As CEGEP teachers, we have a responsibility to assist all students on their path to success, not just a few students. However, current policies and structures not only inhibit the success of Aboriginal students, but contribute to injuries. It cannot continue!, assures Michelle Smith, spokesperson for RID.
The participants all agreed in saying that the educational environment suffered from shortcomings regarding the proper integration of Aboriginal students. A situation that can cause some stress for them.
Ryder Cote-Nottaway, an Anishinaabe student at Dawson College, notably raised the importance of teaching students “the real story, not just that of white people.”
In addition, he believes that the teaching staff sometimes forgets that native students leave their communities to come to receive education in the large centers. “We are leaving our territory which is our mother earth. However, it is this territory that gives our traditions. For us, it’s important to integrate this notion of territory into teaching, ”he says.
Our culture and our identity are linked to the land. This is what we are forced to give up when we pursue post-secondary education. We must sacrifice our traditional education for that of the white man.
According to the participants, only the story from the point of view of the white man is told in Quebec schools.
Present at the webinar and the press conference that followed, Tanu Lusignan, Director General of the First Nations Adult Education School Board, points out that our elements must be integrated into the curriculum of school boards. We should be able to learn our languages like the other languages spoken in the province. We have teachers who are able to do it.
People need to understand that we were stripped of our language, that we were beaten to speak our language, that we were taken from our homes. This is the story that young people do not learn in CEGEP or even earlier. Without adequate education, a situation like the one experienced in Joliette could happen again, he said, referring to the death of Joyce Echaquan.
The participants also felt that Quebec is 20 years behind in terms of reconciliation with the first peoples and the Inuit.
For the young student Ryder Cote-Nottaway, this can be explained in particular, because the government of Quebec still refuses to talk about systemic racism.
Ms. Smith added that she often heard that relations between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals in Quebec were different from those in other provinces. That they are generally imprinted with “a romantic story”.
Another student advocates integrating the knowledge of Indigenous elders, which could benefit the Quebec school system.
The RIDIntercollegiate Decolonization Network urges the Ministry of Higher Education and other decision-makers in the public sector to adopt concrete measures to combat systemic racism.
