Is it dangerous to let the Aboriginals educate themselves?

In the wake of the #JusticePourJoyce movement, Samian anticipated the release of his Genocide clip scheduled for 2021. In his denunciation, he said: “Our leaders want status Indians because they are afraid of educated Indians.” In this great cry from the heart, the Métis student that I am heard her call to arms.

This fall, there are ten Aboriginal students at the Lanaudière regional cégep in Joliette. I’m part of. With a little luck, one of us will go to university and another will come out of CEGEP with a diploma. “The inequality of access and academic success between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals, clearly present throughout the school curriculum, is particularly marked in college and university studies (Statistics Canada, 2013). Again in 2020, Aboriginal students are under-represented and under-supported when they eventually access post-secondary education. It is as if it is dangerous to let a native educate himself.

Courage and determination

Too few in number, it is our duty, Aboriginal students, to roll up our sleeves, to help each other and above all to persevere.

It is with what we learn that we will be able to assert ourselves as a people, that we will be able to transmit our history and our culture. They are afraid of our courage and our determination, but let us use it to make a better world. We cannot rewrite history, but we can invent the rest. It’s up to us to make Art, music, literature or even poetry for our future generations.

Marie-Pier Beaunoyer

Métis from the Atikamekw community of Manawan