Cognitive Imperialism In Canada

Aboriginal peoples throughout the world have survived five centuries of the horrors of colonization and genocide. Today, they are emerging with new consciousness and vision. In Canada the old colonial order and its obsession with assimilation of Aboriginal peoples has been replaced by a new constitutional order that respects Aboriginal rights. The Supreme Court of Canada is now actively seeking to achieve the noble constitutional goal of preserving the integral and defining features of distinctive Aboriginal societies (Queen v. Coté, 1996, p.48). The Supreme Court has affirmed that the teaching of Aboriginal rights is a constitutional right in the new order. Chief Justice Lamer has declared:
In the Aboriginal tradition, societal practices and
However, this struggle has made it evident that there is no familiar political, social, and educational construct that is adequate to describe or evaluate their vision of cultural restoration. Aboriginal scholars and educators are beginning to think about ways in which Canadian education can be decolonized and transformed. Through this initiative, I believe that as future teachers we can help by doing our part in creating equality of Aboriginal languages and knowledge through our practice, thus making it a trademark of the next century.
In this article I seek to explore the existing obstacles to this vision. I begin with the nature of Indigenous language and knowledge. I then examine the role of cognitive imperialism in the education of Aboriginal children and the required process of decolonization and transforming knowledge in Canadian education and our role as future teachers in this process.
Indigenous Languages and
Aboriginal languages provide long-lasting direct and powerful means of understanding the legacy of knowledge surrounding all aspects of Aboriginal life. Through sharing a language Aboriginal people have created a shared belief of how the world works. The sharing of these common ideals has created a collective and interconnected cognitive experience that links both the generations of the past and the generations of the future. In my research, I have found that Aboriginal knowledge extends beyond the awareness of the immediate sensible world of perception, memory, imagination, and feeling. Aboriginal people not only concern themselves with the present, but the past and future play equal roles in their lives. Eli Taylor, an elder from the Sioux Valley First Nations, eloquently explains the importance of maintaining Aboriginal languages and knowledge:
Our Native language embodies a value system about how we ought to live and relate to each other…It gives a name to relations among kin, to roles and responsibilities among family members, to ties with the broader clan group…There are no English words for these relationships…Now, if you destroy our languages you not only break down these relationships, but you also destroy other aspects of our Indian way of life and culture, especially those that describe man’s connection