See below to click on your first lesson to start your course.
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. Learners will deepen cultural competence to build effective relationships with Indigenous co-workers clients, what racism against Indigenous peoples looks like today and how to challenge it. Finally, learners will 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 answer the question “where are you from?”, how to do an effective land acknowledgement
- Cultural Competence and Humility: building awareness of your own culture, how culture infuses communication and conflict, and how to build safe spaces 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, what is unconscious bias and how to reduce it
- Reconciliation the next steps: opportunities to contribute to reconciliation professionally and personally
- OPTIONAL 7Week Challenge with a topic per week with additional readings, podcasts and video for the next steps in your learning journey.
- Week 1: More about History
- Week 2: Intro to Indigenous Knowledge Systems
- Week 3: Balance through Indigenous humour and the arts
- Week 4: Indigenous Today in the news
- Week 5: Get to know some Indigenous Heroes
- Week 6: Learn more about the backgrounds of the Conflicts today
- Week 7: Indigenous Futures and visionaries
Key Terms
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
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: aware of power, privilege and oppression regarding cultures; 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. This is a step in your journey of cultural competence, but it is not the only step.
