SD52 Board offers support for Truth and Reconciliation Committee recommendation on Education

The newly installed Board of Education has offered up one of its first recommendations for the new term, endorsing a request from the Aboriginal Education Council and supporting a call for the implementation of one of the recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The Recommendation up for discussion was Number 63, which calls on the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada to maintain an annual commitment to Aboriginal education issues.

Included on the list were:

Developing and implementing Kindergarten to Grade Twelve curriculum and learning resources on Aboriginal peoples in Canadian history, and the history and legacy of residential schools. 

Sharing information and best practices on teaching curriculum related to residential schools and Aboriginal history.

Building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect. 

Identifying teacher-training needs relating to the above

Towards those goals and in response to the request from the Aboriginal Education Council, the SD52 Board passed a motion that endorses the creation of an implementation plan for Recommendation 63.

For the Prince Rupert School District that will see Chair James Horne forward a letter to the First Nations Education Steering committee in support of a requirement for a mandatory First Nations course for graduation.

More background related to that motion and some of the other items of note from the November 7th meeting for the Board of Education can be found here.

Further background on some of the other recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's work can be reviewed here, Calls for action pertaining to Education can be found starting on page seven.

A wider overview of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process can be examined here.

Our background notes on education in the Northwest can be found here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.