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.

...

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!

Thank you Dr. Bear and your team for an inspirational course. I have thoroughly enjoyed my travels through it and have found myself abashed over my previous unawareness to this critical situation. As a retired teacher-librarian I wish I had taken this course sooner in order to assist my thousands of students in their knowledge of Canada's Indigenous peoples. Your information has inspired me to continue in my quest for learning in this area.

Absolutely feel honoured to have the opportinnity to access this course. I was in grade school in the 70's and 80's and did not learn any of this important knowledge about the history for the peoples of this land. Thank you so much for making this course so informative, easy to understand and full of so many wonderful stories and incredible art! I am sharing this knowledge and this course to family and friends. Again Thank you so much 🙏🏼

This was a well thought out and presented course on a topic that should be included in school curriculm throughout Canada and beyond. Without an appreciation of the Indigenous community, people will continue to perpetuate unsubstantiated stereotypes and support systematic oppression, rather then act with tolerance, understanding, empathy and respect that every member of the global community deserve. Very proud to have completed this course!

Every Federal, Provincial, Regional, and Municipal Public Servant should take the class. Every citizen and immigrant to this country should take this class to be accepted as citizen. What it is written in the Discovery Canada booklet is far from enough, and present a colonial view of indigenous culture. Thank you for making this class accessible to us. I learned a great deal and I hope I can learn even more about Indigenous people in Canada.

I enjoyed the course content and felt it gave me a more broader perspective on Canada's colonial past and present. I has helped me to feel the sadness of the past and given me hope about the future of Indigenous peoples and the important and growing role they have to play in Canada. I really enjoyed many parts of the course but especially beginning to learn about the diversity of the Indigenous communities. And the glimpse of native artists.

Really enjoyed the course, one of the better ones that I have participated in. There is so much heart and soul embedded within the information and the outline/platform and how it was delivered. I really, really enjoyed the music and the art, as well as the reality of colonialism and information from history regarding residential schools, and various other aspects from history. Thank you for creating such a beautiful course in so many ways.

I was actually captivated to have myself enrolled in this course becaue of the discovery of mass grave of Indigenous Children in Canada. I was intrigued of the bleak colonial remnants that still pervade and affect the lives of thousands of Indigenous peoples there. This course is presented in a multi-perspective approach which emphasizes how the encounter of European powers in their land can be fully understood in the eyes of the natives.

A real eye opener. Great knowledge to have. Perhaps more unity with chapter topics. Ie. Enfranchised women, Inuit on its own, haida on its own etc.

Educational easy to understand love the music in the chapters.

P.s. I now know why my mother in law wasn't buried on reserve. Thank you as we try to find answers and family from my husband's side as he was scooped in the 60's and adopted to a white family.

Take care and keep doing what you do.

Excellent course, I really enjoyed learning more about the Indigenous peoples of Canada. It was especially important to learn more about the full history of settlers, from first contact through the development of current relationships and ongoing challenges. I highly recomend this course and think everyone should sign up, this is our history and we dont have enough included in our current curicculum to be truley informed/enlightened.

Laura

Thank you for putting together a wonderful course. Informative, comprehensive, it was a real eye-opener for me - a settler descendent. Born in 1957, I am staggered by how much of this was unknown to me - and ashamed. Thank you. It is only through knowledge that we can move forward, together. I recommend this course strongly to anyone wishing to be a true Canadian, founded on knowing and acknowledging, and including our true Canadian roots.

An absolutely amazing introduction to the history and peoples native to Canada. I learned so much about how indigenous people view the environment and settlers; and how Canadian laws and actions have specifically impacted indigenous people. This course should be required teaching at every North American university to promote good citizenship and an understanding of what indigenous people have gone through and are still dealing with today.