‘Kids don’t even know Black pioneers existed’: awareness society to help B.C. revise school curriculum

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — The province has acknowledged more needs to be done to educate students about the contributions of Black people in B.C., and one organization working to raise awareness is getting involved in changing the curriculum.

Silvia Mangue-Alene, president of the BC Black History Awareness Society, says the province’s minister of education has reached out to the society for help revising how Black history is taught in schools.

She says the changes are necessary.

“We’ve been advocating for this for many years now,” Mangue-Alene adds.

She hopes any changes reflect how Black history varies across the country

“It wasn’t the same way here in B.C. as it was back east,” she says. “It would be nice if they focused on how Black people came to Canada and why they came to Canada.”

Mangue-Alene explains many students aren’t aware of the contributions and accomplishments of Black people in B.C., and those should be included in the curriculum.

“Because kids don’t even know that Black pioneers existed in Canada,” she says.

Seeing the stories of these important people have done in the past and what’s being done now is vital, she adds.

“Because we all, all of us – Black, Indigenous, white, people of colour – we all contribute to the advancement of the province. It’s nice that people know about it and that people acknowledge it.”

The society works to educate people to bring change, Mangue-Alene says while noting “We are not far from what is happening in the United States.”

“[The society] believes strongly that education about people and other people’s culture really reduces racism and prejudice.”

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Every February for Black History Month, Mangue-Alene says she and the society travel to schools and discuss Black history in Canada, as well as racism, prejudice, and unconscious bias.

“They don’t know, and they’re very happy to learn of it,” she says of the many students who don’t know about Black pioneers throughout history.

Minister of Education Rob Fleming says he reached out the society to find ways to incorporate more Black history into the education system.

This came as demonstrations against racism and police brutality sparked by Geroge Floyd’s killing continue in the U.S., Canada, and around the world.

“To make sure that we are being inclusive, that we are tackling systemic racism in all its forms, and, obviously, the education system plays a critically important role,” Fleming says.

It’s not just battles against racism in the U.S., but also an increase in racist attacks in Canada that Fleming says make it a worthy subject.

He explains the province plans to put more work into creating more racial awareness in British Columbia.

“We are living at a time where when you look at what is happening in the United States, when you look at discussions around systemic racism, which exists in British Columbia and Canada, we want to work as a government with the minister of multiculturalism, with the premier, and others, to make sure that we are being inclusive, that we are tackling systemic racism in all its forms,” Fleming says. “And, obviously the education system plays a critically important role in developing the minds of new generations of British Columbians who are transitioning into adulthood. It’s a place to tackle racism, to undo the corrosiveness of prejudice that exists in our society.”

-With files from Paul James and Liza Yuzda