Chevron Left
Back to Indigenous Canada

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

EG

May 27, 2021

Very well done! Thank you for allowing me to learn more about your history & culture. Being from Ireland and relatively new to Canada I wanted to know more about the beginnings of Canada as a country.

AS

Sep 6, 2020

I found this course to be very informative. Thank you for the opportunity to see our shared history from another perspective. I hope this is as groundbreaking for my fellow Canadians as it was for me.

Filter by:

651 - 675 of 7,644 Reviews for Indigenous Canada

By HB

Jul 27, 2021

I really enjoyed the course and learned alot about Indigenous culture that I never knew. It wasn't until my own children learned about residential schools when they were in high school a few years ago that I found out about it. I grew up in the 70's and 80's and am appalled that it was happening right before my own eyes, in my own country and I never knew about it. As an educator now, I will certainly use what I have learned in this course in creating more diverse learning environments for my own students. Thank you!

By Christine

Nov 21, 2021

I enjoyed this course very much, I can admit I was not very well knowledgible in many areas . I was surprised how much they (Indigenous people) went through , in cause of new settlers , how much was learnt created and passed on through the years, the many time having to stand up for themselves , protect what was rightfully theirs , the new friendships that were created the old one remain some gone, the ongoing of rights and humanrights, and the protection of a beautiful culture , that shared, as a family and community.

By Cynthia K S

Jul 1, 2020

Informative and Eye Opening

I took this course years after I completed a minor of Native American anthropology from the U of A (2002). Years have passed so it was nice to actually have the course taught by Indigenous people, instead of white anthropologists. I also had a stroke between the two times and the course was designed in such a way that I could re-learn the information and still manage to take the quizzes. It was good, up to date, hopeful, and makes me want to learn even more about Indigenous cultures. Thank you!

By Ann E S

Aug 20, 2020

So good! Every settler Canadian should have to take this course. As a new Canadian this was far more informative on the history of this land, pre- and post-contact, than any university course in Canadian history or government guide for the citizenship exam I've taken or read! Thank you so much for giving us such an excellent overview and I can't wait to take the opportunity to delve deeper into the intricacies touched on in the course and into the history and culture of the Mi'kmaq in the area of Canada I've settled in!

By Althea M L

Jul 5, 2021

With this course, I got the chance to know the history of indigenous people. I learned all the important facts and details as well as the events that happened in the past which shaped the society today. Knowing the history of indigenous people made me well informed and really helped me become aware of the past happenings. I enjoyed watching the videos and reading the articles because it fed my curiosity. The paintings on each end of every module served as a refresher to me and helped me understand the learnings better.

By Hannah E

May 10, 2021

I think that this course is a starting place to begin learning about Indigenous peoples in Canada, in the past, present and future. There are many great resources provided to continue your learning when the course is done, and it helps to contextualize the relationship between Canada's first peoples and the colonizers who swooped in thinking that they new best. I loved learning about contemporary Indigenous people and how people are connecting with their histories in myriad ways, through art, language, food, and more.

By Georgina L

Jan 11, 2021

A very informative course. I am very happy that I chose to take it, and believe that it should be a standard course for all Canadians. There is a lot of ignorance out there, and it is important to approach this course with an open mind. This course is simply a starting point, and will point me in a direction to learn even more about the Indigenous culture within Canada. I think it is shameful how little we learn about the Indigenous culture in general, especially within our school system. This has helped with my overa

By Dawn D

Nov 8, 2020

Every Canadian should take this course, young and old! I hope this becomes part of mandatory courses for school age children also. We all missed out on so much by not being taught true history and not having the chance to celebrate Indigenous culture with our classmates and community and learn about the riches of this culture. In turn so much more bias, systemic racism and prejudice continued from our settler ignorance and caused so much harm. I only hope we can all strive to help heal together and learn together.

By Sam K

Apr 3, 2022

I truly enjoyed this program. I found both the factual and the spritual review of our Indigenous Peoples' journey prior to and post contact to be of great value for but all but more so for a none born Canadian.

I thank you for sharing your history with new canadians who were not exposed to this information growing in other parts of the world.

I am in a much better position now to converse and reply to ill informed views and hope to be able to make a difference to support indeginous rights for Truth and Reconceliation..

By Rebecca C

Nov 16, 2020

Thank you to everyone involved in making this course possible and available to me. This course was very enlightening, and I learned so much. This course has encouraged me to be supportive and an advocate for the indigenous people. I hope there will be other courses like this one that I can take to learn more about the Indigenous people. I truly appreciated the instructors time and effort in making this a great learning experience for me. I’m saddened that it’s over and will miss learning about these wonderful people.

By Alison G

Oct 5, 2021

Eye-opening, engaging, and at times deeply moving, lessons and stories from Indigenous people from various parts of Canada are presented to correct the untruths we were taught in school. The course begins with a description of pre-contact Indigenous societies, then describes in detail how colonisers took over despite the efforts of the Indigenous peoples to fight back. Spiritual beliefs, politics, and art are explained in order to provide context to the struggles and ways of being of contemporary Indigenous peoples.

By Lisa U

Sep 20, 2021

Very well done. I found each section interesting, and I learned a lot. I certainly have an expanded view and appreciation of our Indigenous peoples. The format of the course was engaging and I particularly enjoyed the commissioned art pieces; it was like a little treat at the end of a session and after the quiz. Thank you to all those who contributed to developing this course. I would love to see a second, advanced course to dive deeper into Canadian Indigenous culture, governance, art, history, reconciliation, etc.

By Christopher M C

Aug 12, 2018

It was refreshing to take a course whose aim was to present the breadth of a major topic. It succeeded. Along the way, it probed the depth of several major subtopics and provided great resources for further exploration. I started taking notes in week 1, but soon put my pencil down, as few words were wasted in the lectures and it became clear that everything being said was important. I'm American and was searching for a course on Native Americans in the U.S. I found this one first and I'm glad I did - it was a treat!

By Kent P

Nov 30, 2020

Just a very eye opening but also confirming course based on my Wonderful experiences with First Nations Groups I worked with in Northern Saskatchewan. One funny lesson I learned working out at Brabant Lake. Don't host an ice fishing derby on the same Saturday as the Montreal Lake $100,000 first prize ice fishing derby. You'll only get half the community coming to the Brabant Lake Derby...

This was just an excellent course and will be a huge help in FN consultations efforts on resource projects I'm involved with.

Kent

By Emma B

Aug 19, 2020

This was an informative, engaging, and well-organised course, which I am very glad that I was able to participate in. The blend of lectures and reading was effective: I appreciated being able to listen, take virtual notes, and access the text for each unit. The visual art component for each unit was excellent. I would thoroughly recommend this course to people, whether fellow educators, Canadian residents, or those with interest simply in learning and understanding more about Canada. Thank you for this opportunity.

By Cynthia M

Nov 14, 2020

Really glad I took this course - it provided a good foundation of knowledge for me to begin understanding the Indigenous perspective. It has inspired me to read more First Nations stories and challenge my colonialist perspective on all Indigenous issues. Suddenly everything makes better sense and I can respect my First Nations neighbours. Why wasn't I taught this in school when I was growing up?? Education is the key to helping overcome our past. So grateful for this course - I'd recommend this to everyone I know.

By Mary-Anne O

Oct 9, 2020

I thoroughly enjoyed this eye opening learning experience. We are so smug being Canadian, born in such an amazing country. However, learning the price that indigenous peoples paid so that Canada could become the “Best” country in the world is very humbling. I thank you from the bottom of my heart ♥️ for opening my eyes and my heart. I will recommend this course to everyone I know.

I absolutely love the live QnAs on Sunday’s and will continue watching them. I commend you all for your dedication and enthusiasm.

By Sarah M

Mar 29, 2022

Thank you so much to the faculty, instructors, artists, speakers, and everyone involved in creating this course. Although I was familiar with some of the course content, each module was at least 90% new to me. The course content was presented so well, providing much needed context for a lot of contemporary discussions. Although I've been intentional about learning about Indigenous Canada for more than a decade, this course has really helped me put all the pieces together and increase my knowledge significantly.

By G D S

Feb 5, 2021

very, very informative, I thought I knew more that I thought I did, I did learn a lot as well puts s lot more items into perspective, more Canadians need to take this course and learn form the past mistakes so we do not make them again.

we all need to learn to work together as one, help each other out and not worry so much about our selves but as a community so all can flourish.

there are a lot of past practices that I think we should be going back and bringing forward

thank you for all of your work and dedication

By Mary t

Dec 6, 2020

Lots of interesting information is presented in a way that makes it easy for the student to understand the concepts. This course offers a broad spectrum of information about Indigenous people, including how art is part of culture, and the politics of colonization. I highly recommend this course for anyone who wants a greater understanding of Canada's history, and the peoples who were here first, and the Europeans who came after, and how these relationships were forged, and forever changed the history of Canada.

By Barbara R

Nov 22, 2020

I've lived in Canada just over half my life now and through this course finally feel like I know the truth about Canadian colonialism and the wonderful opportunities that exist now for strong Indigenous leadership in this country. There is so much misinformed prejudice amongst people born in Canada that I can now disregard with confidence. The course itself is video based and very well organized and engaging, perhaps actually enthralling. I highly recommend this course and truly wish every Canadian would take it!

By Colleen J

Nov 8, 2020

Thoroughly enjoyed learning along side Dr. Bear and Dr. Gareau; and the Sunday talks with Dan Levy helped me to see more clearly how the week's topic relates to today's current affairs. This course has given me a new perspective on Canada's original peoples and my place here as a settler. This is just the beginning of a desire to both learn more and inspire others to learn. Thank you for creating this program that encompasses video lectures and readings that include visual art, poetry, storytelling, and music.

By Jennifer S

Aug 7, 2020

It is vital for Canadians to look carefully at all systemic racism in Canada, and not just that which is front page news. Our Indigenous communities are the original victims of our systemic racism and we need to do better. One way of doing better is knowing better. We can get closer to our Indigenous peoples by learning about them through their own representations, and not that of an education system directed by predominantly white scholars. This course is a generous start to learning, and I highly recommend it.

By Declan B

Aug 21, 2023

An excellent course that has a lot of variety in the content and delivery. It has excellent support material and has a sound balance of breadth and depth. Some of the material is emotionally challenging but is delivered sensitively and highlighted in the introduction. Several the questions in the test are oddly worded and can cause confusion. I can say for sure that I have a lot better understanding of the history of Canada and Indigenous communities, and how injustice can impact generations when left unchecked.

By David K

Nov 16, 2022

This was a powerful course covering a lot of material in a limited amount of time. The creators did an excellent job. I learned so much. A few comments in the spirit of "constructive":

- The talking heads were good, but it would have been more interesting if there could have been some "B roll" to illustrate what they were talking about. What there was was limited.

- There were some very poorly worded questions in the quizzes.

Thank you for giving us all the opportunity to learn about Canada before Canada existed!