86. Journalism programs and media schools to require education for all students on the history of Aboriginal peoples

We call upon Canadian journalism programs and media schools to require education for all students 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.

While some journalism schools in Canada offer courses on Indigenous history, not all are mandatory, and not all include all the criteria cited in Call to Action #86.

In response to Call to Action #86, Journalists for Human Rights, a national not-for-profit advocacy organization, produced a Reporting in Indigenous Communities curriculum. The post-secondary curriculum is available at no cost to journalism schools/programs across Canada.

In July 2020, King’s College School of Journalism said as a part of an action plan for more diversity and inclusion in the school, it would be offering learning modules on the history of Indigenous and Black communities in Nova Scotia and would make the KAIROS blanket exercise a mandatory requirement for fourth year students.

In 2020, Concordia’s school of journalism added a course called Indigenous Journalism.

In 2017-18, Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario made an Introduction to Indigenous Studies course mandatory for all of its Digital Media and Journalism students.

The university also revamped curriculum in mandatory 200 and 300 level disciplinary-specific courses to more extensively include research into topics like relations between the Canadian state and Indigenous communities and how Indigenous Peoples are represented in the media. Wilfrid Laurier University’s Brantford campus also has an Elder-in-Residence.

In 2017, Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia made an Introduction to Indigenous Studies course mandatory for new journalism students entering the program.

Other journalism schools across Canada are implementing Indigenous history courses to varying degrees into their curricula.

The University of British Columbia in Vancouver was the first to offer journalism students a course on Reporting in Aboriginal Communities, in 2011 — four years prior to the TRC Report being released.

In 2017, Carleton University in Ottawa followed suit. Undergraduate journalism students were already required to take a course in Indigenous perspectives and portrayals in the media. But in 2017, Carleton created a new course called Covering Indigenous Canada.

Also in 2017, Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Journalism created an elective course called Reporting on Indigenous Issues. The course incorporates the history of Indigenous Peoples, the residential school legacy and UNDRIP. First-year journalism students are required to take part in a module of reporting on marginalized Indigenous communities, which includes learning about the history and legacy of residential schools and more specifically, about the challenges of reconciliation and the Calls to Action.

Toronto Metropolitan University changed its name from Ryerson University in 2021, over concerns the name was associated with Egerton Ryerson, one of the leading architects of Canada’s residential schools.

In 2016, in response to Call to Action #86, the University of King’s College School of Journalism in Halifax hosted a symposium on “how journalists can cover Indigenous communities responsibly” and how to respond to the Calls to Action, according to its website.

The University of Regina’s journalism program does offer a course on Indigenous People and the Press, but it is not mandatory.