Indigenous voices in Red Deer remain concerned over controversial curriculum panel member
As school divisions across Canada mark Orange Shirt Day on Wednesday, Indigenous voices continue to call for the removal of a controversial appointee to the provincial government’s social studies curriculum review panel.
Dr. Chris Champion is a former policy adviser for the ministry of national defence under Stephen Harper and former colleague of Jason Kenney’s in the Canadian Alliance Party. He was appointed to the panel along with seven others in August.
His appointment received backlash after it was reported Champion had previously written that the inclusion of First Nations’ perspectives in education is a fad, and that the blanket exercise brainwashes children.
Created in 2013, Orange Shirt Day was inspired by residential school survivor Phyllis Jack Webstad, whose orange shirt – a gift from her grandmother – was confiscated on her first day at the school when she was six.