Indigenous Awareness Learning

Get started on learning the history and realities of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Canada by completing one or more of the courses in this suite of learning.

New! You can complete these courses in the ESDC Essential Training Curriculum for Employees:

1. Log in to Saba
2. On the main page, select the ESDC Essential Training Curriculum for Employees
3. Choose an Indigenous Awareness Learning activity from the menu provided in the ESDC Essential Training Curriculum for Employees

For Indigenous employees with more specialized learning needs, visit the Other section for the options available to you.

• Beginner: Learning the basics

  Reflecting on Cultural Bias: Indigenous Perspectives (K099)

  ***Indigenous employees may request an exemption from completing this course by contacting CSPS csps.ils-saqa.efpc@canada.ca for proof of exemption and submitting it to the nc-siga-saba-apprentissage-ilms-saba-learning-gd@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca***

  Awareness of cultural bias is an important step towards building a respectful workplace and better serving the Canadian public. With a focus on understanding Indigenous Peoples, this online self-paced course demystifies the idea of unconscious cultural bias and explores issues of prejudice and discrimination. Through a series of self-reflection exercises, participants will discover the cultural competencies they need to build respectful relationships with First Nations, Métis and Inuit.

  Topics include:

  • exploring cultures, worldviews, race and ethnicity
  • strengthening awareness of cultural differences
  • understanding personal biases, prejudices and discrimination
  • building culturally safe relationships with Indigenous Peoples

  Duration:

  1 hour

  Methodology:

  Web-based

  Course ID:

  0000096233

    Register

  The Uncomfortable Truth (K100)

  ***Indigenous employees may request an exemption from completing this course by contacting CSPS csps.ils-saqa.efpc@canada.ca for proof of exemption and submitting it to the nc-siga-saba-apprentissage-ilms-saba-learning-gd@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca***

  This course presents the difficult facts about the historical relationship between the Government of Canada and Indigenous peoples. It provides a brief overview from first contact to the present focus on reconciliation. In addition, you will gain a broader understanding of the impacts of government decisions on Indigenous peoples.

  Topics include:

  • Canadian political framework
  • Royal Proclamation
  • British North American Act
  • Indian Act
  • Constitution Act, 1982
  • Duty to consult and accommodate
  • Impacts of colonialism
  • Indian hospitals and sanatoriums
  • Indian Residential Schools
  • Sixties Scoop
  • Child welfare systems
  • Violence against Indigenous women and girls
  • Treaties, comprehensive land claims and self-government agreements
  • Overview of some court cases
  • United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
  • Principles respecting the Government of Canada's relationship with Indigenous Peoples

  Duration:

  1.5 hours

  Methodology:

  Web-based

  Course ID:

  0000096296

    Register

  Virtual Kairos Blanket Exercise

  Learning about First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and understanding their viewpoints with compassion is an important step towards building strong and respectful relationships. This exercise, delivered in partnership with KAIROS Canada, provides public servants with a unique participatory history lesson that focuses on the loss of Indigenous lands and the cultural assimilation policies.

  You will engage on intellectual and emotional levels to deepen your understanding of the shared history of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada.

  Duration:

  3 hours

  Methodology:

  Instructor-led / virtual classroom

  Course ID:

  00007490

    Register
• Intermediate: Deepen your understanding

  First Nations in Canada (K101)

  This course looks at some of the governance structures, traditions and current realities of First Nations and their relationships with the Government of Canada. You will see how the Government's actions in the past continue to affect First Nations communities in the present.

  Topics include:

  • terminology
  • geographic location
  • cultural aspects such as language
  • Indian Act
  • governance
  • treaties
  • socio-economic conditions

  Prerequisites:

  • Before you start this course, you need to complete Reflecting on Cultural Bias: Indigenous Perspectives (K099) and The Uncomfortable Truth (K100).
  • Indigenous employees may request an exemption from completing prerequisite courses by contacting CSPS csps.ils-saqa.efpc@canada.ca.

  Duration:

  1 hour

  Methodology:

  Web-based

  Course ID:

  0000096284

    Register

  Métis in Canada (K102)

  This course provides a brief introduction to Métis people and the complexity of emerging Métis identity across Canada today.

  Topics include:

  • terminology
  • geographic location
  • culture
  • Rupert's Land
  • Pemmican Proclamation
  • Red River Resistance
  • Métis scrip
  • Road Allowance People
  • Constitution Act, 1982
  • Manitoba Métis Federation
  • governance
  • treaties and comprehensive land claims
  • socio-economic conditions

  Prerequisites:

  • Before you start this course, you need to complete Reflecting on Cultural Bias: Indigenous Perspectives (K099) and The Uncomfortable Truth (K100).
  • Indigenous employees may request an exemption from completing prerequisite courses by contacting CSPS csps.ils-saqa.efpc@canada.ca.

  Duration:

  1 hour

  Methodology:

  Web-based

  Course ID:

  0000096285

    Register

  Inuit in Canada (K103)

  This course provides a brief introduction to Inuit in Canada and helps you to better understand the relationship between Inuit and the Government of Canada.

  Topics include:

  • terminology
  • geographic location
  • culture
  • Eskimo disk numbers
  • right to vote
  • permanent settlements
  • relocation
  • dog slaughter
  • tuberculosis
  • self-governance and land claims agreements
  • socio-economic conditions

  Prerequisites:

  • Before you start this course, you need to complete Reflecting on Cultural Bias: Indigenous Perspectives (K099) and The Uncomfortable Truth (K100).
  • Indigenous employees may request an exemption from completing prerequisite courses by contacting CSPS csps.ils-saqa.efpc@canada.ca.

  Duration:

  1 hour

  Methodology:

  Web-based

  Course ID:

  0000096289

    Register

  Martha of the North (film)

  In the mid-1950s, lured by false promises of a better life, Inuit families were displaced by the Canadian government and left to their own devices in the Far North. In this icy desert realm, Martha Flaherty and her family lived through one of Canadian history’s most sombre and little-known episodes.

  Duration:

  1.5 hours

  Methodology:

  Web-based

  Course ID:

  0000094411

    Register

  Trick or Treaty (film)

  Covering a vast swath of northern Ontario, Treaty No. 9 reflects the often contradictory interpretations of treaties between First Nations and the Crown. To the Canadian government, this treaty represents a surrendering of Indigenous sovereignty, while the descendants of the Cree signatories contend its original purpose to share the land and its resources has been misunderstood and not upheld. Enlightening as it is entertaining, Trick or Treaty? succinctly and powerfully portrays one community’s attempts to enforce their treaty rights and protect their lands, while also revealing the complexities of contemporary treaty agreements

  Duration:

  84 minutes

  Methodology:

  Web-based

  Course ID:

  0000094331

    Register

  nîpawistamâsowin: We will stand up (film)

  On August 9, 2016, a young Cree man named Colten Boushie died from a gunshot to the back of his head after entering Gerald Stanley’s rural property with his friends. The jury’s subsequent acquittal of Stanley captured international attention, raising questions about racism embedded within Canada’s legal system and propelling Colten’s family to national and international stages in their pursuit of justice. Sensitively directed by Tasha Hubbard, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up weaves a profound narrative encompassing the filmmaker’s own adoption, the stark history of colonialism on the Prairies, and a vision of a future where Indigenous children can live safely on their homelands

  Duration:

  98 minutes

  Methodology:

  Web-based

  Course ID:

  0000094362

    Register

  Birth of a Family (film)

  In this deeply moving feature-length documentary, three sisters and a brother meet for the first time. Removed from their young Dene mother during the infamous Sixties Scoop, they were separated as infants and adopted into families across North America.

  Betty Ann, Esther, Rosalie, and Ben were only four of the 20,000 Indigenous Canadian children taken from their families between 1955 and 1985, to be either adopted into white families or live in foster care. As the four siblings piece together their shared history, their connection deepens, and their family begins to take shape.

  Duration:

  79 minutes

  Methodology:

  Web-based

  Course ID:

  0000094357

    Register

  Finding Dawn (film)

  Acclaimed Métis filmmaker Christine Welsh brings us a compelling documentary that puts a human face on a national tragedy – the epidemic of missing or murdered Indigenous women in Canada. The film takes a journey into the heart of Indigenous women's experience, from Vancouver's skid row, down the Highway of Tears in northern BC, and on to Saskatoon, where the murders and disappearances of these women remain unsolved.

  Duration:

  73 minutes

  Methodology:

  Web-based

  Course ID:

  0000094388

    Register

  The People of Kattawapiskak River (film)

  The people of the Attawapiskat First Nation, a Cree community in northern Ontario, were thrust into the national spotlight in 2012 when the impoverished living conditions on their reserve became an issue of national debate. With The People of the Kattawapiskak River, Abenaki director Alanis Obomsawin quietly attends as community members tell their own story, shedding light on a history of dispossession and official indifference.

  Duration:

  50 minutes

  Methodology:

  Web-based

  Course ID:

  0000094409

    Register

  Angry Inuk (film)

  In her award-winning documentary, director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril joins a new tech-savvy generation of Inuit as they campaign to challenge long-established perceptions of seal hunting. Armed with social media and their own sense of humour and justice, this group is bringing its own voice into the conversation and presenting themselves to the world as a modern people in dire need of a sustainable economy.

  Duration:

  82 minutes

  Methodology:

  Web-based

  Course ID:

  0000094410

    Register

  Arctic Defenders (film)

  Set in the dramatic and alluring landscape of the north, Arctic Defenders tells the remarkable story that began in 1968 with a radical Inuit movement that changed the political landscape forever. It lead to the largest land claim in western civilization, orchestrated by young visionary Inuit with a dream - the governance of their territory - the creation of Nunavut. The story reveals Canada’s misguided attempts at sovereignty in the north and finds hope and inspiration from determined people who changed the rules of the game.

  Duration:

  90 minutes

  Methodology:

  Web-based

  Course ID:

  0000094412

    Register

  Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger (film)

  Alanis Obomsawin's 52nd film tells the story of how the life of Jordan River Anderson initiated a battle for the right of First Nations and Inuit children to receive the same standard of social, health and educational services as the rest of the Canadian population.

  Duration:

  65 minutes

  Methodology:

  Web-based

  Course ID:

  0000094416

    Register
• Advanced: Refine your understanding

  Reconciliation begins with me (K105)

  This one-day workshop is part of the Indigenous Learning Series developed by the Canada School of Public Service in partnership with the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC). The Reconciliation Begins with Me workshop is designed to foster a deeper understanding among public servants of reconciliation and the importance of renewed relationships with Indigenous Peoples. Participants will learn about the little-known history, the impact of residential schools, the rights of Indigenous Peoples and the obligations of public servants while considering respectful protocols.

  Duration:

  7.5 hours

  Methodology:

  Web-based

  Course ID:

  0000096290

    Register

  Building on Differences – A conference by Serge Bouchard

  Listen to anthropologist Serge Bouchard speak about how Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations can build from our differences and move towards healthy partnerships with each other.

  Duration:

  1.5 hours

  Methodology:

  Web-based

  Course ID:

  00018359

    Register
• Other: Specialized learning

  Although employees are encouraged to complete learning from the menu of Indigenous Awareness learning opportunities, the ‘’other’’ category for learners allows for:

  • Flexibility to support Indigenous Employees in their unique training needs and interests; and
  • Recognizes the value of informal training opportunities for all employees.

  Should you have any questions about the options on the Indigenous Awareness Menu or need help in determining acceptable “Other” Indigenous Awareness training, please contact the nc-corp_learning-apprentissage-min-gd@servicecanada.gc.ca.

  Criteria

  Learning must be a minimum of 30 minutes in length, but ideally 1.5 hours or more and meaningful. It should also increase knowledge in at least one of the following areas:

  • Indigenous peoples, history and cultures
  • United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP)
  • Treaties, Aboriginal Rights and Indigenous Law
  • Aboriginal-Crown Relations
  • Ability to interact with people from different cultures and diverse backgrounds in the workplace

  Examples of sufficient learning:

  • Books on Indigenous Peoples, Culture, History
  • Attending an Indigenous Cultural Event such as Pow-wow, Métis Jig, Inuit Winter games, etc.
  • Culturally appropriate Indigenous movies and documentaries
  • Participating in an IEC, a College@ESDC or a CSPS Indigenous Awareness Event
  • Listening to a podcast related to Indigenous Peoples
  • Taking Indigenous related training online from an external source such as a session organized by the Indigenous Federal Employee Network
  • Participating in a talking and sharing circle led by an Elder or Knowledge Keeper
  • Visiting an Indigenous Exhibit at a museum
  • Having a discussion with an Elder/Knowledge Keeper/Senator

Here’s what you need to do to make your learning count!

1. In your ESDC Essential Training Curriculum for Employees in Saba, find the Indigenous Awareness learning section and select View Summary
2. select View Summary
3. Choose Instructions – Course Menu and in the document, select a learning activity from the Menu of Courses
4. Complete your learning activity
5. Return to View Summary and choose Attestation of Completion – Indigenous Awareness Learning
6. If you need to review the Instructions – Course Menu once more, locate and select the > to open the Activity Panel. Select Instructions – Course Menu
7. Complete the attestation

Let's create a dialogue! If you are an Indigenous employee who is willing to include a story about yourself or your family history on our Indigenous Awareness Storytelling blog, we want to hear from you! We also want to hear from non-Indigenous employees who have been inspired by the Indigenous awareness learning activities they've undertaken.

Contact nc-college-gd@servicecanada.gc.ca to share your stories! Inspire others to embark upon their own learning journey and take steps towards renewing our relationship with Indigenous peoples—First Nations, Inuit and Métis—as public servants and ultimately, as Canadians.

The selection of these offerings are the result of a collaboration between the College@ESDC, Indigenous Coordination and Engagement Division (ICED), the Indigenous Recruitment, Retention and Advancement (IRRA) team and the Indigenous Employees' Circle (IEC).