There’s much more that needs to be done to not only improve aboriginal student outcomes but also eliminate racism in Delta.
That was the message delivered at the school board this week during an update on the initiatives underway to further improve indigenous education the district.
Ted Johnson, the district’s director of learning services – equity and success, and Diane Jubinville, vice-principal of indigenous education, provided the overview of activities and programs, also talking about what it means to have equality but also equity.
“This has been, since my new role in this position, an incredible learning journey for me and it continues to be. It’s hard to articulate the path that we’re going through in this because it’s a difficult one,” said Johnson.
“When we’re looking at student success, we want our kids to do well, but we want everyone to be aware of what’s gone on the past three, four hundred years. Our own government, there was a very conscious, deliberate attempt at eradicating First Nations people. The damage that it has done and continues to do, a mess has been created for all of us…in many respects, we’re working from the same starting point of reconciliation and trying to make things right for hundreds of years of misdeeds and the deliberate, intentional eradication of our First Nations people.”
Johnson added the ideal would be to eventually not have a need for a separate indigenous education department and that there’s no disparity or the learning achievement gap, as well as racism that comes with it.
Saying this is an exciting time for indigenous education across Canada, Jubinville talked about “the collective responsibility” of the district for improving aboriginal student outcomes.
School board chair Laura Dixon noted the good news is that Delta’s aboriginal graduation rate last year reached 80 per cent, well above the provincial average, and which is up from 64 per cent in 2012. Delta’s rate is the highest in the Lower Mainland and second overall in the province.
Trustee Rhiannon Bennett, a member of the Musqueam First Nation, commended the efforts, saying she looks forward to the outcomes of new efforts including an early learning initiative.
However, much needs to be done in the community as a whole when it comes equity and equality.
“There is still a lot of racism in our community. Just the other day, there was a really unfortunate house fire at Tsawwassen First Nation. Seeing the social media chatter was a bit heartbreaking. People were cracking jokes about how there were smoke signals, even though someone’s house was burning. There wouldn’t have been those kinds of jokes if that house would have been on fire in any other neighbourhood,” said Bennett.
“There is a lot of work to do in the community. I’m also hopeful that these children in our schools are getting a better education than their parents did and they’re going home and sharing what they’re learning, so I’m appreciative of the work that’s happening but we still have a lot of work to do,” she added.
