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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Indigenous Canada by University of Alberta

4.8
stars
21,725 ratings

About the Course

Indigenous Canada is a 12-lesson Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) from the Faculty of Native Studies that explores the different histories and contemporary perspectives of Indigenous peoples living in Canada. From an Indigenous perspective, this course explores complex experiences Indigenous peoples face today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations. Topics for the 12 lessons include the fur trade and other exchange relationships, land claims and environmental impacts, legal systems and rights, political conflicts and alliances, Indigenous political activism, and contemporary Indigenous life, art and its expressions....

Top reviews

MD

Jul 2, 2021

This course was very interesting and very informative. Not only did it help correct stereotypes or prejudices, it showed a wide range of subjects pertaining to global and specific Indigenous cultures.

LJ

May 5, 2022

I really enjoyed this course. I liked that it was taught by indigenous peoples from their perspective. I feel much more confident in my knowledge regarding indigenous issues and traditions. Thank you!

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451 - 475 of 7,644 Reviews for Indigenous Canada

By Maureen S

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Oct 16, 2020

Excellent course. I learned a tremendous amount and now have a list of resources to pursue as I go forward learning more about Indigenous Canada. The presenters were professional and articulate and presented the material in bite sized chunks that were easy to grasp. The accountability of taking a quiz at the end of each module was an effective way to consolidate knowledge. I was able to review and retake the quizzes and noted that the questions could change making sure that I was paying attention to what was asked. This should be required viewing for every Canadian and would be an excellent resources for schools as a learning tool. Thank you.

By Alex D

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Sep 14, 2021

This was so well presented, informative and illuminating. I think all Federal and Local government employees should have this as a mandatory course as part of their training and conditions of employment. As a British settler who has lived in Canada for 30 years I knew so little, was ignorant of the real history of this country and I learned more in this 12 weeks than in 30 years of living here on Turtle Island. It was thought provoking, moving, enlightening, and full of factual data and research. I certainly felt I could carry on from this jumping off point to learn more and am highly recommending it to all my friends, colleagues and family.

By Carolyn F

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May 17, 2021

I truly felt a huge personal gap in understanding the history and journey of the Indigenous people in this country. This course did not disappoint. It has challenged me to think differently about my own personal actions and language and to become more of an advocate for respect and the decolonization of Indigenous life. I have already started to think differently about how this applies to my career and to my role as a parent. Thank you for making this available! I will highly recommend this course!

(PS- I am from Hamilton, ON and learned recently that Tracy Bear will be joining the faculty at McMaster University! How lucky for my hometown!)

By Jesmina B

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Feb 1, 2021

Indigenous Canada is a shocking wake-up call to its students, most specifically Canadians who were not taught about this significant history in our schools. I understand this now more than ever and hope this and other Indigenous courses become part of k-12 learning. As a Metis woman, I am honoured to be a daughter of Canada's Indigenous Peoples, as I continue to learn about my heritage. I am excited to share this course with everyone I know. It is heart breaking to see in detail how, from settlers to today's non Indigenous executives, have and continue to treat the very people who are spiritually connected to our land, water and creatures.

By Holly W

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Aug 30, 2021

The information in this course really helped me understand more about the history of colonialism and it's devastating toll on the Indigenous people. They welcomed Europeans, willing to share their knowledge, culture, and land, but instead were manipulated and decimated by white settlers. The course not only outlines the history, but also brings us up to date with how Indigenous people are reclaiming their rights, culture, and personhood. I am very grateful for the 3 First Nations people who facilitated the lectures, as well as the speakers who shared their personal insights. The course was delivered in a meaningful, thought provoking way.

By Marsha M

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Jun 13, 2021

Very informative course. Lots of reflect upon and process. There is a necessary level of discomfort that I and other settlers must sit with as we navigate the couse and learn about the past and present impact of colonization. This is part of our history and it should be taught. I am committed to sit with the discomfort, to do the work and to be an ally. As an educator, I wish a version of this course could be adapted for our elementary and secondary students - as our history programs remain to be told from the white-settler perspective. Thank you for making this course accessible for me and others who want to and who need to learn more.

By Carol M

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May 13, 2021

My only criticism of this course (which is generally excellent!) is that it states in the discussion of residential schools that there were none in PEI, NB, or Newfoundland. I can't speak to NB or PEI as I'm not familiar enough with those provinces' history, but there were in fact residential schools in NL - 1 on the island and 4 in Labrador. They weren't part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (as the schools pre-dated NL joining Canada and the Canadian government argued they had no responsibility), but they were recognized later with an apology from the federal government to survivors and (eventually) a class-action settlement.

By Carrie R

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Sep 26, 2021

I can't thank the staff and faculty for providing this thought provoking course and allowing many of us to be educated on such an important aspect of history in our society. My mind was filled with correct facts and knowledge about the history of the Indigenous culture and how it was shaped. I looked forward each week to what new and interesting teachings I would be receiving from Scholars, speakers, video and paintings. I really appreciated Leah Dorian's paintings at the end of each weeks course lesson. Nice way to tie in the information we were hearing or reading about. To see it on canvas was amazing and brought the stories to life!!

By Kirstin D

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Sep 6, 2021

This course has been a revelation, though if I were more aware and engaged in the history of Canada it wouldn't be such a revelation. The course material was well presented in multiple learner formats, from video presentations to full course notes, art and additional material links. Sometimes the in-video questions were presented ahead of the material so that it was impossible to know the answer (this happened twice). I appreciated the encouraging pop-up messages that reminded me about scheduling learning times each week. As a "mature student" who has been out of intense study and test-taking for many years, this course challenged me!

By Stacey S

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Aug 10, 2021

This course was very eye opening for me personally! Having a child of being half Indigenous, he was raised in a "white" home environment, so unfortunately, him, I and the rest of my family never knew the full extent of history and continued behaviors of how children/people have been treated terribly. I feel more people need to take this course and how valuable it is our community and society to move forward with showing compassion especially with all the Residential School's of unmarked graves and the most of all the survivors dealing with this tragedy...so awful and I feel for all the people! My heart goes out to you ALL! Thank you.

By Joseph G L

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Nov 14, 2020

This was an excellent course, easy to comprehend and the course content flowed nicely from one module to the next. Most importantly though, I learned so much. The key to reconciliation and understanding is education, and unfortunately, most Canadians know very little of the rich heritage and culture of our First Nations, Inuit and Metis people. I will certainly spread the word among friends and colleagues that Indigenous Canada is a course they should thoughtfully consider. Personally, I plan to learn more through additional reading and research.

My sincere thanks to the Native Studies Faculty, University of Alberta.

Joe Latour.

By Konrad L

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May 20, 2022

Amazing course. Not only rich in knowledge presented from the often marginalzied viewpoints of the First Nations, but what's important the knowledge is presented in many different appealing forms including but not limited to: interviews, visualisations, animations, sketches etc. Much as I understand that some of the opinions presented in the course can be considered contentious I really appreciate the amount of effort, care and knowledge that was put in creating this course. In my opinion this is a model coursera course or rather should serve as a model that unfortunately rather few institutions present on the platform try to much.

By Julia C

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Nov 14, 2020

I want to thank Dan Levy for getting on Twitter to promote this course otherwise I might never have known about it. This course is interesting, sometimes disturbing (esp. learning about Residential Schools) but always fascinating. There were a number of historical facts that I had never learned during my school years. I've learned how to better understand events across Canada that I read about in the news, such as the lobster fishery disputes in Nova Scotia and land issues in Caledonia.

More importantly for me, I've reached out to people on Twitter, both Indigenous and settler (like me!) to discuss events and our lives in general.

By Diane H

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Aug 23, 2020

This course gave me a true understanding about Indigenous Canada. The presentation, the professors, the speakers were all excellent. Leah Dorion's art work was wonderful. I have learned the great importance of community and inclusion. I signed the petition against the James Bay Project, visited Expo 67 and lived in Montreal during the Oka Crisis but I need to do more in order to rectify and Help to improve the lives of everyone who shares this land and the water and the air that we breath. Thank you so much for this opportunity. This course should be incorporated into Canadian History for High school and University students.

By Laura S

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Oct 19, 2020

This course has given me a new understanding of the history of the nation of Canada and what my responsibilities as a citizen involve. I can now see that the nation of Canada as we know it was created by the first peoples, and that we have a responsibility to uphold the Crown's promise of peace, friendship and nations working together. I will continue to be available, to reach out to, and to stand up for Indigenous communities. Indigenous communities have modelled profound human resilience to institutionalized oppression. I am profoundly grateful for all I have learned from these beautiful people. Thank you for this course.

By Vera K

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Mar 12, 2018

Everyone living and breathing on this continent has an obligation to know (at least this much more) about the real history and culture of this land. I went to school in Toronto (born here) and didn't even get a sliver of the information in this course. At times I cried, got mad, felt guilt, felt gratitude and everything in between during these lessons. I think it's one step that non-indigenous people can take towards reconciliation is to start getting a real picture of how we got to where we are today. I'm very grateful for having found and completed this course. I will continue to share and encourage others to take this course.

By Louise d M

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Jan 5, 2021

I had wanted to take a course to understand what Truth and Reconciliation was about and this really hit the mark. Pre-colonial history is fascinating and gives me a new perspective about the complexities of First Nations and how rich their lives. I thought I knew what Colonialism was, but my eyes have been opened and now I understand the devastation that the influx of settlers caused. I really appreciated hearing about how First Nations have never disappeared and are thriving and especially loved hearing about Indigenous art. Thank you for sharing this information, it has certainly changed my views of Canada in so many ways!

By John A

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Sep 4, 2020

A quality course that should be mandatory for every Canadian.

If you can forgive a few transcript/functional typos, in the module's written, artistic, and video presentations you will find illuminating, heart-breaking, maddening, and jaw-dropping content that only scratches the surface of an incredibly complex issue that has been evolving since 1492.

I understand how I am a Settler with Privilege now. My empathy goes out to the Indigenous Peoples, and I am in awe of their resilience since the colonial arrival... and how they're still continuing to deal with injustice, and yet persisting in their efforts, even in the present day.

By Ryan H

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Jan 6, 2021

This course was excellent! I learned a great deal as it went into depth into so many areas. My only issue was how extensive and time consuming the course was. I also think that is one of it's strengths as it was so through. I took a course in university and other courses in Indigenous History and this is by far the most comprehensive and rewarding. I really appreciate that it is not a history course, but it is more contextual and celebrates modern and future Indigenous life in Canada. It is forward thinking, comprehensive and an excellent course. The multi-media within the course really helped the material come to life for me.

By Shirley E

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May 21, 2021

What an excellently well done course. Content well covered, speakers spoke clearly and at an easy pace to listen to. Appreciated that there was a reading to go along with the different speakers to cover different learning styles. The art work done by Leah Dorion and her explanations of each piece was definitely a huge complement to the course. I am Canadian and of course heard very little about the history of Canada and very mixed and prejudicial stories about Canada's first peoples. I intend to pursue more information through other venues to help me deeper my understanding of the Indigenous Peoples. Thank you so much!

By Lydia C

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Dec 14, 2020

This was a very eye-opening course, and one that showed me a different side of Canadian history than the one that was taught to me growing up. The course helped me realize the racist beliefs that have been taught and that still exists today. The course taught me to open my eyes and ears and heart to learning more, so that I can grow and move forward towards reconciliation with our nation. Reconciliation with what has happened and trying to right the wrong and provide opportunities to the Indigenous communities is extremely crucial for our nation to move forward and grow together. Thank you for creating this course. Thank you!

By David H

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Nov 29, 2017

I found this course very informative and presented ia ab easy to understand format. The impact of the Europeans is astonishing that what they did was try to conquer and divide the diverse and different Indigenous Peoples of Canada. This course really made me aware of all the issues they have and rightly so. I've always been interested in knowing more about our first peoples in this vast land we call Canada and this course helped immensely. I'll strive to learn more and pay more attention to what's happening in current relations between the Colonists and the Indigenous Peoples. We collectively could learn a lot more from them.

By Allan W

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Nov 11, 2020

Thank you! My son's long-time partner is from Leqamel First Nation with ancestry also from Squamish and Katzie First Nations. She encourages all of us to learn more about who she is as an Indigenous person and we are all very proud of her and who she is. This course is not the end of learning about Indigenous Peoples for me, but the beginning. I will continue to reach out and strive to learn more. Indigenous Canada, presented through UoA is a great program and something that all Non-Indigenous People should consider in order to educate themselves about Canadian history, but the history of Indigenous Peoples of Canada.

By Orla Z

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Dec 2, 2022

Thanks for offering the course! It has greatly helped me understand the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, including their culture, their beliefs and their identity struggle.

I came to know this course during the ED&I week held by the company I work with. I love indigenous arts and this course makes me appreciate it even more. The course also inspires me to look more at the underlined meaning of each individual indigenous art piece.

I recognize that although the Canadian governments at both federal and Provencial level have done a much better job compared to the past, there are still much more to be done for indigenous peoples.

By Mona R

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Sep 16, 2022

This course covered so much Indigenous history in context with Colonialism that I did not previously know. I have learned so much about culture, community, the fur trade, the Indian Act, residential schools, and how the affects of Colonialism and European patriarchall policies have affected, and continue to affect the Indigenous Peoples of Canada. I believe that through all of the topcs that were covered I have just started on a journey to learn more and become an ally of Indigenous Peoples. Thank you so much for making this course free, and thank you to all of the people who participated in the making of this course.