COPE candidate Diana Day wants aboriginal mini school

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      When Coalition of Progressive Electors school-board candidate Diana Day’s daughter was in Grade 10, she spent three months learning about the French Revolution.

      And although there was a chapter in the back of her textbook about First Nations, her teacher never got to the topic.

      “My daughter was just so disappointed when she saw that, because it’s not taught in schools,” Day told the Straight in an interview at CRAB Park.

      It’s one reason the candidate is seeking a spot on the Vancouver school board after years of involvement with local parent advisory councils.

      She sees the need for a grades 8 to 12 “mini school” with a curriculum focused on aboriginal issues and aimed at not just aboriginal students but others who want to learn more about indigenous history.

      “So having some traditional teachers, some cultural events, and having a culturally safe place for our students to come to, so that they can make it through high school, and that they can be supported, and that each one can be better supported to be able to have their career goals planned out for them.”

      The Vancouver school board currently runs a kindergarten-to-Grade-3 aboriginal focus school at Sir William Macdonald Elementary School, which is open to both aboriginal and nonaboriginal students from Metro Vancouver.

      The VSB also offers alternative programs, including an outreach program for students of aboriginal heritage at Britannia Secondary School.

      “My feeling is that they’re being pushed out of school, and a lot are experiencing bullying. They’re experiencing trauma, posttraumatic stress; they have a lot of issues,” Day said of aboriginal students.

      “Poverty is an issue as well, and not being able to provide even a bus pass in order to get to school. And all of those kinds of issues are really important for our kids to be supported and to have curriculum that’s interesting to them, curriculum that they can see themselves in.”

      Day is one of three female indigenous candidates on COPE’s slate for the municipal election in November.

      Audrey Siegl, a Musqueam First Nation member and activist who participated in the Oppenheimer Park tent city and the Idle No More movement, is running for city council, while food-security activist and artist Cease Wyss is running for park board.

      Comments

      7 Comments

      RUK

      Oct 15, 2014 at 2:22pm

      I think you wanna be very very careful about this idea.

      The Roma ("Gypsy") people in Romania and Hungary have been put into special, segregated schools on the basis of race, essentially, for decades. Instead of getting self-respect and a great education out of it, the kids and parents have complained that it is substandard and does nothing for career or higher educational prospects.

      This is not an Us and Them Canada. I'm not downplaying any of the realities about the aboriginal Canadian dropout rate, differential learning outcomes, historical racism, the massive and ongoing effects of colonialism and forced assimilation, any of it.

      But the future is in the mainstream. Jobs are in the mainstream. Higher education...politics... professions... there isn't a viable mini culture or mini economy.

      Now maybe this aboriginal mini school won't duplicate the problems of the Roma schools in Europe, maybe it is worth a shot because kids fall out of the system all the time (although you have to wonder if alternative programs like Eagle aren't in fact a de facto aboriginal mini already).

      But I think we have to be real careful about reinforcing Otherness. Distinct culture matters a great deal at home - an Armenian is not a Lithuanian is not a Greek is not an Albanian is not a Kurd, etc. - and in the past, racism was pernicious and devastating in Canada.

      However. Isn't it time to test the system, use the barrier-jumping equality provisions and mechanisms, and stress the success of future generations?

      Buzzsaw

      Oct 15, 2014 at 4:43pm

      And just who is supposed to PAY for this Middle School? It’s so easy to make promises on someone else’s dime, isn’t it? These ladies learn fast.

      “and that each one can be better supported to be able to have their career goals planned out for them.”

      Yes, a great career as an activist, agitator, or politician awaits you! Plenty of money in victimhood, right?

      JamieLee

      Oct 15, 2014 at 4:44pm

      While I'm running for Park Board and perhaps should not stray into this school board discussion but as an individual of mixed ancestry (Cree and Irish) I feel that my views be considered. Diana Day is correct that the current system is not working for Aboriginal children, most who are not making it beyond grade 8. I feel uncomfortable though around segregation and worry that any move toward this may not work in the longer-term. But somehow we must get these kids dropping out in grade 8 to stay longer. Introducing indigenous curriculum may be the answer but it needs as Diana points out to be open to non aboriginal students as well. RUK you are correct that we really need to think about the introduction of otherness as this carries such stigma and carrying around imposed stigmatization doesn't help the students. I applaud Diana for initiating discussion around this very serious issue.

      Martin Dunphy

      Oct 15, 2014 at 6:17pm

      RUK (and JamieLee):

      With respect, I don't think anyone envisions segregation or "reinforcing Otherness" here. The typical model of mini schools sees all the students together in the same facility. Some classes might have separate field trips and a few special courses, etcetera, but the students would still be studying math, English, and history apart from some specialized and tailored courses emphasizing traditional culture and indigenous history. And, as Ms. Day stated, all students would be invited to attend these as well.

      And Buzzsaw: Please attempt to exercise a bit of maturity and common sense when formulating comments.

      MD

      Oct 16, 2014 at 8:01am

      Buzzsaw
      "And just who is supposed to PAY for this Middle School?"

      The per student funding model more or less means the funds move with the students, so there would be no real increased marginal cost to move some students and a couple teachers into existing space within any given district (and many have extra capacity); it is not as if something has to be created, and people need to be hired, from scratch.

      Amazing that your sophisticated powers of financial management were not able to come up with this minor observation while constructing your four sentence emotional rant about nothing of substance.

      OMG

      Oct 16, 2014 at 12:12pm

      The school I went to as a kid was the main school for the local Chinese population and most of the Chinese kids would go to Chinese school after regular school, so they could maintain their language and culture, to a certain degree, while also getting an education that made sense in the larger picture. I think that's kind of what she's suggesting although I assume she means a separate school, that is part of the regular public system and taught during regular school hours.

      Personally I don't think it's a bad idea and if it gets kids interested in studying history then all the better. Right now I think the loneliest occupation must be a high school history teacher.

      My only concern would be that the students become too segregated and not be able to function in our rapidly evolving society.

      James G

      Oct 20, 2014 at 7:37pm

      Funny how the pitch for the Vancouver Mini School for the elite was a slam dunk for it's over-privileged West Side brats and became ta-dah, a reality long ago. This is the best new idea I have heard in education for decades. COPE can be rightly proud of these candidates.