In a country like Canada, which takes pride in its multicultural population and deludes itself in believing we are a country which thinks progressively about race, we still have much to learn. It is not surprising since Canada was constructed and continues to be created through histories of colonialism, imperialism and capitalism, and these histories produced highly racialized discourses, ones that are still evident n the policies and practices of our country today. It is particularly evident in the educational systems and in the identities and pedagogical practices of the white teacher population. My thesis is primarily focused on white teachers and how racialized histories have effected their pedagogical styles. Since the educational system has a disproportionate amount of white teachers teaching an ever increasing diverse population, this is of immense importance.

Canada has attempted to alleviate the racial tensions within its borders by introducing policies that would address these issues. On October 8^th, 1971, the then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau declared Multiculturalism a cultural policy and this began an educational change, which brought multicultural teacher training and curriculum change to the forefront of social reform. Although Multiculturalism was a move forward, my contention with these changes is that they were directed towards the curriculum content and did not invest any interest in the deconstruction of white identities, and the investigation of power dynamics. This failure I believe has created a discourse within the multicultural curriculum which is still highly racist. It is the identities of white teachers, I believe, which is fundamental in the formulation of pedagogical techniques and practices. Without the exploration of whiteness, pedagogical techniques and practices will continue to be racist no matter what type of reform is introduced.

I have been highly discontented with the multicultural approach to education for some time and it was not until I came upon the newly emerging anti-racism education discourse that I began to see some promise. As a white gay man who is committed to issues of equity within education, I see Anti-racism education as challenging and attempting to solve some of the inequities and racist policies and practices in the present day multicultural educational system. My fear is that anti-racism education will in time develop into another form of multicultural education, with the same racist undertones, if whiteness is not explored. As a white teacher within the educational field, I am convinced that white teachers can not teach anti-racism education until they take on the challenge of deconstructing their White Canadian identities, and decolonize their minds from the racist historical legacy of imperialism, colonialism and capitalism.

How does a white teacher, join the anti-racism struggle for change without carrying our colonial, imperial, paternalist, liberal notions of race? How do we stop anti-racist education from becoming another form of Multiculturalism? These are important questions to ask and in bell hooks book Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, she refers to the process of decolonization of the mind which is essential for white teachers to begin in order to teach in an anti-racist pedagogy:

Even though hooks is speaking about black peoples’ struggle here, I feel white people also have to go through the process of decolonization in order to do anti-racist work. It is through this decolonizing process that white teachers need to explore histories of colonialism, imperialism and capitalism and how whiteness has been constructed. Without that process white people will continue to perpetuate systems of domination.

I define decolonization as the thinking critically about the self and our identity, it is to consider the social/ subject position of oneself in relation to your students, the school as an institution, and the community in which white teachers educate. "Unless [one] looks at what people already understand to be their learning about themselves and other people, any new information that [one] may provide is only going to reinforce their prejudices and be organized in the same way (Thomas, 1987). Decolonizing the mind involves an inward reflection by white teachers, it requires an unpacking of one’s identity and an analysis of how one’s conception of who they are effects the possibility of a critical anti-racist pedagogy. Decolonizing the mind also involves challenging white teachers’ common sense knowledge, allowing them and their students to partake in knowledges which are traditionally marginalized, beginning a shift in power within the classroom. Anti-racist teaching needs to engage difference and multiple ways of knowing in our world in order to advance the course of social knowledge (Dei, 1996, p.30).

One of the main problems with multicultural education is that teachers emphasize learning about the other, those that have been systematically excluded from the curriculum. This is not to say that multiple forms of knowledge and experiences should not be included in the curriculum, but only emphasizing the other allows white teachers and students to remain complacent in their participation in power and domination. In Michelle Fine’s paper Witnessing Whiteness, she stresses the importance for educators to turn from an analysis of minorities and the inequalities that they suffer, to whiteness, and the merit that it is awarded (Fine, 1997). This process I feel is a form of decolonization for both white teachers and students, this decolonization challenges the historical making of whiteness, particularly of white teachers and students, and it also challenges representations of non-white peoples. Fine’s conception of whiteness is based on a relational approach to blackness:

White teachers must challenge each others reasons for fighting racism, and they must insist that white people take the responsibility for confronting racism instead of relying on non-white peoples. This opens a space of critical pedagogy and challenges white teachers, and communities to transform power relations in terms of who makes decisions and who’s values, beliefs, and ideas which constitute the organizational norms are being reproduced. Unlike multiculturalism, anti-racism pedagogy requires a deep commitment from white educators to rethink themselves, their learnings, their environment, and their students. They must move beyond an identity of whiteness that relies on non-white bodies but one which creates an oppositional space to fight for equality and social justice.

My study I feel will help white teachers in this process of decolonization. I am attempting to uncover what it means to be white, Canadian and a teacher to create tools for Pre-service programs to use in the education of white teachers. In an ever diversifying population, we as educators need to implement educational reform that will take into account the needs of all students and communities. Anti-racism education may not be the answer, but it is a huge step forward in this process, and may need time to grow and change into an educational system which will deal with social inequalities. This study will only scratch the surface, but hopefully open a dialogue for white teachers to begin the journey of decolonization.