Ethnoculturally Relevant Programming in Northern Schools

Abstract

This article describes an attempt to collect information on culturally and linguistically relevant programming in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. In the article, I describe and discuss possible reasons why northern educators appear reluctant to share their local curriculum initiatives. I suggest four reasons for the apparent absence of a critical discourse around curriculum. First, that contemporary northern educators, by not challenging or contesting the curricula they are expected to teach, are contributing to the preservation of the neocolonial hegemony of the status quo. Second, that educators view their work as autonomous and individual and do not perceive it as their responsibility to share this work. Third, that through this perception educators are, purposefully or naively, contributing to the development of an artificial divide between Western and Indigenous knowledge. And, fourth, that the apparent unwillingness to share materials might indicate active resistance to the dominant educational culture. I conclude by urging further research that incorporates the perceptions and viewpoints of multiple constituents in the education system.