Canadian colonialism, ignorance and education. A study of graduating students at Queen's University

Abstract

Canada has long been a colonial country and an extractive economy. In the 20th century, with the adoption of multiculturalism and a global peace keeping mission, the country seemed to embrace a new ethos. However, Canada remains deeply colonial and, in spite of a judiciary that since the repatriation of the Constitution in 1982, increasingly recognizes Indigenous land, resource and identity rights, its economy continues to be extractive, with abiding impacts on the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island (North America). Our study of the knowledge, ignorance and social attitudes of exiting undergraduate students at Queen's University suggests that students in this part of Canada (Ontario) are educated to misunderstand the fundamental geographies of Indigenous peoples, their land, and their identity. But the contradiction between image and reality is beginning to attract the students' attention and disrupt their sense of being part of a just society.