Indigenous-Focused Coursework New Requirement for BC Secondary Students

Dan Toulgoet/The Daily Hive

On March 4, BC’s Ministry of Education announced that all secondary school students in the province will be required to complete Indigenous-focused coursework in order to graduate.

This new requirement is part of the provincial government’s work in the Indigenous-specific anti-racism and discrimination strategy. Scheduled to take effect in the 2023-2024 school year, students currently in Grade 10 will be the first year affected by this change, applying to all students in BC public, independent, and offshore schools.

The Ministry of Education worked with the First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC) to propose an approach where students will meet the requirement by earning four credits through new and existing Indigenous-focused courses. A course that would fulfill the requirement for the proposed change to the graduation program would be one of the existing Indigenous-focused provincial courses, a Grade 10-12 First Nations language course, or a locally-developed Indigenous-focused course.

Eric Hamber Social Studies and BC First Peoples 12 teacher Ms. S. McEachern explained that “there are many options for what a school can choose to offer. For example, it could be part of the English department, it could be part Social Studies, or it could be part of Languages.”

It is not that courses have not already been made available, but that they have been electives. According to the Ministry of Education, over 90 per cent of secondary school students graduate with more than the 80 required credits for a BC Dogwood Diploma, but only about five per cent have completed any of the Indigenous-focused courses currently available for grades 10-12. Eric Hamber offers just one Indigenous-focused course, BC First Peoples 12, which fluctuates between one and two blocks a year.

The change was also done in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Call to Action #62, recommending making an age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, Treaties, and Indigenous peoples’ historical and current contributions to Canada mandatory for kindergarten to Grade 12. It also reflects the statement in Article 15 of the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples, that “Indigenous peoples have the right to the dignity and diversity of their cultures, traditions, histories, and aspirations, which shall be appropriately reflected in education and public information.”

When McEachern was asked about her thoughts on why students should take an Indigenous-focused course, she explained it is to “have those people that are continuing to learn how to be citizens in the world be more aware than previous generations of their realities and how we live in a colonized state, how we can be active participants in decolonization, and what that means for the role that everyone has to play. For too long the silencing of Indigenous voices and the history of this land has not been taught, so I feel like the classes allow for those who choose to take it as an opportunity to learn truths and why we are in a moment of reconciliation and the reparations that we are in.”

The recent proposal has been met with positivity from the province’s Indigenous population. Regional Chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations Terry Teegee explained, “it is an important step towards improving BC’s education system in the spirit of recognition and respect”. Union of BC Indian Chiefs Grand Chief Stewart Philip said “our only hope to purge this country of bad, ugly, racist notions is through the public education system.”

Many have also expressed their hopes and concerns for the requirement. Tsleil-Waututh Nation School vice-principal Sarah Martz said that she hopes that the courses themselves will be created by Indigenous people to verify that the content is an accurate representation of their culture.

Similarly, McEachern is concerned about the authentic teaching of the courses and having it done with love and passion instead of it being treated as a task that someone has to do. She also commented that she wants to see the maintenance of interdisciplinary infusion of First People’s principles of learning and worldview still being cross-curricular by teachers and not just in the mandatory Indigenous-focused courses.

The province had released a seven-question online feedback form to finalize the implementation of the plan which was available until April 22. A report on the engagement will be finalized in May, and their approach for the new graduation requirement by August 22.

According to the Ministry, BC is the first province or jurisdiction in Canada to implement this type of graduation requirement.

The VSB told the Nest in an email that “the District values these courses as they bring deeper understanding and teach students the significance of Indigenous philosophies and tradition- always of learning — bridging diverse cultures and honouring the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.”

Additionally, Minister of Education Jennifer Whiteside affirmed that they are committed to reconciliation and quoted Justice Murray Sinclair, the for- mer chair of the TRC, that “education got us into this mess and education will get us out of it.”