Drew Bednasek (2010), authors of Cultivating Ignorance of Aboriginal Realities, “the principal problem in Aboriginal education in Canada is the education of Canadians” (p.1). Teachers have the ability to teach students in courses, such as social studies and geography, about the history of colonialism, but do not confront historical victimization of Aboriginal peoples by church and state in their courses (Godlewska, Moore, & Bednasek, 2010). Education on the depth of European settlement is poorly executed by teachers and understates the lasting effects residential schools, cultivation of native land, and coercive treaties have had on Aboriginal peoples. Although the history of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples is not something Canadians can take pride in, recognition of the impact of colonialism must be taken in order to sufficiently teach students of European settlement. The substantial gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples is perpetuated particularly by the government, and can be evidently defined by an inability to understand intergenerational trauma; the legacy of colonization that predominates the present day lives of many Aboriginal peoples. Since the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2008, the Canadian government resisted to provide archival files and documents from residential schools that would allow the TRC to create its Calls to Action released in 2015 (Arsenault, 2015). The marginal acceptance of government responsibility for the gravity of the commission’s purpose is demonstrated through its reluctance to provide ample amounts of documents. The documents and archival files are also needed to integrate accurate and anecdotal curriculum in order to effectively impact students, teachers, and educational professionals on the severity of the issue. The commission’s Calls …show more content…
Higher education is a solution to combatting the developed social inequality in Canada, and can reverse the racist views a significant proportion of the population do not recognize in themselves. If Canadians had a mandatory Indigenous studies course they would be able to form a realistic understanding of the legacy of colonialism, and gain the ability to recognize stereotypical comments as inappropriate and a perpetuation of