Ontario’s Urban Aboriginal Education Pilot Projects: To Know Is Not Enough to Decolonize Our Schools

• In Event: Roundtable Session 104

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

The significant increases in Aboriginal demographics in Canadian urban centres make the need to reform school boards all the more urgent if Aboriginal students’ needs are to be met and their graduation rates improved. In 2007, the Ontario Ministry of Education developed the First Nation, Métis and Inuit policy framework and three school districts were selected for the development of a province-wide Urban Aboriginal Education Pilot Project. In this session, the three PIs present case studies of their respective school board’s attempts to address the challenges and complexities of implementing the FNMI policy with students, administrators and teachers. Our three research projects arise out of a commitment that echoes AERA’s: using research to address marginalized or neglected Aboriginal students in our schools through decolonizing actions at all stakeholder levels.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Indigenous Peoples of the Americas

Chair

• Lisa M. Korteweg, Lakehead University

Papers

• “There’s Nothing Aboriginal in the Subject I Teach”: Seeking Systemic Shifts in Non-Aboriginal Teacher Education - Lisa M. Korteweg, Lakehead University; Brooke Madden, The University of British Columbia

• “Spontaneous Laughter and Good Marks”: From Policy Framework to Working Model - Celia E. Haig-Brown, York University; Lisa Ewanchuk, Simcoe County District School Board

• “I Had a Rough Past But Things Are Getting Better for Sure”: Aboriginal Youth and Schooling - Susan Dion, York University; Catherine Pawis, Toronto District School Board