The Toronto Star recently highlighted a new Grade 11 English Course that is being introduced to high schools across the Toronto District School Board. The “Understanding Contemporary First Nations, Métis and Inuit Voices” course fulfils the mandatory English credit requirement while drawing on poetry, novels, and films by Indigenous creators such as Tanya Talaga and Duke Redbird. “As someone who has Indigenous heritage, it’s so important to hear these voices in the classroom to help understand who you are, to give your own life context and your family’s history context,” said Tobie Loukes, a teacher at the Kapapamahchakwew — Wandering Spirit School. The Toronto Star reports that the new class will be offered at all 114 TDSB high schools by the end of the academic year, and the school board intends to make the course mandatory for all students in the future.
