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Quebec to include Indigenous perspectives in education review, add Indigenous content

Nov 30, 2021 | 1:25 PM

QUEBEC — The Quebec government will invest almost $20 million to better integrate young Indigenous people into the education system.

The money will also go toward teaching young Quebecers about First Nations.

Education Minister Jean-François Roberge and Indigenous Affairs Minister Ian Lafrenière made the announcement today at the Kiuna Institution, a junior college in Odanak, Que., an Abenaki community northeast of Montreal. 

The ministers say the government will create educational materials about Indigenous Peoples and that it will support First Nations youth in the education system.

Roberge says he hopes the new initiatives will reduce the number of young Indigenous people who are dropping out of school and that they will help Quebecers learn more about Indigenous communities.

The measures are based on recommendations made by retired judge Jacques Viens, who led a 2019 public inquiry into the treatment of Indigenous Peoples within Quebec’s public institutions.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2021.

The Canadian Press