A couple of excerpts:

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................................................................ I
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................... 1
1. POLICIES AND PRINCIPLES ..................................................................................... 5
2. CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION....................................................................................... 7
Provinces and territories ......................................................................................... 8
Government of Canada ......................................................................................... 27
3. PEACE, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND GLOBAL EDUCATION ............................................ 32
3.1 Peace education ....................................................................................... 32
Government of Canada ......................................................................................... 33
Canadian universities and colleges ....................................................................... 34
Non-governmental organizations.......................................................................... 37
3.2 Human rights education......................................................................... 40
Provinces and territories ....................................................................................... 40
Government of Canada ......................................................................................... 52
Canadian universities ............................................................................................ 60
Non-Governmental Organizations ........................................................................ 61
3.3 Global education ..................................................................................... 64
4. THE ATMOSPHERE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS........................................... 68
4.1 Promoting tolerance, respect for human rights, democracy, and
learning about the diversity and wealth of cultural identities ............ 68
Provinces and territories ....................................................................................... 68
4.2 Addressing school violence..................................................................... 73
Provinces and territories ....................................................................................... 73
Government of Canada ......................................................................................... 79
Other initiatives..................................................................................................... 80
5. EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS .................................................................................. 81
Provinces and territories ....................................................................................... 81
6. TEACHER TRAINING ............................................................................................. 85
Provinces and territories ....................................................................................... 85
Government of Canada ......................................................................................... 90
7. EDUCATION OF VULNERABLE GROUPS................................................................. 91
Provinces and territories ....................................................................................... 91
Government of Canada ....................................................................................... 102
8. EDUCATION BY, FOR, AND ABOUT ABORIGINAL PEOPLES IN CANADA............. 103
Provinces and territories ..................................................................................... 103
Government of Canada ....................................................................................... 117
Aboriginal people’s organizations ...................................................................... 119
9. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................ 123
Provinces and territories ..................................................................................... 123
Government of Canada ....................................................................................... 128
Teachers’ organizations ...................................................................................... 129
Non-governmental organizations........................................................................ 129
10. UNESCO’S ASSOCIATED SCHOOLS PROJECT NETWORK, UNESCO CHAIRS,
CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS ................................................................................ 131
11. LESSONS LEARNED............................................................................................. 133
REFERENCES................................................................................................................... 134
APPENDIX I ..................................................................................................................... 138

Executive Summary

Introduction

This report is Canada’s response to the request of the Director-General of UNESCO for
information on steps taken by the member States to apply the Declaration and the
Integrated Framework of Action on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy
adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO in 1995.

Overview

The 1995 Declaration and the Integrated Framework of Action on Education for Peace,
Human Rights and Democracy are not well known in Canada, but the principles they
express are important elements of education policy, both in formal school systems and in
many areas of non-formal education. Despite many pressures for a “back to basics” style
of education in Canada’s formal education systems, policy-makers, researchers, and
teachers continue to develop citizenship education curricula and to integrate peace,
human rights, and global education into school programs. There has also been growth in
postsecondary and non-formal education in these fields.
During the period under study, the most noticeable trend has been a much higher level of
integration of the themes of peace, democracy, human rights, international understanding,
and tolerance in both formal and non-formal education programs.

Highlights

•Citizenship education is the subject of considerable renewed interest in Canada.
Ministries of Education in several provinces and territories are developing new
curricula in this field. Policy-makers, researchers, and educators are exploring the
meaning of active citizenship in a country of considerable ethnic, linguistic, and
geographic diversity that is, at the same time, open to the multiple influences of
the rest of the world.
•Peace education has received support from the federal government’s Canadian
Peacebuilding Initiative. It provides support for several educational initiatives
designed to promote conflict resolution and a culture of peace.
•The Ontario Human Rights Commission has developed “Teaching Human Rights
in Ontario” (THRIO), an educational package for use by teachers in Ontario
schools to teach students about the provisions of the Ontario Human Rights Code
and the work of the Commission. Released in 1995, the package was reviewed
for use in Ontario schools and has been endorsed by the Ministry of Education.
•Several Canadian universities have launched new academic programs in human
rights.
•Cégep international is an organization of 22 Quebec colleges that promotes
international activities and works toward the internationalization of the
curriculum. The college-level project, “Éducation à la citoyenneté dans uneii
perspective planétaire” (ECPP), focuses on introducing curriculum and training
content in the areas of international understanding and solidarity, peace
education, rights and democracy education, environmental and sustainable
development education, and intercultural education. This program is currently
being voluntarily implemented in 14 colleges.
•Public concern over the issue of school safety has been increasing. Governments,
departments of education, school boards, and individual schools have been under
pressure to address actual and anticipated violence in schools. This has evoked an
array of responses across the country. In Nova Scotia, the League of Peaceful
Schools has developed an effective Peer Mediation Program for non-violent
conflict resolution. In Alberta, the provincial government has implemented the
Safe and Caring Schools (SACS) initiative to promote safe and caring learning
and teaching environments in Alberta schools. A number of projects are currently
operating as part of this initiative, including the Alberta Teachers’ Association’s
SACS Project, a comprehensive violence-prevention endeavour designed to
encourage socially responsible and respectful behaviour.
•There are many interesting examples across Canada of efforts to respond to the
needs of vulnerable groups, including those with handicaps as well as children
and youth at risk because of socio-economic factors. British Columbia’s
extensive distance education services and open learning systems are exemplary,
as is Saskatchewan’s program of integrated services for children and youth at
risk.
•The Government of Canada has made a formal Statement of Reconciliation to
Aboriginal peoples for the history of abuse in the Residential Schools system. It
is implementing a plan to transfer authority for education to First Nations
communities and to respond to the needs of Aboriginal youth through a variety of
other programs, including multi-purpose urban Aboriginal youth centres to
provide career planning, employment opportunities, and recreational activity in a
supportive, culturally relevant environment.
•The Pan-Canadian Education Research Agenda (PCERA) was initiated by the
Canadian Education Statistics Council (CESC), a partnership of Statistics Canada
and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC). As a joint federal-provincial
initiative to promote research on education policy issues, PCERA has
identified citizenship and social cohesion, diversity and equity, Aboriginal
education, and special-needs programming among its highest research priorities.
•Resources and information about education for peace, human rights, democracy,
international understanding, and tolerance in Canada are now widely accessible
on the Internet.

Conclusions

The principles of the Declaration and the Integrated Framework of Action on Education
for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy have been well received and widely applied in
Canada. Many educators already had considerable experience working with these
principles before 1995. Canadians increasingly see all of these areas as aspects of a
general effort in education for democratic values.
Considering the importance of the principles of the Declaration and the Integrated
Framework to ongoing debates about educational priorities in Canada, it would be
beneficial to have them produced and disseminated in popular forms that make them
more accessible.
In the year and decade for building a Culture of Peace, some see a need in Canada for
more systematic linkages between programs offered by members of the United Nations
family that address various aspects of this common theme, including the United Nations
Association in Canada, the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, and UNICEF. This
would enable them to secure a more comprehensive level of cooperation and engagement
from Canada’s education systems.

 

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11. Lessons Learned