93. Revise the information kit for newcomers and citizenship test to reflect a more inclusive history of the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada

We call upon the federal government, in collaboration with the national Aboriginal organizations, to revise the information kit for newcomers to Canada and its citizenship test to reflect a more inclusive history of the diverse Aboriginal Peoples of Canada, including information about the Treaties and the history of residential schools.

The Citizenship Study Guide has not been revised since 2011. It contains one paragraph on residential schools under its section on “Aboriginal Peoples” in the chapter “Who We Are,” not “Canada’s History.”

In a June 2018 statement, the federal government said changes to the information kit for newcomers were close to completion.

A spokesperson for the Immigration minister told CBC News in May 2019 regarding the updates to the citizenship study guide, “This work is ongoing.”

In 2021, a spokesperson for the office of the minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship said a revised citizenship guide is expected to be completed and released at some point later in the year.

As of July 2022, however, the revised guide had not been released.

The new guide is expected to have roughly 10 chapters giving more attention to groups such as francophones, Black Canadians, the LGBTQ community and Canadians with disabilities.

Chapter three will include a section on treaties and the Indian Act and more information on residential schools, like the physical and sexual abuse suffered by many students, and the fact that many children died there and were buried in unmarked graves.

These changes were being created with input from Indigenous stakeholders. In a February 2017 statement, the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship told CBC News broader consultations with a wider range of stakeholders were “to ensure the revised content of the Citizenship Study Guide is representative of Canadians, “including Indigenous Peoples.”