Our goal:

To implement a Mandatory Indigenous Studies Course Credit throughout High Schools in North America - beginning with Ontario.

Why?

Within school curriculums and textbooks, there is a scarcity of resources and education regarding Indigenous issues in the past and present, if not at all. In order to ensure a future where Indigenous groups feel seen and heard, it is necessary to equip students with the resources to learn about various topics regarding Indigenous peoples, and to respect and acknowledge Indigenous communities that have had their lands taken away from them by white settlers.

This is why we ask to create a mandatory high school Indigenous studies credit throughout high schools in North America, starting with Ontario to graduate.

Being equipped with the proper resources and education is a necessity to approach a path to reconciliation and to empower the next generation of change-makers. 

In fact, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has highlighted a Mandatory Indigenous Studies Curriculum throughout Canada as one of its calls to action to promote a path to reconciliation.

In Ontario, Canada, there are Indigenous studies courses available in the Ontario curriculum that students can choose to take, in addition to multiple online resources. Many schools do not have these courses available and may not deem it important to take. We want to create a mandatory requirement for high school students in Ontario to have at least one Indigenous studies course to graduate.

Support us by signing this petition, which will then be sent to the Ontario government to urge them to implement this proposed requirement. Whether you live in Ontario or not, you can support this cause by signing our petition and/or sharing it with those around you! 

-The Indigenous Foundation Team

Indigenous Studies Taskforce:

Led by Meera Baswan and Sena Yenilmez, in collaboration with Change.Org.

What’s Next?

Our campaign doesn’t end there - we hope to successfully enact a Mandatory Indigenous Studies Course Credit in Ontario - and if we are able to succeed, we hope to further encourage other provinces and territories in Canada to do the same, then states in the USA. We’re taking this one step at a time, but our final goal for this campaign is to encourage as many districts, states, territories, and provinces in North America as possible to implement a way for students to be fully informed about the history of the land they live on.

Additional Resources:

Our team member, Alexandra Mandewo has made an extremely insightful article on why it is so important for Indigenous education to be accurate and present in school curriculums. Click here to read her article.

The province of BC (Canada) has successfully implemented a Mandatory Indigenous Studies Course Credit for all High Schools in the 2023-2024 school year. To learn more about their journey, you can click here.