Redefining Indigenous & Canadian Relationships

A sense of personal and social responsibility is essential for developing reconciliation toward a healthy new relationship that is based on Indigenous and non-Indigenous citizens, creating a more equitable Canadian society together. Students examine and evaluate the changing relationships between Indigenous Peoples and Canada through relevant texts, recently emerging literature, and arts that are producing the raw materials essential to answering the question posed by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples in their final report in 1996: "What are the foundations of a fair and honourable relationship between Aboriginal Peoples and non-Aboriginal people in Canada?". Using a popular education approach, students explore the foundations of meaningful reconciliation between Indigenous Peoples and other Canadians through poetry, music, visual arts and media, as well as reports and texts prepared for public consumption. Examples of topics that may be examined include Aboriginal rights, treaties, residential schools, Indigenous resilience, decolonization and approaches to reconciliation.