Founder of the Saint John Black Lives Matter Movement, Matthew Martin. (Photo: Ben Burnett)
A Saint John group says it’s working with the government to introduce a Black history curriculum into provincial schools.
The Saint John Black Lives Matter Movement has met with several provincial politicians over the past few weeks, including Premier Blaine Higgs and Education Minister Dominic Cardy.
The group’s founder, Matthew Martin, said it didn’t take long for Cardy to agree to their request to add Black history to the province’s curriculum.
“As soon as I said ‘we need to have New Brunswick’s Black history in our educational system,’ (Cardy responded) ‘Absolutely! Let’s get it done,'” Martin said.
Now, the group is planning meetings with local historians and continuing research in order to help develop the curriculum.
The province has a rich Black history to pull from. Martin names Elm Hill, the Black loyalist settlement, and the Black settlement burial ground in Willow Grove.
He also lists the Tomlinson Lake Freedom Trail near Perth-Andover, which was an area used as an end-point for the Underground Railroad.
“Everybody knows about the Underground Railroad, but they might not realize Tomlinson Lake is about a three-hour drive from Saint John,” Martin said. “To see that it’s here, in Canada, and in New Brunswick, that’s so cool.”
Martin says the Saint John Black Lives Matter Movement team has been working diligently since holding a rally in King’s Square last month.
“We want to push for zero-tolerance policies for racism within our school systems, our workplaces, extra-curricular activities,” he said.
The group is also working to find a spot for a mural to commemorate Black history in Saint John.
The Saint John Black Lives Matter Movement just announced on Facebook they met with N.B. Minister of Education Dominic Cardy, and are now working to create a curriculum to teach N.B. Black history in schools. pic.twitter.com/CFor0Erbrm
— Ben Burnett (@bunbronett) July 25, 2020
