The Hiding of Canada's History (part two)

Not withstanding the absurdity of a teacher asking a board of education to change a school's name  (CBC Globe), one has to wonder why the teacher's federation decided to focus on this issue as opposed to the myriad of other issues that need to be addressed within our educational system. If the teachers were truly committed to dealing with Canada's long and sordid history of being a country that based and continues to base some its policies on racism, there were numerous other resolutions that could have been far more useful and perhaps even implementable.  In fact, their resolution seems to have far more to do with being politically correct - without having to invest any real energy or resources into dealing with the issues; it feels as if a bunch of elites (they have well paying union jobs, all have a university education and I would bet that the majority of them are of European descent) passed a motion that makes them feel as if they have done something - and then as usual, expect someone else to do the work.

They could have, for example:

- passed a resolution stating that in their next contract negotiations their top priority would be for the government to more adequately fund and support the education of Indigenous youth in their home communities.

- or passed a resolution to demand (again as their top priority) that Indigenous youth in urban areas receive have access to educational programs that both reflect their cultural heritage and that prepare those youth for the 21st century.

- suggested that all such federations across the country review their teaching practice and curriculums to ensure that when the history, the economics or the politics of this country are being discussed that there is the opportunity for all students to recognize that some of the decisions that have been were destructive to whole groups of people - most of whom were already disadvantaged. 

The list of what they could have done goes on and on and on.

If in fact the teachers' federation wanted to initiate a conversation about how we name our public buildings, and if they wanted to do so out of genuine concern for the oppressed peoples of Canada (as opposed to some knee-jerk reaction to what is happening in the USA), that is wonderful. There is a long list of building and places names after people who said or did things that were clearly racist. Let us change the name of the Nellie McClung library branch in Victoria because she certainly was a racist (as well as someone who supported the concept that people who were deemed to be sub-standard, should not be allowed to have children).

My grandchildren have gone to an elementary school called Churchill - perhaps because it is on a street called Churchill - named after Winston Churchill, the revered leader of Britain during WW2. Churchill  deeply believed that Europeans were destined to rule the world - he was clearly a racist (Guardian). Should the name of that school be changed? How far do we go in being politically correct?

It is clear that the teachers' federation did not think through this motion. The teacher behind the motion, when asked about deleting Prime Minister  Sir Wilfred Laurier's name from any school building because  of his role in the banning of Chinese immigrants during his tenure suggested that the teachers were only concerned with injustices of  First Nation peoples. It would seem that if we are truly going to finally accept the reality of racism in Canada, that while we recognize as a priority the gross injustices done to our First Nation communities - we as well need to identify and address all racism. To suggest that people from different cultures/races are less important than others sounds like racism.

The teachers' federations motion was at best a noble, but empty gesture. It may have done more damage than good if only because it is easier to talk about ancient names and what they may or may not have done than it is to address what we are doing or not doing today.