Systemic Racism in Ontario Public Schools

Systemic Racism in Ontario Public Schools:
Looking Past Prima Facie “Inclusion” Attempts.
By: Andrea Lagalisse (2992863)
For: Saba Alvi (EDU5466)
April 21st
, 2015

Andrea Lagalisse (2992863) Systemic Racism in OntarioPublic Schools…1
Systemic Racism in Ontario Public Schools: Looking Past Prima Facie 'Inclusion' Attempts
Introduction
This paper investigates the climate of underground racism that pervades Canadian public schools
and First Nations, Metis, and Inuit communities. According to leading research, racisms in the
everyday can be identified using a three-step framework. The premise is that racisms that are
"not sets of ideas so much as they are material organizations of the world integral to the systems
that have made the modern world." The 3 Conditions of racism for this framework are: 1.
Racialization, 2. Exclusion, 3. Consequences (Stanley, 2014, p. 5). Using this framework to
critically examine the Aboriginal Perspectives Teacher’s Handbooks for grades 5 and 8, I will be
arguing for the emergence and growth of reflexive antiracism for educators, policy makers, and
community leaders. Reflexive antiracism is an approach to analysing racisms and helping
individuals identify racisms in the everyday. It not intended as a final solution, but rather as a
way to help "harness the forces that make change." Reflexive antiracism calls for: 1. Avoidance
of "essentialisms", 2. Teaching about the histories of the systems that bring about the present, 3.
Acknowledging complexity and affect (Stanley, 2014, p. 5).
For this paper, it will be considered fact that race is a cultural construct that should be
analyzed as a social and cultural reality that is independent of biological and genetic variations
(Smedley, 2007, p. 1). Smedley notes how Native Americans became “savages” only after they
resisted appropriation of their land by British colonialists (2007, p. 6), showing the historic link
between power structures and the construction of racialized groups of “us” and “them.” I argue
that prima-facie attempts at including Aboriginal Perspectives in Ontario public school
curriculum is further enabling racist power structures to exist by making at appear as though

First Nations perspectives and knowledge are being valued while continuing to promote a Euro-
centric, colonialist superiority that places Aboriginal communities at a disadvantage.
Racialization
The grade 5 Language expectations for oral communication aim to teach students to "dispel
stereotypes of Aboriginal people and use appropriate vocabulary", and even makes reference to
the sensitivity of the issue due to the terms being imposed upon them by people who were "not
Aboriginal." However, little reference is made to the systemic destruction and re-construction of
Native identity and the many inequalities brought about by the colonial and post-colonial
process. The toolkit also assumes that the educator is unbiased and willing to examine potentially
"sensitive" issues, and also that they have knowledge about Native customs, traditions and ways
of teaching and learning.
The Guide to the Teacher Toolkit for elementary and secondary programs uses very
generalized and essentialized conceptions of Native Identity to encourage incorporation of
Aboriginal knowledge into public school programs. Stanley (2014) notes that essentialized
representations of racialized difference are so common that they are part of people’s “common
sense and their everyday language” (p. 10). This is evident in the wording and subject matter of
the Teacher’s Handbooks and Toolkits on Aboriginal Perspectives. For example, teaching
strategies mention incorporating discussion of things like: thanksgiving ("their" version), canoes,
snowshoes, growing corn, and drying food for journeys "such as a buffalo hunt" (p. 10-11).
The wording used in the Teacher Handbooks and Toolkits privileges mainstream
Eurocentric knowledge, positioning Indigenous knowledge as “a” knowledge, maintaining the
Eurocentric status quo. This is a sort of “add-and-stir” (Battiste, 1998, p. 21) approach that does
not provide authentic opportunities for learning or engagement. Discussions of "current and

historical issues" are not expected until grade 11, and phrase the issue as conflict between
Aboriginal peoples and the "non-Aboriginal majority" (p. 11). While it could be argued that in
grade 5, it is relatively difficult to bring up some issues in an appropriate manner, this would not
necessarily be true in later grades. In the Grade 8 Handbook (2011), however, a history section
on the lives of Metis and First Nations Peoples in Western Canada in the 1890’s still focusses on
essentialized depictions of Native people as either being hunters and trappers living in teepees, or
farmers living in wigwams. Discussion of Metis people involves the understanding that “most”
of them were “integrating themselves into the society of the new settlers”, and discussion
questions centre on how Native people housed, fed and traveled (p. 1-2). There is no mention of
cultural conflict or assimilationist policies, and little recognition of the diversity and complexity
of the many different tribes who lived in the area.
Exclusions
An examination of curriculum expectations and teacher’s guides show that generalization
abounds, and examples of Native contribution and knowledge are still confined to the adversarial
position of being the other within the colonial majority. For example, in the grade 8 Aboriginal
Perspectives Teacher’s Toolkit, the history section attempts to engage students in examining
Aboriginal women like who made “positive contributions to the lives of Aboriginal people”
Many of the women that are suggested for study include racialized white individuals like Emily
Carr, or Lucy Maud Montgomery, women who were not Aboriginal at all, although they
admittedly were fascinated by and championed Aboriginal perspectives. Meanwhile, others like
Pauline Johnson or Catherine Sutton, are celebrated for being mixed-race or for marrying British
men (2011, Aboriginal Perspectives: Grade 8 History. Canada, A Changing Society, p. 1). There
is no mention of a critical perspective on the colonial experience, nor is there any indication of

engagement with Native history as they would have it taught. This constitutes continued
exclusion of Aboriginal knowledge and real participation.
There are many factors to consider when looking at the issue of public education and
exclusion for First Nations, Metis, and Inuit youth in Canada. Some youth stay on reserve and
some leave to look for opportunities off-reserve. Coorsh, writing an article for CTVNews.ca on
May 2nd, 2014, notes that First Nations youth who do graduate on-reserve often face difficulties
in getting jobs or gaining admission to post-secondary institutions (2014. CTVNews.ca). A
reason that this is proving so difficult is because they are not provided with diplomas or
certificates recognizing their accomplishments. Another alternative is to go to school off of the
reserve and face not only discrimination, but assimilationist school curriculum and policies, as
well as separation from one’s community and cultural identity. Two major problems facing
Native education in Canada are that there is not enough representation at major decision-making
bodies in education, and that teachers are stuck in pedagogies of practice that have proven
unsuccessful in the past (Hill & Redwing Saunders, 2007, p.1015). Therefore, it is important to
encourage collaboration between First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities and the provincial
and federal governments and to encourage pedagogical and philosophical change in the way that
Aboriginal knowledge and history is taught.
Consequences
The consequences of racialization in School Curriculum language are many. First of all,
Aboriginal students don't have genuine representation inside or outside of their communities.
They are underrepresented at every level, from students, teachers, school leaders, to positive
representation within the community as respectable and influential. Battiste (1998) notes that
despite Supreme Court affirmation that the teaching of Aboriginal rights as a constitutional right,

Canadian education systems have not “empowered the enormous creativity of Aboriginal
languages” (p. 16-17), effectively ignoring their value. I believe that fifteen years later, this is
still overwhelmingly the case. Wider consequences of the social and political repression of
Aboriginal peoples can be seen through the catastrophic conditions of poverty, addiction and
violence that many aboriginal communities are plagued with.
The Teacher’s Handbooks and Toolkits are an extension of a sad attempt at adapting an
education system that is a “substandard, abusive means of dealing with the “Indian
Problem”…underfunded and employ[ing] non-indigenized models” (Hill & Redwing- Saunders,
2007, p. 1015). This forces focus into Eurocentric conceptions of culture and knowledge, and as
a consequence, Indigenous knowledge is being trivialized or lost. Alongside exclusion and
othering by a dominant society, native communities face disruption of identity within the
community as well as within the wider Canadian context. Contemporary Native identity exists in
an "uneasy balance between concepts of generic "Indianness" as a racial identity and of specific
"tribal" identity as Indigenous "nationhood", and this has a long history of being constructed by
the oppressive colonial authority (Lawrence, B. p. 4-5). The fact that very few teachers and
school leaders are Aboriginal themselves further compounds a sense of exclusion, as Aboriginal
students don’t see themselves reflected in the system they are forced to live in.
Who should be in charge? First Nations public education in Canada: Coalition Building for
decentralization and power-sharing.
Looking at the recent drama surrounding the shelving of the First Nations Education Act
(Bill C-33) is a good way to illustrate the complicated factors of striving towards public
education for First Nations communities. Coorsh notes that some of the major tenets of the

proposed education reforms included aligning education standards with provincial standards off-
reserve, proper certification of teachers, and student attendance requirements (2014,
CTVNews.ca). These requirements privilege the current power dynamic that places euro-centrism
and Canadian nationalism above Native identity and rights. It assumes that a “good” education is
the Eurocentric one. The department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development
proclaimed “disappointment” that First Nations leaders did not follow through on an agreement,
noting that “funding will only follow real education reforms.” The answers from First Nations
leaders like Bill Erasmus were that it isn’t fair to force hundreds of different communities to
agree on one Bill, and Grand Chief Gordon Peters, who notes that there had always been talk and
expectation of “co-development” that never materialized (The Canadian Press, 2014).The
problem with this statement is that it locates the problem as being with the First Nations
communities, and ignores the historical social, cultural and economic realities that lead to the
decimation of Native culture and collective power.
Assuming that funding should follow reform ignores the reality that funding is essential
to enable reform through infrastructure, training, and real community building. It locates real
power in the Canadian government and excludes First Nations communities and leaders from co-
development of goals and authentic reform. A Globe and Mail editorial from June 10, 2014
suggests that Bill C-33 ought to be reintroduced, despite its imperfections, with opt-out clauses.
This would allow individual bands who support the bill to try it out, claiming their share of the
proposed funding. I think that this isn’t necessarily a bad idea, but caution that there should be
the ability to opt-out or renegotiate regularly, in order to push for long-term, deep change
towards equitable, authentic education systems for all children in Canada, regardless of their
cultural background.

Bringing the discussion back to the Teacher’s Handbooks, we can see the same tone of
trivialization and assimilationist bent. For example, one aspect of the curriculum expectation is
Language development. The document states that "language is a fundamental element of identity
and culture. If students see themselves and others in the texts they read and the oral and media
works they engage in, they are able to feel that the works are genuinely for and about them and
come to appreciate the nature and value of a diverse, multicultural society" (p. 2). However,
studies in Ontario public schools are completed in English, and sometimes in French, and there is
not enough representation of Aboriginal communities within teaching and school leadership.
This amounts to a form of cognitive imperialism, forcing Aboriginal contexts into one frame of
reference (Battiste, 1998, p. 20), maintaining the sense of being the "other", and thus, excluded.
Efforts at including the Aboriginal perspective in the Teacher’s Handbooks and Toolkits
appear limited to helping non-Aboriginal students learn about Aboriginal students, not on
helping Aboriginal students construct or maintain an authentic identity that reflects historical
realities. For example, in Ontario, the community at Akwesasne lists that the predominant
language spoken in Akwesasne is currently English. However, Kanienkeha (Mohawk) is the
official language of the people, and only about 30% of the people of Akwesasne still speak it.
Maintaining their language is a priority in the community. (http://www.akwesasne.ca/about), but
what happens to those who leave the reservation either to go to school, or to try to live in other
communities? Who is protecting the Mohawk language then?
What can we do about it? Antiracist interventions:
My antiracist transformation activity involves a package of information intended for educators,
policy makers and community leaders to use while reviewing future attempts at education
reforms through coalition-building with the Canadian government and First Nations, Metis, and

Inuit communities. This is a straightforward attempt to keep dealing with the “colonial shadow”
through awareness of the sociohistoric reality that lead to the current situation (Battiste, 1998, p.
24). The hope is that by educating individuals who have the ability to effect systemic change at
the institutional and governmental level, we can co-create a future force of change that starts
from the philosophical basis of collaboration and cooperation in decentralizing and reforming
education in Canadian public schools and other learning environments. This information will
also be helpful for educators who are currently trying to navigate curriculum expectations but
who want to bring antiracist practices into their classrooms, but is not intended to fix the problem
of racist and exclusionary policies but spur change.
Ideally, government actors and First Nations Actors will come together to discuss, review,
and draft a bill for First Nations control over their education as well as changes to traditional
Euro-centric public school curriculum, moving towards authentic, non-trivialized representations
of First Nations history and culture. This involves willingness to adapt the National narrative to
include wider acceptance and understanding of the history of interaction between First Nations
peoples and colonialists, as well as the desire for healing and community building. It also
involves an opening up of what knowledge and cultures are considered valuable.
Antiracist Information Package: Encouraging Reflexive Antiracist practices and
supporting First Nations, Metis, and Inuit communities.
Discourse Analysis Tools.
Critical Discourse Analysis. Werner (2000) notes that any textisopento multiple readings,as
differentpurposesorquestionsare broughttothe task. Ratherthan passivelyreceivingthe 'given'
interpretation,readersmayquestion,argue ,orevenrejectwhattheyread,therebyrepositioning
themselvesasagentsinrelationtothe text(p.193-4). Writingabouttextbooks,buteasilyadaptable toa
numberof differenttextforms, Werneroffersasetof analysistoolstohelpindividualsnavigate these

meanings.These toolscouldbe employedbyeducatorsusingthe Teacher’sHandbooksto mitigate
negative effects.Iencourage themtobe giventostudentstohelpdevelopcritical thinkingand
perspective.Finally, policymakersandlegislators,andcommunityleadersshoulduse thesewhen
revisingorwritingnewpolicies,totryand avoidthe Eurocentrism, generalizations,andexclusionsthat
make our school systemsracist.
1. Representations:Textbookscomprise acomplex systemof representationforproducing
meaningsaboutpeoples,places,events,issues,andobjects.These variousmini- textsare
interpretedin classroomdiscussions,worksheets,homeworkassignments,andexaminations.
Studentsare not often askedtoconsiderhow these texts"re- presentratherthanpresent
reality;[how] theyprovide packagedimagesof the worldratherthanthe worlditself'"(p.196).
2. The Gaze: the "gaze" implicitwithinarepresentation.Thismetaphorreferstothe implied
attitude,value stance,orpowerrelationshiptowardsthe people,place oreventdepicted(p.
199).
3. The Voice:metaphorof voice isimportantbecause muchof social education'scontentspeaks
about/for / with/as/tootherpeople. Voiceremindsusthata textis alwaysa speakingfrom
somewhere,andthatquestionscanbe raisedaboutwhoit isthat speaks,aboutwhat,how,
underwhatconditions,andwithwhateffects(p.200-201).
4. The Said and the Not Said: Absences:Representationscanat timesbe understoodmore fullyby
readingtheirgapsand whatis leftout.Sometimeswhat isthere points towhat isnot there,
whatis put to the frontsuggestsanexclusion,whatissaidimplieswhatisbeingsilenced(p.
203).
5. Author(ity):Storylinesand Rhetoric: Rhetorical deviceskeepthe 'naturalness'or"givenness'of
these storylinesgoing.Suchdevicesmayinclude,forexample,the use of captions,questions,
titlesandsub-titles,metaphorsandanalogies,footnotes,the overgeneralized"we"or"they"(p.
206).
6. Intertextuality: Howreadersmake sense of anyone textis influencedinpartbyitsrelationship
to othertexts.“Meaningsare not fixed withinthe pieces,butdependuponhow the pieceswork
togetherorplayoff each otherwhenread;it isthroughthese juxtapositions”(p.208).

7. Mediation:InformationTransmissionasTransformation:Verylittle of whatwe know aboutthe
broaderworldisthe resultof our directencounters.Rather,we experience “ready-madeand
second-handrepresentations”throughtextsfrommanysources(p.208).
8. Reflexivity:authorsandreadersare often"unaware of how theirpersonal experiencesand
positionswithinsocietyinfluence the knowledge theyproduce."Reflexivityisevidentwhen
authorshelpreadersrecognize and question authorship,andasreadersinturn recognize their
ownactive role ininterpreting differenttexts(p.212).
Identifying Racsims in the Everyday. Stanley (2014) offers a simple three-step process to
identifying racisms in the everyday (that I have used to structure the half of this paper). These are
intended to bring about antiracist transformation by engaging individuals in reflexive antiracism
that asks them to avoid essentialisms, learn the history of the systems that bring about the current
moment, and acknowledge complexity (p. 5). The three indicators of racism in the everyday are:
1. Racialization: characterized as the “sorting of populations through the signification of
alleged biological or cultural differences” (p. 6) that can be real or imagined. This is a
social process, and includes aspects like geography, institutional segregation, economic
systems, biological indicators like skin colour, culture, religion, and language (2014, p.
9).
2. Exclusion: This includes exclusion in the physical sense, but also in social, economic,
political, territorial and symbolic senses. These exclusions have been organized, even if
we don’t remember what led to them (2014, p. 11).
3. Consequences: negative consequences are assessed through understanding and
engagement with the meanings and self-representations of the excluded (2014, p.12).
Negative consequences include loss of life, culture, opportunity, or identity. The
consequence of not addressing the meaning and self-representations of the excluded in an
authentic manner is that racist systems and structures self-perpetuate.
Recognizing Colonial Power Plays. Battiste (1998) outlines four racist strategies that are
used to maintain colonial power:

a. Stressing real or imaginary differences,
b. Assigning values to these differences,
c. Trying to make these values absolute,
d. Using these values to justify any present or possible aggression or privileges (p. 21).
Coalition Building Tools.
Building Authentic Community and Coalition. Hill and Redwing-Saunders (1998)
discuss the importance of authentic community voice and coalition-building that support the six
principles of transformative Indigenous Theory (Smith, G. H., 2000, 2005, and Smith, G. H.,
2005). These are:
a. Self-determination,
b. Validating and legitimating cultural aspirations and identity,
c. Incorporating culturally preferred pedagogy,
d. Mediating socioeconomic difficulties,
e. Incorporating cultural structures that emphasize the collective, and
f. A shared and collective vision (p.1017).
Questioning the Motive behind Texts. Werner (2000) offers three questions that move a
reader from context of a text, to “inferences about authorship”, to the broader social contexts (p.
197).
I. “What is the text purporting to depict? What do you think the author/artist wanted
readers to understand, value, or celebrate through this depiction?”
2. “What might this account tell us about the social commitments (values, assumptions,
interests) and locations (social class, role status, group memberships) underlying this
authorship? In what ways might these factors have played into the text? In what ways
might this text have served a set of broader social goals, issues, or interests?”
3.) “In what ways might this text have served a set of broader social goals, issues, or
interests? Is there any evidence to suggest whose views are advanced, experiences are

celebrated, benefits are legitimized, or ways of life are favored? What may this imply
about the social attitudes and prevailing conditions that made this work acceptable (or
contested) in that time and place? That is, in what sense might this representation be
partial (incomplete or biased)”? (p. 198).
Conclusion: Moving towards something better.
Current Ontario Teacher’s Handbooks and Toolkits serve to support Eurocentric, exclusive
curriculum objectives that do not authentically address and incorporate Indigenous knowledge
and culture. It is essential to offer educator and learners the opportunities to engage in a Native
ontology of education that includes aspects of holism, lifelong learning, community involvement
and authorship that is based on respect, relevance and reciprocity (Hill & Redwing-Saunders,
1998, p. 1020). Requiring educators, community leaders, legislators and policy makers to engage
in reflexive anti-racist critical thinking will improve the quality of future attempts at offering
authentic, equitable publicly-funded education opportunities to Canada’s young people.
Providing tools to help educators, policy makers, and learners to help them avoid
essentialisms and increase their ability to think critically about the sociohistoric realities and how
these affect our current context will contribute towards a future of antiracist practice in education
environments. These cannot end racism entirely, but can contribute towards long-term change by
creating safer spaces and providing support for Aboriginal student, teachers and community
leaders.

References
Battiste, M. (1998). Enabling the autumn seed: Toward a decolonized approach to aboriginal
knowledge, language, and education. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 22(1), 16-
26.
Hill, S. M., and Redwing Saunders, S. E. (2007). Native education and in-classroom coalition-
building: factors and models in delivering an equitous authentic education. Canadian
Journal of Education, 30(4), 1015-1031.
Coorsh, K. (2014). Bill C-33 explained: The debate around First Nations education.
CTVNews.ca. Retrieved from http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/bill-c-33-explained-the-debate-
around-first-nations-education-1.1804072
First Nations education bill should be withdrawn immediately, chiefs demand: First Nations
leaders opt to discuss education before deciding how to choose new leader. (May 27th,
2014). The Canadian Press. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/first-
nations-education-bill-should-be-withdrawn-immediately-chiefs-demand-1.2655458
Ontario Ministry of Education. (2011) Aboriginal perspectives: The Teacher's Toolkit, grade 5.
Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/aboriginal/toolkit.html
Ontario Ministry of Education. (2011) Aboriginal perspectives: The Teacher's Toolkit, grade 8.
Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/aboriginal/toolkit.html
Lawrence, B. (2003). Gender, race, and the regulation of native identity in Canada and the
United States: An overview. Hypatia, 18(2), 3-31.

Smedley, A. (2007) The history of the idea of race…And why it matters. American
Anthropological Association conference “Race, Human Variation and Disease:
Consensus and Frontiers. Retrieved from
http://www.understandingrace.org/resources/pdf/disease/smedley.pdf
Stanley, T (2014). Antiracism without guarantees: A framework for rethinking racisms in
schools. Critical Literacy: Theories and Practices, 8(1), 4- 18.
The Globe and Mail. (June 10, 2014). Kill the native education bill? Not so fast. Retrieved from
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/editorials/kill-the-native-education-bill-
not-so-fast/article19108815/
Werner, W (2000) Reading Authorship into Texts. Theory & Research in Social Education,
28(2), 193-219. Retrieved from
http://www.tandfonline.com.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/doi/pdf/10.1080/00933104.2000.10505
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