Indigenous Education : Walking on Both Sides of the River

Worldwide research has identified low school achievement levels among students from Indigenous cultures and there is a gradual movement to improve their situation. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of the Canadian government has provided the impetus for the provinces to examine their practices and the Advisory Board on English Education (ABEE) congratulates the Minister of Education, Recreation and Sports for joining this initiative. The research literature and the media have identified a broad range of issues affecting the success of Indigenous children in schools. Some of these issues, such as the remoteness and inaccessibility of the communities, poverty, the scarcity and high cost of food, poor housing, and infrastructure problems, are outside the scope of educational solutions, although they combine to have a profound effect on educational outcomes. Social and medical services must be called upon to improve the circumstances that contribute to the educational success of Indigenous students, and we hope this will be facilitated in Québec by the provincial government’s Aboriginal Social Development Action Plan. Yet education is fundamental to any potential solution to Indigenous concerns and problems, and any changes to the situation of the 100 000 Indigenous people of Québec must start with the younger generation. Many of the issues affecting the students and their success or failure in school can be addressed by the school system and this brief will identify some of them. In no way is this brief a prescription to “cure problems” in the Indigenous school system, so it does not contain recommendations, unlike most ABEE briefs. Rather, we will identify some of the issues that might contribute to the discussion of Indigenous education in Québec. We hope that some of the observations and recommendations we have made in earlier briefs regarding the Anglophone school system will be useful additions to the conversation, even though our perspective is influenced by differences between cultures and long-standing problems within Indigenous school systems.