School yanks book over outdated term

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This article was published 05/10/2016 (3372 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg mom is upset her son, who is in Grade 2, was given a book to practise his reading that refers to “Indians” with illustrations that depict an aboriginal character wearing a headband with feathers.

“I don’t get how this book has been in the school this long and no one questioned it,” said Cara McDougall, whose husband and children, including seven-year-old Bryce, are Métis.

“It came from the classroom for home reading.”

The book — How Spider Saved Thanksgiving, by American children’s author Robert Kraus — was published in 1991. Bryce, who attends École George V School, brought it home Friday with another book to practise his reading. He was reading it aloud to his mother, who was stunned by the material.

“I shouldn’t be put in this position,” said McDougall. “He was reading it to me,” and when Bryce got to the part about the pilgrims and the Indians, she asked him to switch to the other book. “I said ‘That’s enough. Let’s read the other one,’” she said.

McDougall said she explained to her son “Indians” isn’t the right word to use for a North American indigenous person — that it’s “name-calling” and used to make fun of people.

“That’s mean,” her son told her. He returned to school with one book while his mother kept the offending book to show the media.

McDougall said she had volunteered at the school and helped cull old and inappropriate material from its book collection last year.

“I got rid of ones that are religious and stuff like this,” she said, referring to the book.

She’s not sure how it was overlooked.

‘We’ve taken a very forward step to remove books like this… It is really unusual and unfortunate’– Radean Carter, spokeswoman for the Winnipeg School Division, of How Spider Saved Thanksgiving (above)

A Winnipeg School Division spokeswoman said the school combed its collection and there was just one copy of How Spider Saved Thanksgiving.

“We work really hard to make sure all our books are culturally sensitive,” Radean Carter said.

“We’ve taken a very forward step to remove books like this,” she said. The book about the cartoon spider with a feather in its headband dressed up as an “Indian” for Thanksgiving apparently got missed.

“It is really unusual and unfortunate,” Carter said. “We took action immediately and made sure there are no other copies… We’re doing everything we can to prevent this.”

The Winnipeg Public Library has a “weeding policy” to get rid of unwanted material.

The policy’s aim is to create a collection that “reflects current and anticipated community needs,” and “outdated, inaccurate and duplicate materials” are removed. Books deemed to be “unsuitable” are recycled.

The Winnipeg School Division welcomes weeding advice when it comes to books in its schools, said Carter.

“We need everybody’s help,” she said. “If a parent sees something, let us know right away.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca