Reconciliation: An Emerging Type of Ignorance Amongst Settlers in Ontario

Abstract

This research project was conducted to critically analyze Ontario’s newest version of the Native Studies 1999/2000 courses - the Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 to 12: First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Studies, 2019. Ontario’s curricula have previously omitted and misrepresented Indigenous peoples, and their historical and contemporary realities. Through a conceptual framework of ignorance, the study investigated the developmental process of the curriculum, and its content to understand how the curriculum will educate Ontario’s student population. The data was collected through a thematic analysis of the Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 to 12: First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Studies, 2019 document, and of supporting media articles. The research project’s findings suggest a new emerging type of ignorance among settlers regarding the concept of reconciliation. The findings demonstrate that an oversimplified conceptualization of reconciliation is at the base of the new emerging type of ignorance. Reconciliation is simplified to renewing relationships between Indigenous peoples and settlers, while disassociating reconciliation from settler colonialism and critiques. Based on Wolfe’s (2006) logic of elimination, I theorize the presence of the new emerging type of ignorance regarding reconciliation is motivated to erase settler colonialism in the contemporary world. Finally, the research project concludes with recommendations for curriculum development and future research.

Keywords: Indigenous peoples, settlers, Ontario, education, curriculum, ignorance, reconciliation.