The Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations Cheifs says the new provincial draft K-6 curriculum is not what they were looking for from the province.
In a release on their website, the confederacy calls the draft a “Eurocentric, American-focused, Christian-dominant narrative that perpetuates rather than addresses systemic racism and falls far short of providing a balanced, nuanced perspective on Treaty 6 First Nations history and culture.”
“This proposed curriculum represents another disappointment for the Confederacy of Treaty 6, which was not consulted in its development. This government’s previous initiatives to reform the K-6 curriculum, which
included omitting the deleterious impact of the Indian Residential Schools, were wholly inadequate to the
Confederacy of Treaty No. 6 and this trend unfortunately continues today. Our hopes for an improved and inclusive curriculum development process that would begin to prepare Alberta’s youth for the 21st Century were inadequately addressed by this proposed curriculum. What First Nations consultation that did occur was limited in scope, hastily concluded and incomplete.” – Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations
The UCP government has asked for feedback on the draft before it is rolled out to schools in 2022-2023.
“A history of Alberta that does not begin with the rich and deep histories of the Treaty First Nations and does not accurately portray how we have survived and thrived to this day, is a faulty and incomplete one,” says Grand Chief Vernon Watchmaker.
Select schools around the province will test the new curriculum starting in September.