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An education program called Energy IQ created by Canadian Geographic for high-school students has drawn fire from some of those students because it was partly sponsored by an oil industry group, but a spokesman for the program says there is no effort to insert a corporate viewpoint into Canadian classrooms.
"When people talk about things we have left off of the program or the map – the program and the map have always been intended to be an accurate snapshot of the energy mix today," Gilles Gagnier, vice-president of content creation with Canadian Geographic, said Friday in an interview.
Mr. Gagnier was responding to concerns raised in an open letter from two Vancouver students who described Energy IQ – developed by Canadian Geographic with funding from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers - as "propaganda" that appears to be "highly focused on the oil and gas industry, yet it is presented as something that deals with all possible types of energy."
The letter, posted on the Powershift.ca web site, has drawn several hundred signatures in support of its position.
Sophie Yamauchi, one of the students who wrote the letter, says she is aware of Canadian Geographic's statements that it retained editorial control but still has concerns about the content of the program, including a lack of information about environmental and First Nations issues in relation to energy production.
"Anyone who knows anything about Canada's resources knows that there are two sides to it – and there is only one side being presented. And it's being glorified, too," said Ms. Yamauchi, a Grade 12 student at Windemere Secondary in Vancouver.
Energy IQ includes several components, including an 11-metre by 8-metre floor map that includes current power generating sites in Canada.
That means the map is heavily weighted to crude oil, at 44 per cent, and natural gas, at 37 per cent natural gas while renewables including wind, solar and tidal power together account for less than one per cent.
Teachers can apply to use the package, which is loaned to users for several weeks at a time. Other materials – some of which have yet to be posted and will be rolled out in 2014 – include lesson plans, including one on renewable energy.
CAPP approached Canadian Geographic about the project, but the magazine and its education division, which has operated for more than a decade, was already interested in tackling energy as a topic, Mr. Gagnier said.
"We are concerned as an organization with geographic literacy. When it comes to understanding energy – if it's not the number-one geographic issue facing us as Canadians, it is in the top three," he said, adding that other comparable issues are water and food security.
The program – prepared by teachers who work in-house at Canadian Geographic – is designed to work with provincial curriculum guidelines, but individual teachers choose how to use it.
"We show them where we think the curriculum links are. Curriculum links in energy literacy are particularly higher grades, high school. But if a Grade Four class wants to take the map to teach the concept at a simpler level, we trust the teachers…will find the best way to make the material work for them," Mr. Gagnier said.
A CAPP spokeswoman said it preferred to leave comment on the program to Canadian Geographic but noted that CAPP has supported other educational initiatives.
Christine Todd, a teacher at the Duncan Cran Elementary School in Fort St. John, had been involved in the Canadian Geographic Energy Diet Challenge for the past two years and thought the Energy IQ program would be a good follow-up.
Ms. Todd even held an open house at the school to allow parents to see and discuss the floor map. Asked about the industry sponsorship, she said she was not concerned by it, comparing it to corporate sponsorship of sports teams or activities.
"I was happy that someone was paying $10,000 to make that map that otherwise I would never be able to access," Ms. Todd said.
Canadian Geographic is working on a response that will address some of the points raised in the students' recent letter but says it welcomes the discussion.
"We might want to set the record straight on a couple of things," Mr. Gagnier said. "So while we feel we have to write a response, we are happy the conversation is happening."
Wendy Stueck