Canadian Cultural Mosaic Foundation
Canadian Cultural Mosaic Foundation (CCMF) is an award-winning not-for-profit organization run by committed volunteer Millennials and Gen Z. We work to improve race relations in Canada by creating cultural understanding through education, technology and arts. Being on the forefront of advocacy our foundation often works with ethnic communities on programming. Our Board of Directors lead the direction of our organization and team members lead projects. Learn more about us.
Culture Commons
The idea behind Culture Commons started in 2016 when a group of volunteers with the Canadian Cultural Mosaic Foundation decided to try to make their own systemic changes within education. It followed the research study (mentioned below) to find out the needs of Albertan teachers. This resource hub is created for and by K-12 teachers in Alberta who seek to disrupt systematic racism within classrooms, by promoting an anti-racist, multicultural, equity and inclusivity based lens in their practice.
This hub is a pilot project for Alberta, but our goal is to make it Canada-wide. We ask provincial educational associations and governments to help make this a reality.
This hub is a pilot project for Alberta, but our goal is to make it Canada-wide. We ask provincial educational associations and governments to help make this a reality.
Our research study:
A Long Way To Go, Educators Perspectives of Multiculturalism and Racism in Alberta K-12 Classrooms
Racism creates a ripple effect of exceedingly detrimental impacts to individuals, communities, and the collective wellbeing of any given geographical or social region as a whole. Though all who experience racism are subject its negative and harmful effects, children are especially vulnerable to the consequences. Racism exists in many forms, including racially or culturally-based prejudice, discrimination, bias, stereotyping, or violence. In order to gauge the level of racism that school-aged children experience in Alberta, as well as assess teacher preparedness with regards to teaching multiculturalism in classrooms, we conducted a research project and subsequent report outlining the issues. The report examines race relations in K-12 classrooms throughout urban and rural Alberta, and measures teacher knowledge and preparedness in the context of educating students on multiculturalism and racism.
From August 2017 to June 2018, teachers were contacted in person and online to complete an anonymous survey that answered various questions related to the research topic. Teachers were also given the opportunity to elaborate on their responses through comments on the online questionnaire, as well as through in person interviews. The researchers received 150 responses that were later used for the purposes of data analysis and to compose a research report that was released to the public on July 22, 2019. Another purpose of the research was for the foundation to examine if there is a need to develop a K-12 resource hub that teachers could utilize in order to teach multiculturalism, anti-racism, and inclusion to their classrooms in the future.
Within the results, half of respondents surveyed answered that students at their schools do engage in racism. This result is significant as it supports the idea that racism is still a considerable problem in Alberta that impacts children and youth, whose brains, personalities, and identities are still developing. Further research results are outlined in the report.
It is hoped that our research results will raise awareness about the magnitude of the issues discussed, and that further steps will be taken in order to address racism among school-aged children, including future research and systemic changes.
From August 2017 to June 2018, teachers were contacted in person and online to complete an anonymous survey that answered various questions related to the research topic. Teachers were also given the opportunity to elaborate on their responses through comments on the online questionnaire, as well as through in person interviews. The researchers received 150 responses that were later used for the purposes of data analysis and to compose a research report that was released to the public on July 22, 2019. Another purpose of the research was for the foundation to examine if there is a need to develop a K-12 resource hub that teachers could utilize in order to teach multiculturalism, anti-racism, and inclusion to their classrooms in the future.
Within the results, half of respondents surveyed answered that students at their schools do engage in racism. This result is significant as it supports the idea that racism is still a considerable problem in Alberta that impacts children and youth, whose brains, personalities, and identities are still developing. Further research results are outlined in the report.
It is hoped that our research results will raise awareness about the magnitude of the issues discussed, and that further steps will be taken in order to address racism among school-aged children, including future research and systemic changes.
