Too many schools still asking why, not how to implement Indigenous curriculum, says son of late TRC chair

When Niigaan Sinclair visits schools, he always asks, "How many of you have an orange shirt in your closet that you pull out at least once a year?" 

He considers it progress that nearly every hand goes up these days. 

"I'm seeing more conversations, more curriculums, and probably most important of all, the change in school culture," said the author and indigenous studies professor at the University of Manitoba. 

Ten years since the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)'s final report, more students are marking Orange Shirt Day each September. Also known as Canada's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, many spend at least part of the day learning about residential schools, where Indigenous children were forced into government-funded, church-run schools to strip away their culture. 

Yet Sinclair, also a former high school teacher, notes it's just one day set aside to talk about the impact of residential schools. 

"Can we do it for the other 364 days?" he said from Yellowknife. 

Teaching K-12 students about residential schools is just one step toward reconciliation, according to Sinclair and other educators.

Sinclair believes many areas with a high Indigenous population — across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Northwestern Ontario, for instance — absolutely understand working together to achieve the TRC's recommendations, which spell out ways to address the legacy of residential schools.

Yet "in many corners of the country, we're still having a conversation about the why, not about the how," said Sinclair, whose father was the late Murray Sinclair, the judge and senator who chaired the commission.  

"Virtually every school district in Canada has in some way or another adopted principles of reconciliation. Whether they've committed to the calls to action is a little bit different."

The theme of education runs throughout the recommendations, from calling for federal support to eliminating educational gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

For K-12, the TRC called upon federal and provincial governments to collaborate with Indigenous groups and educators to develop mandatory, age-appropriate curriculums about residential schools, treaties and Indigenous contributions, plus training for teachers. 

While all provinces and territories do include residential schools in their overall curriculum now, exactly where it appears, how deeply, and whether it's even compulsory varies across regions. According to non-profit group Indigenous Watchdog, which tracks progress of the calls, none of the education-related calls are fully complete. 

Still, progress inches forward at individual boards and schools.