Thousands petitioned Sask. for mandatory Black history education. Advocates say nothing changed

Six years have gone by since 73,466 people signed a petition calling on the Saskatchewan government to make Black history a mandatory component of the school curriculum.

The petition circulated among hundreds of people who filled the lawn at the Saskatchewan Legislature in the wake of George Floyd’s death in the U.S., demanding change in a two-day protest against racism and police brutality. 

Floyd, an unarmed 47-year-old Black man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee into his neck for more than eight minutes. 

"It was a big thing to kind of have like a mountain of people here supporting, saying, 'Hey, we believe that Black lives do matter and we need change to occur,'" said Tobi Omeyefa, who created the 2020 petition in support of making Black history a mandatory class in Saskatchewan.

"I want Black history to be introduced to the school curriculum so that young people in society can have consciousness, knowledge and understanding of Black history to appreciate their contributions to the human race," Omeyefa wrote in the June 4 petition.

Years later, nothing has changed, he said.

PHOTOS | Hundreds of people stood outside the Saskatchewan Legislative Building on June 2 and June 5, 2020, to show solidarity with Black Lives Matter:

Four days after the 2020 protest, Gordon Wyant, who was minister of education at the time, said the curriculum already addresses racism.

"We’ve had lots of conversations over the past short period of time and the premier [Scott Moe] has been really clear [that] racism has no place in this province," Wyant said at the time.

He also noted that he and David Arnot, former chief commissioner of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, had discussed ways to ensure the curriculum is "responsive to the situation happening across the world when it comes to racism."

In an emailed statement to CBC this week, the human rights commission said it began developing an initiative in 2012 alongside the Ministry of Education to help K-12 students learn about their rights and responsibilities in their communities, locally and globally.

A spokesperson for the ministry of education told CBC in an emailed statement that Black history is incorporated throughout the curriculum.

Teachers can choose to use Black history in Saskatchewan to meet curricular diversity outcomes, but they are not mandated to teach it.

According to the Saskatchewan high school curriculum, core history courses include Social Studies, History, Native Studies and Canadian Studies.