Brief history of Canadian Blacks
The history of Black education in Canada dates back as far as the mid-19th century. The first Black Canadians came to the country from the United States, England and Jamaica seeking better economic opportunities, but their contribution on Canadian society has been largely ignored by mainstream media and academia. While most of us are aware that slavery was abolished in Canada after Confederation, few realize that Black slaves were still working on plantations in Nova Scotia until 1834. In fact, for many years after abolition, Blacks continued to be regarded as inferior to whites and were treated as second-class citizens.
The earliest Black Canadians arrived in Nova Scotia from the United States in 1783, after the American Revolution. Some of them had fought for the British against the Americans
Failures of the Canadian education system
The education system in Canada is failing black children, and educators aren’t doing much to fix it.
Of all the students in Canada, 8.2% are black. However, black students are much more likely to be suspended or expelled than their peers. Black students are also more likely to drop out of high school.
There are many reasons for this disparity, but not enough people are talking about it. The following statistics don’t paint a pretty picture, but they shed some much-needed light on an issue that needs to be resolved before it gets worse. Black students are three times more likely to be suspended than white students. In Toronto, for example, black students make up 8% of the student population, but they account for almost half of all suspensions. This is abysmal!
“It’s not just a problem in Toronto, it’s a problem across the country,” said Afua Cooper, an associate professor at the University of Toronto and the Canada research chair in Black Canadian Studies.
“We need to talk about it, we need to have a national conversation about this issue.”
She said there is a lack of data on how many black Canadians are victims of homicide each year, but said it’s clear that the number is disproportionately high.
Recent efforts to remedy the situation
Recent efforts to improve black education in Canada In recent years, there has been a lot of attention and discussion around the issue of education for black students in Canada. For years, the black community has been voicing its concerns about how it believes schools are failing black students.
The solutions to this problem have been widely debated: Some believe more money is needed to hire more teachers and build new schools; others think that more minority teachers should be hired. Many people believe that the solution lies in better curriculum, and an increase in support for students who are struggling academically.
For me – and not for all, I believe that the solution lies in a simple idea: If you want to fix the problem, start with the teachers. The best way to ensure that black students are receiving a quality education is to have black teachers in classrooms.