“If 2020 has taught us anything it’s that we actively need to relearn history, history that wasn’t taught to us in school.”
Dan Levy is starting a new project and he wants everyone to join in. No, it’s not a new television show. It’s a 12-week online course offered by the University of Alberta, titled Indigenous Canada.
On Instagram, Levy announced that he has enrolled in the course, which explores Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada, and will be starting classes this week. The 12-week online course covers topics like the fur trade, land claims and environmental impacts, and Indigenous political activism.
“If 2020 has taught us anything it’s that we actively need to relearn history, history that wasn’t taught to us in school, to better understand and contextualize our lives and how we can better support and be of service to each other,” said Levy in an Instagram video.
To encourage other people to sign up for the course and to create an environment of open dialogue, Levy will be hosting weekly discussions with the professors every Sunday for the 12-week duration. The discussions and Q&A segments will be shared on Levy’s social media page starting this Sunday, August 23 at 3pm EST.
“I thought, if I’m going to sign up and learn, maybe some other people would want to join me and we could do this as a group,” said Levy. “If you’re anything like me, I was not a good student and I need group support. I thought this could be a really great way of doing that.”
Indigenous Canada is open to people within and outside Canada, and can be completed for free. The course consists of twelve modules, each with a series of video lectures, a set of course notes and course glossary, and required and recommended readings. The commitment level estimated by the university for completion of this course is 3-5 hours per week, which, let’s face it, seems like a much better use of our time than yet another Netflix binge.
For more details and to register for the course, click here.