First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Studies (2019)

Citizenship education is an important facet of students’ overall education. In the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit studies curriculum, students are given opportunities to learn about what it means to be a responsible, active citizen in the community of the classroom and the diverse communities to which they belong within and outside the school. It is important for students to understand that they belong to many communities and that, ultimately, they are all citizens of the global community.

All subjects in the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit studies curriculum provide multiple opportunities to incorporate aspects of citizenship education, with particular consideration given to concepts of importance to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities, including, but not limited to, reciprocity, reconciliation, justice, and truth.

This diagram presents a framework for citizenship education. (See below for the same information in tabular form.) In this figure:

• the outer circle lists the four main elements of citizenship education – active participation, identity, attributes, and structures – and describes each element;
• the second circle outlines ways in which students may develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes associated with responsible citizenship. Teachers should ensure that students have opportunities to develop these attitudes, understandings, and practices as they work to achieve the expectations in the subjects that make up the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit studies curriculum (and those in other subjects as well);
• the innermost circle lists various terms and topics that are related to citizenship education. Teachers may focus on these terms/topics when making connections between citizenship education and expectations in the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit studies curriculum – in particular terms such as “truth”, “reciprocity”, and “reconciliation” – as well as expectations in other curriculum documents. In the figure, each term/topic in the innermost circle is connected to a specific element within the framework. However, it is important to note that, in practice, a term can be applied to more than one element – as the dotted lines imply – and that a number of terms may be woven together in a unit that incorporates citizenship education.