A look into the portrayal of aboriginal peoples in textbooks and curricula

1. Portrayal of
Aboriginal People in
Textbooks and
Curricula
Jorrel Camuyong

2. Pages from Canada’s Story
Who calls?
The Red Man, Poor and Sick
He calls.
Who comes?
The White Man, Rich and Strong
He comes.
Who watches?
To see that Pity Reigns.
God watches.

3. Method
• Articles
• Archives
• Curriculum 1962-1973
• Two textbooks
• CANADA: Then and Now by Aileen Garland (1954)
• Grade 8
• Canadians in the making: A social history of Canada by Arthur
R.M. Lower (1958)
• Grade 11

4. Why Textbooks?
• First, or only, resource
• Keep in mind who writes them
• They are criticized for their tendency to present slanted
“facts”, stereotypes and ethnocentric attitudes under the
guise of “proven knowledge”; they are criticized for reflecting
a White middle-class society and for denigrating the
contributions of minority racial groups. These books,
consciously or unconsciously, are believed to promote,
reinforce and perpetuate racial and ethnic bias.
Verna Kirkness, 1977

5. What did the publishers do?
• The publishing industry’s earliest response to criticism was to
colour white faces brown or black or to “write in” Blacks,
Indians, or other ethnic minorities. (Kirkness)
• Some Canadian government Departments of Education have
responded merely by asking teachers to “cut out” pages that
have been identified as most objectionable. (Kirkness)

6. How did they move forward?
• 7th Annual Indian and Metis Conference of 1961
discussions:
• Textooks being used in social studies courses tended to
“promote a patronizing and degrading attitude on the
part of white people toward Indians”
• These texts may be harmful to the Indian child’s sense
of racial dignity
• Sections inaccurately depict Indian life

7. Resolution
• THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that this 7th Indian
and Metis Conference seek to have such school
textbooks discontinued as are patronizing and
degrading to Indians and to have new textbooks
or revisions dealing with Indian life written with
accuracy and sympathetic treatment.

8. Types of Bias in Textbooks
1. Bias by Omission
2. Bias by Defamation
3. Bias by Disparagement
4. Bias by Cumulative Implication
5. Bias by (lack of) Validity
6. Bias by Inertia
7. Bias by Obliteration
8. Bias by Disembodiment
9. Bias by lack of Concreteness
10. Bias by lack of Comprehensiveness

10. Some of my findings
This was the prescribed textbook for
Grade 8 Social Studies in 1968.
Published in 1954, the book was
probably used before then, and was
used afterwards.

11. Some of my findings

12. Some of my findings
Page 11
• The Canadian Government, realizing that some provision must
be made for these unfortunate people, set up a department
of the government called the Indian Affairs Branch to look
after their welfare. Since it is no longer possible for a large
number of people to make a living in Canada by hunting and
fishing, the Indians must take up other ways of supporting
themselves. It is the aim of the Indian Affairs Branch to help
the Indians to become self-supporting in the modern world. “

13. Some of my findings
Page 64
• Champlain had not been long in Quebec before he had
missionaries brought out, for one of his fondest dreams was
that the Indians might be converted to Christianity. The task of
carrying the gospel into the huron country was entrusted to
the Jesuits, a strong and powerful order of monks. The story
of their missions is a proud and glorious page in the history
of Canada. They endured incredible hardships and many of
them sacrificed their lives in their heroic attempt to save the
souls of the Indians.

14. Some of my findings

15. Some of my findings

16. Some of my findings
• Canadians in the making: A social history of Canada by Arthur R.M.
Lower
• This book starts with New France, and doesn’t even address anything
before that.
PREFACE – PAGE xv
• “no one has tried to put things together in an effort to depict the
growth of the country as a whole, and throughout its history”
PAGE 10:
• “The French at Quebec had no excessive prejudice in favour of soap. By
our fastidious standards, their cleanliness left much to be desired, but
they were more particular than the Indians. The accounts they left
behind them are full of the disgust they experienced for the more
revolting aspects of native beastliness…though if you were going to go
among the Indians, it had been taken as all in the days work.”

17. Some of my findings
Curriculum
• 1967 Grade 3 Social Studies Curriculum
• Focus was on History and the study of “man”
• There seemed to be a push towards debunking former ideas of
Native Americans in the unit on Plains Indians
• “to reject mistaken ideas and to learn new correct ones” (p.12)
• “both the Indian and white man did not understand each other and
their ways” (p.12)
• “Indians are not dirty, lazy or alcoholic by nature” (p.12)

18. Some of my findings
Curriculum
• A support document was printed in 1968 called
• Social Studies Supplement for Grades 1, 2, 3
• Developed primarily for classes containing Indian and Metis as
well as white children
• “In teaching a mixed class of Indian and white children care
should be taken to emphasize the similarities of the two groups
rather than the differences” (p.9)

19. Some of my findings
“It is hoped that teachers in city and town schools
will use this supplement in contrasting their own
particular situations, for with the rapidly
expanding program of integrating children of
Indian and Metis background with town and city
schools, it is important that non-Indian children
learn as much as possible about their Indian
counterpart” (p.9)

20. Some of my findings
Curriculum
• There was a support document created printed in the late 60s
that was called:
• Social Studies Supplement for Grade 8
• Native Studies: Indian Contributions to World Culture
• Topics include: Food, conservation practices, music, drama,
dance, literature, paintings, design, transportation, recreation,
medicine, communication, language shelter, personalities
(celebrities)
• A step in the right direction.

21. Thanks!