It gives a beginners approach to learning some of the Indigenous history on this colonised land and helps to begins connections between the present and the past which inspires to seek further information and question the practises that have been in place that has devalued the significance of the Indigenous culture and place value on the colonizers' culture.... I recommend that courses like this should be complusory throughout the Educational Sytems

This course was very helpful to me as I strive to understand Indigenous struggles and concerns. I still have much to learn but, through the program, I have come to feel that Indigenous cultures are vibrant, caring and wise. I feel optimistic that Indigenous people are growing in influence and have wisdom to offer that will benefit all of us. We would do well to honour treaties and allow our Indigenous neighbours to serve as stewards of the land.

An excellent overview of the breadth and depth of issues facing our Indigenous brothers and sisters in Canada. As a non-Indigenous person who's never considered the history and impact of colonialism in Canada, I'm humbled to learn about the truths I was never taught in school, and motivated to be part of a movement for change. Thank you to Dr. Bear, Alannah and Isaac for their wonderful teaching and presentation, and all the work behind this course!

I’m so glad that I took this course and I’ve learned so much. Particularly the history about the beginning of Canada. There was so much that I didn’t know about indigenous people. I discovered about 20 years ago that my great grandmother was a Metis through research that my father had done during his retirement years. I learned so much about my history through this course and I would like to thank all those who participated in putting this together.

An eye-opening overview of the most factual, non-bias, history of our country. Everyone should have to take this course as a high school requirement (this coming from a high school CTS teacher). This content connects on more levels than just facts, as you will gain respect, patience, and understanding for those that have lived and are still living through the ideals set out by our government. Thank you for an inspiring 12-weeks. Never stop learning.

I loved every single aspect of this course and the way it was organised and presented. My ONLY wish was that Week 12 included more glimpses of the art installations and pieces being referred to (i.e.: the Expo 67 exhibit). I looked up most of the references, but I just mean in terms of visualizing the lecture (I really like the little pop ups throughout the other lectures)

Thank you so much for putting this together and making it readily available :)

This is a really great course and I've learnt a lot from it. A few things regarding presentation and the notes could do with tidying up a bit but that didn't take away from the overall message and the amount/quality of the information that they get across. Massive thank you to everyone involved. As a non-Canadian, it has truly been an honour to get such an insight into the indigenous past, present, and future of a country that I love. Thank you.

thank you for having this course available. I now understand more of my heritage and the some of the challenges of being indigenous in this country. How this country needs to grow and learn not only from our past but our present so our future can be so much fuller. How we need to build better relations and how as Canadians we need to understand what our past has done truly to the indigenous of this land and to move foward to correct these wrongs.

The course is powerful. It provides much needed perspective on history, laws and policy, as well as contemporary issues and Indigenous art. The information is invaluable and every Canadian interested in learning the truth about our history and learning how to build a better future, should take an interest in this course. Thank you to the instructors, the artists, and teachers that contributed to this course, it was truly informative and inspiring.

This course was very extensive and an essential part of Canadian education.

This course should be mandatory in learning institutions throughout Canada.

I feel my respect for indigenous cultures has taken on a deeper and more educated view of Native people.

I feel that this course should be mandatory in learning institutions throughout Canada.

We need greater education and greater knowledge of indigenous cultures in non indigenous peoples in Canada.

It was a great course! I have learned a lot about Canada's history as it pertains to the Indigenous peoples and it gave me a chance to re-examine my approach, which I often had to identify as colonialist in nature, to many aspects of Canada's history. I hope that the faculty will have other courses that deal more with the current situation and especially with Indigenous activism. I was very much encouraged by those lectures. Great work! Meegwich.

What an excellent course!

I learned so much and I am beyond grateful for this wonderful and accessible opportunity. I highly recommend it to everyone (especially white settlers such as myself). I wish I had learned all of this much sooner, as this is definitely not what (white-washed) high school social studies textbooks taught me. An invaluable course that should be considered a pre-requisite for every well-meaning Canadian/ally.

Thank you.

This is an excellent course and well presented. Learning is fun and easy, the material is very informative. Being 50% Blood Quantum Moose Cree I learned a lot about myself and I have a stronger sense of belonging. I recommend this course to anyone interested in learning Canadian/Indigenous history. Knowledge is the pathway to understanding, understanding is the pathway to respect, respect is the pathway to reconciliation. Well done U of A.

This course provides a really good foundation for learning about Indigenous cultures and history in Canada. It begins by teaching about Indigenous Worldviews which is critical to set the stage for learning understanding the very essential perspectives that ground various Indigenous cultures. I am looking forward to learning more and I think I will revisit this course content from time to time to refresh and provoke further thought and questions.

very informative, gives great views on other indigenous communities and their struggles. Some parts are a bit hard to read and bring out a lot of different emotions but really opens your eyes to what the world really views native americans as. It also shows how much the world is also supporting the causes and helping to combat colonization. An amazing course for anyone interested in the culture and even for indgenous to learn more of our story.

If you are concerned that the education you received growing up, might, just might have spun, omitted, forgotten, whitewashed, or had some horrific bias; this is the course for you.

Worth every minute, and didn't really take long at all.

Thank you to everyone who gave their time to compile and communicate this knowledge.

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Mársı | Kinanāskomitin | Thank you | Merci | Hąį’ | Quana | Qujannamiik | Quyanainni | Máhsı | Mahsı̀ | & So, so many more

Valuable teachings and lessons learned that need to be heard by every Canadian to deeply appreciate the Truth. It is the only way to reconcile and heal as a country! The delivery of this bold message was made with such kindness, meekness, softness and humility. All presenters were authentic and genuine in their approach in sharing their message which went directly to my heart! Beautiful work which I will be sure to recommend to many. Thank you!

So much information that was not taught in my childhood. Children from Tsuut'ina were bused to our elementary school, likely because the residential school had been shut down and we had no idea what had really happened. My children are at least now learning about Residential Schools as we live near Old Sun. So much more indepth history than we have ever been taught obviously hidden as it is a horrific and traumatic past this coutry has formed.

Excellent learning and well-researched information. My only critique would be to edit the writing for succinctness. Is there more direct language to get a strong message across without "dumbing it down" or removing anything relevant. The density of information can be hard to digest and retain at times, which was the most challenging part of this course. Otherwise, very grateful to have taken this course and learn so much that I needed to know.

Thanks to the live discussions with faculty every Sunday, I was able to feel very connected to the faculty and the course material, and empowered to reflect on my own colonial upbringing, and the impacts of that on others. My 15 year old daughter participated in some of the lessons with me, and I was happy to find that she has been taught all of these lessons at school. Things are changing slowly. I want to be on the side of change. Thank you.

As a non indigenous person this course has taught me much about my Canadian brothers and sisters. For many years our family believed we had indigenous heritage as far back as the 16 hundreds. Our French Canadian soldier ancestors were thought to have married indigenous women and produced a growing lineage of French Canadians. DNA testing has since disproved this idea but I guess I will always hold some thoughts of kinship dispite the science.

This course opened up my eyes to a whole different worldview and perspectives on indigenous, first nations, and the history behind how and why we are at where we are today. There's entire segments of the indigenous experience - from art, urban experience, fur trade, which I had learned before in school but never to this level of depth, detail, or accuracy. I would highly recommend this course to any Coursera or University of Alberta student.

I am grateful to the people that worked so hard to create and present this course. It was extremely insightful, well presented and thought provoking from start to finish. I have been ignorant to the history of our indigenous people for far too long and this course has only begun my journey into learning more. I feel every non- indigenous Canadian would benefit from this course as it would only make our relationships and our country stronger.

This course has given me a greater knowledge, understanding and compassion for the challenges that Indigenous people had and still have to face. That being said, I feel honored to also have been able to learn about the many positive aspects of the different clans, culture, beliefs, stories, art, methods of living and survival and the many different family traditions and beliefs. I truly enjoyed this course. Thank you very much for sharing.

Thoroughly enjoyed this course and learned so much! Content was accessible, well-organized, and wide-ranging. Instructors were engaging and knowledgeable. As a settler coming from an unfortunately colonial understanding of Indigenous peoples of Canada, I appreciated how much was covered in this course and especially the extensive references in the course notes that direct me to even more information. Really can't recommend this course enough!