Exposing the history of racism in Canada’s classrooms

Winner of the prestigious Clio-Quebec, Lionel-Groulx, and Canadian History of Education Association awards

In School of Racism, Catherine Larochelle demonstrates how Quebec’s school system has, from its inception and for decades, taught and endorsed colonial domination and racism. This English translation extends its crucial lesson to readers worldwide, bridging English- and French-Canadian histories to deliver a better understanding of Canada’s past and present identity.

Guided by postcolonial, antiracist, and feminist theories and methodologies, Larochelle examines late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century classroom materials used in Quebec’s public and private schools. Many of these materials made their way into curricula across the country and contained textual and visual representations that constructed Indigenous, Black, Arab, and Asian peoples as “the Other” while reinforcing the collective identity of Quebec, and Canada more broadly, as white.

School of Racism uncovers the ways Canada’s education system has supported and sustained ideologies of white supremacy—ideologies so deeply embedded that they still linger in school texts and programming today. Offering insights into how concepts of nationalism and racism overlap, Larochelle’s innovative analysis helps educators confront discrimination in their classrooms and furthers discussions about race and colonialism in Canada.

Catherine Larochelle is a professor of history at the Université de Montréal and a member of HistoireEngagée.ca’s editorial board. She is the co-host of the podcast is Persistance coloniale and is interested in the different ways history is written and disseminated in Quebec.

Catherine Larochelle's profile page

S.E. Stewart has translated poetry, plays, film scripts and fiction, as well as various non-fiction texts on literary, performing, visual and media arts. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and studied translation at the Université Laval.

S.E. Stewart's profile page

• Short-listed, Wilson Institute Book Prize

"School of Racism traces the history of racial conceptualization from a pedagogical standpoint and illuminates how knowledge systems implicitly and explicitly construct race to maintain the Canadian state."

JACANZS

"The elixir to combating racism, in a very Murray-Sinclair-esque way, is through education. Larochelle sees contemporary public education as a means to bring people together, expose children to deep thinking, empathy and ethical reasoning. A tremendous repurposing, then, of public education and a reason to support it, now more than ever—a call to action for all teachers."

Winnipeg Free Press