Alberta Schools: Add Black History to Curriculum!

Alberta Schools: Add Black History to Curriculum!

Started
June 10, 2020
Petition to
Adriana LaGrange- Alberta Minister of Education (Office of the Minister) and 4 others
Signatures: 44,653Next Goal: 50,000
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Why this petition matters

Started by Daniel Afolabi

DISCLAIMER: PLEASE DO NOT DONATE MONEY TO CHANGE.ORG. If you would like to donate, please consider donating to Black organizations in the US & Canada.

This is a petition demanding that Minister of Education Adriana LaGrange and Alberta's Ministry of Education take immediate action to include Black History and its Modern Impacts in the Alberta curriculum. Currently, Black History, especially Black Canadian History, is overlooked and under-taught in elementary, middle and high school classrooms.

Alberta's students need to learn how Black people have contributed to Canada, and how Black Canadians were and are mistreated by the Canadian government. The inclusion of Black history in the classroom will foster overdue acknowledgement of Black contributions to Canada and garner enhanced respect from non-Black individuals. Currently, the lack of Black history in the classroom alienates students of colour and disengages them from the course content.

What Needs to Be Taught (a non-exhaustive list):

  • Black individuals' key role in the development of Alberta, Saskatchewan and other areas of Canada.
  • Canada's historic involvement and participation in slavery and the transatlantic slave trade.
  • Modern impacts of racism such as systemic inequalities, police brutality and micro-aggressions.
  • How to deconstruct personal racial biases.

Necessary Changes that Can Be Made Now:

  • Increase the amount of content and resources involving Black history in the classroom.
  • Incorporate concrete and thorough standards for the teaching of Black history and its impacts into the Alberta Teaching Quality Standard.
  • Support from Alberta Education to ensure teachers are applying the new principles of the Alberta Teaching Quality Standard in the classroom.
  • Incorporate local Black communities into schools by inviting Black speakers, educators and activists to speak at schools.
  • Require all schools to maintain a database that records all incidents of racial discrimination or inequality.

Necessary Changes that Can Be Made Moving Forward:

  • Hire more BIPOC teachers, educational assistants, counsellors, and curriculum advisors to ensure diverse perspectives and voices are represented in schools.
  • Update racial sensitivity and inclusion training for teachers to include lessons on how to deconstruct their own racial biases as well as racial biases held by students in the classroom.
  • Create conferences for teachers to work with Black speakers and educators to develop adequate facilitation skills for teaching Black History.

Making these changes will help to create a generation of youth in Alberta that is more informed and self-aware. Alberta has one of the best education systems in our country. For it to stay great, it needs to reflect an accurate portrait of our country, one that includes Black History.

For any inquiries, please email Daniel Afolabi at daniel@afolabi.ca or Eric Gadbois at ericgadbois@gmail.com. Please be mindful to only email if necessary.

DISCLAIMER: PLEASE DO NOT DONATE MONEY TO CHANGE.ORG. If you would like to donate, please consider donating to Black organizations in the US & Canada.

Support now
Signatures: 44,653Next Goal: 50,000
Support now
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Decision Makers

  • Adriana LaGrange- Alberta Minister of EducationOffice of the Minister
  • Alberta Ministry of Education
  • Nicole WilliamsChief of Staff
  • Colin AitchisonPress Secretary
  • Jason KenneyAlberta Premier