Tana Turner hardly remembers being taught about Black Canadians or their contributions in school. In a Toronto Star article, she shares that she only discovered the rich 400-year history of Black people in Canada when she went to university.
Currently, as CEO and president of the Turner Consulting Group, Turner was commissioned by the Canadian Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (CCUNESCO) to lead a study highlighting the gap in Black representation from kindergarten through grade 12 across schools in Canada.
The research revealed several gaps in how Black people were represented in schools. According to Turner, the study, entitled Black Canadians and Public Education in Canada, assessed and addressed the lack of education on Black history and anti-Black racism in schools.
Her findings revealed that Canada does not have national standards for what should be taught at schools when it comes to Black representation. Instead, it is up to individual teachers to include a task that aligns with their knowledge, willingness, interest, and students’ literacy.
Turner’s report revealed that a few provinces, such as Ontario and Nova Scotia, were ahead of others in teaching students about significant Black historical achievements.
Ontario, for example, taught students about the Underground Railroad, which is about a secret network of abolitionists who helped enslaved Black people escape from the Southern United States. Meanwhile, other provinces, such as Nova Scotia, underscored the plight of African Nova Scotians and their fight for human rights.
With all that’s going on, Turner says that she was surprised to learn that in 2022, Black American history was frequently highlighted and incorporated in Canadian social studies classes across the country.
For example, many students were taught about civil rights personalities like Martin Luther King Jr. and his renowned speech, along with Rosa Parks, an American civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama; an act that later resonated with many and started a revolution, making Rosa Parks an icon of peaceful resistance and equality. According to the study by Turner, Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks were mentioned 21 and 11 times, respectively.
Currently, the Ontario School Board offers a course titled “Deconstructing Anti-Black Racism in the Canadian and North American Context.” This interdisciplinary course is offered in many secondary school boards across the province. It was created after the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent uprising and Black Lives Matter movement that occurred in the United States.
Nevertheless, the course comes with one setback: it’s optional. Turner says that, even though this is a promising start in educating students about Black lives, there’s still much work to be done. She says that if there is a need to dismantle anti-Black racism, then all students must be taught about the contributions Black people have made to this country. She notes that although there are positive strides in how students are taught about Black people, there is no single African-Canadian mentioned uniformly across all curriculums in most provinces and territories.
Turner says that this is a notable omission, given that on the lists of Persons of National Historic Significance in Canada, 727 are of African descent. Many notable achievements in Black Canadian history often go completely unnoticed, such as the Black Pioneer Migration to Alberta and Saskatchewan and the Upper Canada Act of 1793 Against Slavery.
Although students were taught about Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, Turner says that many Black people in Canada had the very same experiences, but that wasn’t reflected in the curriculum. She notes that there is sporadic teaching about segregation and anti-Black racism and the movement for social justice, but all the focus is away from Canada.
Turner’s report concludes by making several recommendations to improve Canadian students’ understanding and appreciation of Black people. Turner’s dream is to see Canadian students learn about Black Canadian history through the education system, something she strongly missed learning about in school.
David Messiha | Staff Writer