The philosophy of the CAAS is that the wisdom already exists - in
the minds of Indigenous educators and others trained by them - to
deliver quality Aboriginal Studies to all students across Canada.
Over the past decade more and more of this wisdom has been captured
in mass media or one kind or another so that learners and teachers
can benefit from it, even if they are geographically a long way
away.
As
we view it, the work of the CAAS is to find ways to link classroom
teachers with this wisdom. This will support teachers to be more
confident and effective because they will know they are using valid,
accurate curriculum materials and other resources. We have taken,
and are taking, several steps to expedite these connections.
- Learning
About Walking in Beauty: Placing Aboriginal Perspectives in Canadian
Classrooms
is
our initial research project. It was released in both a brief
"Highlights" document and a major report format (in
several sections) and is fully downloadable from the website of
the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.
Just scroll down on their main page and click on the document
or part of the document. you want to download. For this, you will
need to be able to "read" a .pdf file, and
you
can get the Adobe Acrobat Reader free.
- In
this area of our site you will find some of the resources we have
compiled thus far.
- Eventually,
we hope to begin to establish some local and regional network
Sharing Circles, so check in for that at
Regional
CAAS Networks.
- We
now have a LISTSERV for our members and supporters, to carry out
networking and discussions online. Click on CAAS
Sharing Circle to find out more.
- If
you can contribute a recommended speaker, video, text, curriculum
unit, website, or anything else, to Making Connections, please
send it in to caas@edu.yorku.ca.
We want this section to be loaded with exemplary resources of
all kinds.
We
are sorry to report that the educational potential of the Final
Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples,
which used to be online at the UBC site AND fully searchable as
well, is no longer available on your computer monitor. We hope this
will be rectified soon. "Hope" is the operative word here,
because it seems that certain forces in Canadian society would like
to bury the RCAP Report as deep and far away as possible. We urge
you to check your local library for this peerless resource.
updated
April 4, 2005 Robin Fielding, webmistress
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