Alberta students well be learning more about the history of residential schools, their devastating impact on indigenous people, and residential school survivors. The province announced from kindergarten to grade 12 curriculum will include mandatory content of residential schools and first nation treaties. There is a program to be put in place to ensure all teachers are fully aware of the history of residential schools and aboriginal people.
Alberta Education Minster Jeff Johnson promised to develop and expanded content for students but there hasn’t been a date to when the changes come into effect. There were 25 residential schools in Alberta, way more than any other province. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission estimates that there are about 12,000 survivors in Alberta, including within our own community. Residential schools history was not always mandatory in class nor was it taught. A study was done with a group of 300 students from across Alberta to discuss about residential schools and learned they knew very little about this dark chapter of Canadian History.