57. Educate public servants on the history of Aboriginal peoples

We call upon federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments to provide education to public servants on the history of Aboriginal peoples, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal-Crown relations. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights and anti-racism.

The Canada School of Public Service is developing curriculum for federal public servants around reconciliation and the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report.

Engagement sessions with stakeholders took place across the country throughout 2017 and a report was issued in July 2018.

There are currently six online courses and six classroom courses available in the Indigenous Learning Series, one of which is the KAIROS blanket exercise. These include courses on treaties and self-government agreements.

Public servants in the Northwest Territories and Ontario are required to receive Indigenous cultural awareness training.

In 2019 to 2020, the province of Manitoba invested about $110,000 to train public servants on the history of Indigenous peoples including developing a professional workshop The Path to Reconciliation: A Historic and Contemporary Overview.

In June 2019, The First Nations Public Service Secretariat and the First Nations Summit signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the British Columbia Federal Council. The MOU is a commitment that First Nations and Federal public service institutions will exchange “expertise and experience.”

Since June 2018, Alberta public servants are required to take a mandatory one-day course on Indigenous history and culture.