Several years ago, cultural commentators lamented the apparent death of Canadian history. Whatever the state of the subject in English-speaking Canadian schools, history has been alive and well in Québec for some time. The development of a new curriculum is testament to this fact - once the "Réforme" is in place, students in Québec schools will study more history than their counterparts in other provinces. But if history in Québec is healthy, it is also hotly contested. The recent release of a new Grade 7 and 8 world history and citizenship course raises interesting questions about why and how we teach history and citizenship, questions that educators in the rest of the country may also be facing in the years to come.

The prominence of history in Québec schools should come as no surprise – history has always had a special status in the province. Soon after arriving to Montréal from Ontario, I remarked to Jacques Lacoursière (the unofficial Dean of Québec history education) that the people of "la belle province" knew their history better than most English-speaking Canadians. No, he replied, the difference was that in Québec, "l'histoire est plus présente". He's right, of course - Quebecers of French origin are surrounded by reminders of their past. Their four hundred year presence in North America is commemorated in folk songs, stories, and place names. Even Québec license plates declare "Je me souviens" – "I remember". For a French-speaking people living in an English-speaking country in an increasingly English-speaking world, identity in the present is closely tied to memories of the past. And schools are an important avenue by which this identity can be sustained.

In Quebec, history is a mandatory subject until Grade 11. Within the curriculum as a whole, the Québec Education Program (QEP) highlights "Geography, History and Citizenship Education" as one of five core "Subject Areas". As the title indicates, the creators of the QEP consider teaching about one's past to be central to an understanding of one's civic identity in the present. The connection is not unique to Québec – educators across the country agree that, while students can learn to become good citizens in a variety of contexts, history can play a special role in providing young people with a sense of place in the world.

The consensus begins to break down, however, when educators start to define "citizenship". What do we mean by this word? Answers abound in Canada, with varying emphases on what we hold in common as members of a shared community versus the diversity of our identities. The recent release of "History and Citizenship Education", a course that will be taught in Québec through Secondary Cycle 1 (Grades 7 and 8 in other provinces) provides insight into "citizenship" as defined by the QEP.

The course is no cakewalk – citizenship evidently involves some hard work. A world history, with an emphasis on the development of "the West", it begins with sedentarization and the organization of societies, and winds its way to the present-day. Course modules include, among other topics, political life in Athens in 500 B.C.E., the rise of the Roman Empire, the Christianization of the West and the growth of cities in the Middle Ages. In each case, developments in other parts of the world are considered: when it comes to the medieval period, teachers are reminded that "it is important for students to realize that urban growth and the expansion of trade also characterized some non-European cities in the same period: Baghdad or Constantinople or Timbuktu." ¹ At each step, the history of people outside of "the West" is recognized in parallel to the main story.

By focusing on the history of the Western world, and then making reference to corresponding examples, the curriculum writers have attempted to create a historically informed citizenship that will meet the challenges facing contemporary Québec society: "to reconcile shared membership in a community with the diversity of identities." ² Students are taught, via a world history, that "they are part of a historical continuum, and that the values and principles associated with democracy evolved over time." ³ In the case of the Middle Ages, the rise of a merchant class led to the growth of European cities and the expansion of trade. Students are reminded that these developments occurred in Baghdad as well. The underlying principle is one of mutual respect and understanding.

But will a citizenship that is built around a "respect" for difference be enough for the challenges of 2010 and beyond? In cities such as Montreal, international migration is resulting in increasing diversification of the population, with a concomitant loss of a common historical identity. As McGill philosopher Charles Taylor has pointed out, adding to the dissolution of a common identity is increasing differentiation within the population. With the rise of feminism, to cite just one example, unity on political issues has faded, replaced by an increased diversity of opinion. We are witnessing the rise of what Taylor calls a "diasporic consciousness." As a result, "people now live in imagined spaces, spaces where they see themselves situated within a certain society and more and more of these spaces straddle borders and other boundaries." ⁴ A society such as this requires a sense of citizenship in which differences are not just respected, but valued. According to Taylor, our differences will make us stronger and more resilient in an increasingly "globalized" age.

Returning to the history of the Middle Ages, I suggest that it would be better for both history and citizenship if Baghdad were treated as more than an example of similar events. "elsewhere" – I would like to see the history of Baghdad taken seriously on its own. And students could go further, and examine how the contributions of people in this city were central to developments in the "Western" world. Translations by scholars in Baghdad made the writings of ancients such as Aristotle available to intellectuals in Europe. In this way, the expansion of culture in Baghdad played a central role in the rebirth of culture in "the West", helping to bring about nothing less than the Renaissance. Teaching the Middle Ages along these lines would bring the history of Baghdad away from the periphery and towards the centre. At the same time, it would provide opportunities for Iraqi immigrants to Canada to be included in the story. A world history course taught in this manner would promote a citizenship that went beyond respecting difference, to valuing diversity. Just as Baghdad helped bring about a renaissance in Europe, so too might immigrants from Iraq work together with Quebecers to build a better society, open to the world and all that it offers. In this diversity lies our future strength.

Will we take advantage of opportunities to make these parallel stories a part of the main story? The curriculum writers have taken a step in the right direction by including the history of the world outside of the West. Now we must wait and see how much teacher in-service, time in the school schedule, and resources from the education budget are made available. And we must remember that, in the end, the kinds of history and citizenship that will be taught in Quebec classrooms will be determined by teachers in the classroom. We have reason to be hopeful.

¹Québec Education Program Approved Version, Secondary Education Cycle One, Social Sciences: History and Citizenship Education, 28.
²Ibid., 16.
³Ibid.
⁴Charles Taylor, "Globalization and the future of Canada," Queen's Quarterly 105:3 (1998), 332.

Quebec Report