POLICY LANDSCAPE
Aboriginal Peoples
Literacy in the Aboriginal context
In a socioeconomic context, literacy acquisition is seen as a means toward greater employment opportunities and societal contribution. While this conception of literacy is relevant to indigenous populations, much more is often at stake. An "Expected Outcome" of the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012) is to increase the literacy levels in communities or groups that are excluded from the mainstream, namely indigenous groups, where literacy is "inextricably linked to cultural survival." In the context of the struggle for cultural survival and self-determination faced by many indigenous groups, raising literacy levels in the dominant language of the larger community can be a tool for indigenous political action. Perhaps more fundamentally, increasing literacy in indigenous languages has been described as transmitting "cultural DNA from one generation to the next" by communicating traditions and stories, and through the language itself, since language shapes and is shaped by the worldview of a particular people. Such cultural transmission can be crucial to the attainment of positive self-identity and empowerment among groups who live outside of mainstream society.
The situation today
In Canada, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) final report, (1996) identified a number of serious problems regarding the education of Aboriginals. Achievement levels and graduation rates for Aboriginal students are significantly lower than those of non-Aboriginal students. The majority of Aboriginal youth do not complete high school; leave the school system without skills for employment; without adequate language and cultural knowledge of their own people; and feel that schooling experiences erode their identity and self-worth.
Historical context
Social problems confronting Aboriginal people need to be considered within the historical and political context of Aboriginal policy in Canada. Given the centrality of education in societal development and the negative history of the school experiences of many Aboriginals, policy for education is among the most important issues of contention for Aboriginal people.
Historically, the formal schooling of Aboriginal people was dominated by a philosophy of assimilation, whereby indoctrination into a European, Christian worldview was the means toward "civilizing" the Indian. Jurisdiction over Aboriginal education was federal, under the government's constitutional responsibility for "Indians and Lands reserved for the Indians", and guided by provisions in the Indian Act. The Indian Act, passed in 1876, remains the cornerstone of contest over the rightful place of Aboriginals within the Canadian federation.
Federal policy for Aboriginal education established and administered day schools on reserves, and residential schools beginning in 1874. The residential schools were located away from Aboriginal communities, forcing the separation of children from their families. Christian religion was the foundation of teachings, and many children endured significant physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The closing of residential schools began in the 1960s in conjunction with the increasing political organization of indigenous nations in Canada, however the school system remains a source of pain and bitterness for Aboriginal people. This experience contributed to many of the social problems facing indigenous communities today.
A significant change occurred in 1972, with the National Indian Brotherhood (now the Assembly of First Nations) publication Indian Control Over Indian Education, a document demanding Aboriginal self-governance over education with federal funding - and outlining an Aboriginal education plan. The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development promptly accepted the report and since 1972 a devolution of administrative powers regarding education on reserves from the federal government to Aboriginal education authorities has occurred. Changes, however, have been slow and a number of legal and jurisdictional barriers have made full implementation of Indian Control Over Indian Education problematic.
Central goals for Aboriginal education and literacy
The report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) states two central goals for the education of Aboriginals: socioeconomic achievement (allowing for the participation of Aboriginals in the economic and social lives of their communities and Canadian society) and the preservation of culture and language (for the development of Aboriginal citizens able to assume the responsibilities of their nations). Cutting across both of these goals, and underpinning the document, is the broader struggle for self-governance and for fundamental restructuring of the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to be "grounded in ethical principles to which all participants subscribe freely."
A number of publications specifically discussing the current state of literacy and language development in Canada's Aboriginal population were produced as a result of the 1990 United Nations Literacy Year, and are largely in line with the RCAP report. Many reports, including the Native Literacy Research Report (Native Adult Education Resource Center), You Took My Talk: Aboriginal Literacy and Empowerment (Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs), and Towards Linguistic Justice (Assembly of First Nations) drew on surveys and interviews from Aboriginal Peoples across Canada.
In this context, literacy skills improvement in Aboriginal communities can take on particular importance as a tool for individual socioeconomic improvement; cultural and aboriginal language literacy can contribute towards a stronger sense of identity and individual empowerment, and improvement in socioeconomic conditions and individual empowerment can lead to collective empowerment and political action.
Aboriginal literacy for non-aboriginals
Aboriginal leaders have also expressed concern over the education of non-Aboriginals, with respect to knowledge of Aboriginal issues and Canadian history. Efforts are being made to integrate Aboriginal perspectives into mainstream curriculum in several provinces, in an attempt to rectify past versions of North American history that portray the arrivals of discoverers to a terra nullius to be settled and turned to more productive pursuits.
Program Initiatives
A variety of programs currently exist targeting Aboriginal literacy, initiated by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), which oversees Aboriginal education on reserves. Provincial governments have also developed significant policies, plans, and initiatives (including curriculum) specific to Aboriginal residents, as many Aboriginals attend provincial schools.
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In 1998, INAC published Gathering Strength in response to the RCAP report. Gathering Strength calls for a "renewed partnership" with aboriginal people based on recognizing past mistakes and injustices, the advancement of reconciliation, healing and renewal, and the building of a joint plan for the future. The document emphasizes the importance of investing in the acquisition of the education, skills and training necessary for individual self-reliance of Aboriginal peoples.
As a result of Gathering Strength, the Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy (AHRDS) was initiated. AHRDS is designed to expand the employment opportunities of Aboriginal people across Canada by providing funding to Aboriginal organizations that design and deliver employment programs and services. Under AHRDS National Aboriginal Youth Strategy (NAYS) was developed. Published in 1999, NAYS provides a framework to assist governments, institutions and Aboriginal organizations in the development of policy and in the design and delivery of programs and services for Aboriginal youth. NAYS goals in the domains of education, skills development, culture and public education all emphasize the importance of Aboriginal cultural literacy. They include such provisions as the development of cross-cultural training for teachers, the development of early childhood education programs with Aboriginal cultural content, and the implementation of Aboriginal studies courses in university teachers education programs.
Complimentary to AHRDS is the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership (ASEP) program. ASEP is nationally managed, and provides funding to projects that develop the skills and promote the employment of Canada's Aboriginal workforce on major economic developments across Canada (e.g. northern mining, oil and gas, etc.). ASEP funded projects must have a comprehensive training-to-employment plan that covers a broad range of training including basic skills, literacy and academic upgrading and job specific training.
The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) also runs a number of First Nations services. The Cultural/Educational Centres Program was established in 1971 to provide financial assistance to various First Nations groups to preserve, develop and promote First Nations and Inuit culture and heritage, including cultural and linguistic literacy, through the delivery of programs and services developed at the community level through established centers.
- INAC also administers four First Nations and Inuit Youth Employment Strategy programs. All programs include among their objectives supporting the development and enhancement of essential life and employability skills including communication and problem solving.
As a result of the efforts of a 1990 working group - which was set up to examine, evaluate and recommend a new policy for the sensitization of employees to Aboriginal issues - Aboriginal Awareness Workshops (AAW) have been designed and developed to provide INAC employees with the necessary tools and techniques to reduce culturally based misunderstandings and conflict. AAW is mandatory for all INAC employees, and are delivered in First Nations communities.
Despite these initiatives, the key problems and goals stated in the RCAP report have been stated again more recently in Our Children-Keepers of Sacred Knowledge, the final report of the Minister's National Working Group on Education (MNWGE), set up in June 2002. The report emphasizes the crucial theme of Aboriginal ownership over education, and states that to date there has been little or no political will to implement changes recommended in prior documents, namely the RCAP report.
