelsh