University under scrutiny over residential schools course taught by white prof
HALIFAX — A Halifax university is under fire for assigning a course about Canada’s residential schools to a non-Indigenous professor, something activists say undermines reconciliation efforts.
Mount Saint Vincent University is expected to offer the course, Selected Topics in North American History: Residential Schools, this fall.
The professor slated to teach the course has an expertise in Atlantic Canadian First Nations history, with a specialization in the historical experiences of 20th century Indigenous women, according to the school’s website.
Yet the decision to assign a “settler scholar” to teach the course has been slammed on social media as a kind of historical appropriation and reinforcement of the systemic oppression of First Nations.