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Newfoundland and Labrador advocates and academics want the the provincial government to ensure experts in immigration and anti-racism are at the core of its review of curriculum and teaching material.
The review comes after a CBC News story about a junior high assignment that asked students to choose from the textbook’s list of reasons why immigrants should or shouldn’t be allowed into Canada.
Education Minister Tom Osborne told CBC News the assignment would be removed from the curriculum, and the province would be reviewing other teaching material.
In a recent interview, Memorial University economics professor Tony Fang said the assignment was not only offensive but showed a clear lack of expert consultation.
“The teaching material … contains a lot of information that is misleading, offensive or not backed up with the data,” Fang said.
He noted that the statements in the textbook opposed to immigration, such as the ideas that immigrants take jobs from resident Canadians or disproportionately draw on social welfare programs and services, are easily disproven.
Fang said he’s reviewed the textbook in question, and noted its content is contrary to the province’s own commitment to multiculturalism and immigration.
“On one hand you’re promoting … equity and diversity, inclusivity. On the other hand, you’re teaching our kids with all these outdated statements and that’s kind of contradictory to your strategy.”
Time for a refresh: ANC
MUN sociology professor James Baker is the senior manager of programs for the Association for New Canadians, which provides assistance to newcomers in Newfoundland and Labrador, and also does diversity training for schools and businesses.
Baker said the organization did more than 30 sessions last year involving more than 1,100 students. He said the workshops in schools focus on acceptance, diversity, multiculturalism and anti-racism.
“By promoting those values in our society and particularly to our younger generation, then those ideas become part of the norm,” he said. “Hopefully, it has a positive effect on society overall.”
Baker said the ANC recently met with the ministerial committee on anti-racism, and one of the organization’s recommendations was for the government to approach the work of all departments through an anti-racism lens.
He said the junior high assignment is a signal that it’s time to do the same for education.
“I would hope that the school district and the Department of Education will begin a refresh on their curriculum, not just in social studies, but also across, you know, all their programming,” he said. “You know, math, science and so on and so forth.”
Experts needed for anti-racism reform: MUN profs
Fang, who researches immigration and sits on the World Bank’s expert advisory committee on migration, would like to see wider consultations and expert input into future iterations of the textbook and education policy in the province.
“We need to consult the general public and also the experts and practitioners, advocates … but also the immigrants themselves,” he said. “Refugees, immigrants tell about their experiences and their … challenges and difficulties … and also their contributions to our economy, culture and society.”
Sobia Shaikh is a MUN social work professor and the co-chair of the Anti-Racism Coalition of Newfoundland and Labrador, one of the organizations behind a petition calling for anti-racism education reform in the province.
“The intent of an anti-racism curriculum review, as we see it, is a commitment to equality, to equity, and it needs to be central to the whole curriculum,” she said.
Among other recommendations, Shaikh said the petition is asking for a committee of individuals from immigrant, refugee, Black, Indigenous and other racialized communities with anti-racism training to be a central part of the curriculum review.
CBC News has asked the Department of Education who is conducting the review and what the review process looks like.
Shaikh said she wants to see the government more actively approach anti-racism within the province’s schools, and consult with community organizations like ARC-NL and the ANC.
“This is like basically an ‘all hands on deck’ kind of initiative, and the department needs to take that leadership.”
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
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