History is filled with all sorts of uncomfortable horrors. Topics like civil wars, genocide, and slavery have plagued humanity since the beginning of time, and it\u2019s important to teach successive generations about the world\u2019s most despicable moments so they might never be forgotten or repeated. But while it\u2019s crucial to impart this knowledge onto others, explaining things like racism and colonialism to young children can be extremely hard. One Canadian publisher isn\u2019t even really trying.<\/p>\n
In \u201cComplete Canadian Curriculum 3,\u201d a workbook produced by the Popular Book Company Canada, publishers attempted to explain the fate of the country\u2019s First Nations people to third-graders by whitewashing the hell out of the role European settlers and the Canadian government played in their disenfranchisement.<\/p>\n
Genocidal acts included the forced sterilization of indigenous women and little girls.<\/p>\n
One section of the supplemental text, which is sold at stores throughout the country, describes the theft of indigenous peoples\u2019 lands by colonizers in extremely gentle terms. \u201cWhen the European settlers arrived, they needed land to live on,\u201d the book says. \u201cThe First Nations peoples agreed to move to different areas to make room for the new settlements.”<\/p>\n
In another section, the book states, \u201cThe First Nations peoples moved to areas called reserves, where they could live undisturbed by the hustle and bustle of the settlers.”<\/p>\n
Of course, the truth is far worse. Like their neighbors to the south, Canada\u2019s treatment of its native population can, at best, be described as heinous. Contrary to the workbook\u2019s assertion that First Nations people relocated to reserves so they could live \u201cundisturbed by the hustle and bustle\u201d of colonizers, the government actually built the reserves to impose \u201ca sedentary lifestyle on previously semi-nomadic peoples\u201d in a bid to assimilate them into colonial European culture that focused on Christianity, farming, and structured education. When that didn\u2019t work, the government passed the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 and the Indian Act of 1876, which instituted penalties for those who did not assimilate into \u201cCanadian culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
While forced assimilation is bad enough, Canada didn\u2019t stop there. As Pamela Palmater explained in NowToronto:<\/p>\n
\nCanada\u2019s relationship with its First Nations people\u00a0remains complicated, so it was no surprise the workbook caused quite a stir. Facebook user Destiny Samaroo posted images\u00a0from the book and argued that sanitizing history contributes to ignorance. \u201cThis is why the MAJORITY of people are so clueless when [it] comes to the reality of the suffering, oppression and INJUSTICE that First Nations (Aboriginal) Peoples have been subjected to for DECADES!\u201d she wrote. Many agreed with Samaroo\u2019s point, sharing her initial post nearly 4,000 times.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Indigo, one of the nation\u2019s biggest booksellers, pulled the text from its shelves and vowed not to sell it \u201cuntil appropriate edits have been made.\u201d\u00a0The publisher, Popular Book Company Canada, issued a statement on its Facebook page promising to edit\u00a0the workbook.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that our Complete Canadian Curriculum Grade 3 does not provide an accurate depiction of the interaction between Canada\u2019s First Nations and European settlers,\u201d the company wrote. \u201cWhile we cannot undo what has already been published, we are committed to making things better for future editions.\u201d<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t the first time a publisher has come under fire for whitewashing history. Lawmakers in Texas were roundly criticized when they adopted\u00a0new social studies textbooks that downplayed the role of slavery in the Civil War and cited\u00a0Moses as a big\u00a0inspiration for the Constitution.<\/p>\n
On Oct. 6, 2017, the Popular Book Company Canada\u00a0issued a longer statement regarding the workbook controversy. Read it below:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
This article was updated on Oct. 6, 2017, to include a full statement from the publisher.<\/em><\/p>\n
Top and share image via Bahman\/Flickr. <\/p>\n
<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
History is filled with all sorts of uncomfortable horrors. Topics like civil wars, genocide, and slavery have plagued humanity since the beginning of time, and it\u2019s important to teach successive generations about the world\u2019s most despicable moments so they might never be forgotten or repeated. But while it\u2019s crucial to impart this knowledge onto others,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}