Based on the highly successful in-person Indigenous Cultural Competence course, learners will build knowledge on the acceptable terms related to Indigenous peoples, and some similarities and differences between First Nations, Métis and Inuit. This online course will provide the historical context that underpins some of today’s continuing tensions about land in Canada. And then learners will deepen cultural competence to build effective relationships with Indigenous co-workers and peers, and spend some time considering how to contribute to reconciliation both personally and professionally in Canada.
Estimated time to complete: 10 hours including homework.
Course Overview
- Indigenous Canada: terminology, strengths and challenges facing Indigenous peoples, how to do an effective land acknowledgement
- Cultural Competence: building awareness of your own culture, how culture infuses communication and conflict, and how to build safe space for people from other cultures in your workplace
- History Matters: Canada’s hidden history of relationship with Indigenous peoples, and potential long-term impacts of colonial policies of racism, and overview of intergenerational trauma and healing
- Challenging racism: how to name and challenge racism against Indigenous peoples
- How to be an active ally: opportunities to contribute to reconciliation professionally and personally
A note about terminology
Cultural safety: the self-reported experience that an Indigenous individual feels when he or she is treated with respect – more than just the absence of discrimination based on race or culture
Cultural awareness / cultural sensitivity: being aware of the impact on culture on how I and others see and experience the world; aware of power, privilege and oppression
Cultural competence: putting into practice the skills, knowledge and aptitude to deepen self-awareness about one’s own culture and increase the sense of cultural safety of those one serves; a competence like other requirements to do the job well
Cultural humility: choosing to be aware about how culture impacts on my life and how my culture impacts on others, and making intentional choices about how my culture doesn’t overpower another person; putting into practice the skills to build safety for people from other cultures; and choosing to show respect to other cultures as valuable and essential
This course requests that the learner go beyond cultural awareness, as building safety for others is an action, it’s more than simply awareness. This course requests the learner think about and practice the skills to ensure Indigenous individuals and clients feel culturally safe (cultural competence), while recognizing that cultural competence is truly a lifelong journey. There is a focus on cultural competence as the requirements to provide safe service and excellent service and interaction, primarily because a competency is something we continually practice, and we can be held accountable for our competencies. This course is based in the belief that cultural safety is built in relationship and practiced in real life, difficult to achieve in an adult education course. So this course is a step in the journey, but not the only step.
Additional Resources
How did we get here? A concise, unvarnished account of the history of the relationship between Indigenous peoples and Canada. Interim report by the Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples.
Interested in how other countries support cultural competence? It's also called pluralism, and the Global Centre for Pluralism has some interesting resources and news on what's happening to bridge cultural divides.
Some people might laugh at this, but the movie Zootopia is all about cultural competence. Some other movies about cultural competence or the lack of it: Lost in Translation (2003), The Joy Luck Club (1993).
