The acclimation of historical thinking to the “northern spirit” of northern Canadian social studies curricula

Abstract

This article details our findings from the Thinking Historically for Canada’s Future project, wherein we conducted a descriptive survey of selected social studies curricula from the Canadian territories of the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. Examining documents published between 1996 and 2021, we sought evidence of the presence of second-order historical thinking concepts. We found that principles of historical thinking were being acclimated to purposes and pedagogies evident in five themes that characterize the history education in northern curricula: 1) history education as cultural reclamation; 2) reconciliation and resistance framings; 3) linear and cyclical models of time; 4) the role of non-human beings; and 5) student-centred, experiential learning. We provide empirical examples of how curriculum authors in Canada’s northern territories integrate tenets of Indigenous education, incorporating knowledges, languages and cultures relevant to northern communities, while nested in a curricular system grappling with colonial and Euro-Canadian roots and ongoing influences.