The Ontario (Canada) Ministry of Education’s A Solid Foundation Document: An Extended Commentary

Abstract

This commentary contributes to the critical inter-cultural conversations on how public institutions and school cultures negotiate the different cultural and epistemic differences of Aboriginal students. One might argue that it is a collective responsibility of the dominant society to engage in critical reflection and discourse in relation to one’s own location in the context of historically marginalized Aboriginal peoples. Further, that such reflection is particularly necessary in the context of the historically silenced Aboriginal students in publicly-funded schools. In Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Education (OME) has made a public commitment to Aboriginal education in an effort to mediate the experiences of Aboriginal students in public schools. This commentary points to both the merits and implications of such provincial education policies in the broader view of learning as being meaningful and relational for all students and school communities. The commentary suggests that there may be cause for concern that the discourse in the OME’s (2013) A Solid Foundation document, particularly when viewed through the lens of Social Reproduction Theory, potentially pushes Aboriginal students further to the margins of public school spaces.