First Nations in Quebec have a difficult history – one the government thinks everyone should learn about.
After the damning Truth and Reconciliation report released Tuesday about residential schools across Canada, the Quebec government is hoping to teach children about First Nations.
“What breaks my heart is that for so long we said to the First Nations of our country that their language and their culture were worthless,” said Native Affairs Minister Geoffrey Kelley.
Kelley wants more First Nations history taught in schools.
Minister Kelley is speaking to Education Minister Francois Blais, and said he wants changes to the curricula in elementary, high schools and CEGEPs.
He’s hoping lessons about a dark time in Canada's past will lead to better lives for First Nations in the future, adding that the federal Indian Act is unfair to Aboriginals.
“It's true. Just read the Indian Act. Indians are not treated like you and me,” he said.
Some First Nations children from Quebec who attended residential schools for 150 years until the 1970s were physically and sexually abused, according to the Truth and Reconciliation report.
They also weren't taught their native language and culture in what the report says amounts to “cultural genocide.”
Aboriginals should be properly financed by Ottawa, since they are under federal jurisdiction, said PQ leader Pierre Karl Peladeau, who also agrees Quebec children should know more about First Nations history and culture.
Peladeau brought his own children to the Wendake Huron first nation
“We had for the dinner an hour-long meeting with an historian that was telling us about the First Nations in Quebec. I found that very instructive,” he said.
