First Peoples studies program first ever in Quebec

After about a dozen years of jumping through bureaucratic red tape, it has finally arrived: Concordia University in Montreal is now offering Quebec’s first-time ever First Peoples Studies Program.

The program is a 42-credit major under the Faculty of Arts and Science within the School of Community and Public Affairs. The program focuses on the three prominent First Peoples in Canada, and specifically the Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk).

“This program is going to specifically—while looking at the broader developments of First Peoples’ culture, politics, history–have a focus on [First Peoples in] Quebec,” said Karl Hele, director and associate professor of the program.

Some of the entry-level courses include Introduction to First Peoples Studies, Research Strategies in First Peoples Studies, and First Peoples of Canada. The 300-level courses focus on the Indian Act, First Peoples and Education, and linguistic introduction courses. The 400-level courses concentrate on Contemporary Politics in First Peoples Communities, social issues, treaties and agreements, and community development.

The other aim of the program is to educate Canadians who want to learn about First Peoples, and First Peoples who want to learn more about their own cultures.

“I think this is a nice thing because it’s about the non-Natives learning about us as much as we want to learn about ourselves. With that, I think the program is really unique because it’s going help deal with issues people may not know, may misunderstand, or at least want more information on,” explained Hele, who is an Anishnabee Ojibwa who grew up on the Garden River First Nation located in Northern Ontario.

“It’s been really popular,” explained assistant professor Louellyn White, a Kanien’kehaka from the Mohawk Valley in New York.
When classes were first offered in the fall of 2010, White had full enrollement of around 30 students for Intro to First Peoples Studies.

“Students were still trying to get in. I got emails every day,” said White.

Twenty-four-year-old Kanien’kehaka Ashley Wahiaronkwas Morris was one of the lucky students who got into course on Haudenosaunee Peoples. The sociology graduate from the Kanien’keha:ka First Nation of Kahnawake learned a great deal.

“What I learned [were] different historical facts in both Canada and the U.S. I thought that was very important, because I didn’t know a lot of it before, so I broadened my knowledge. I also learned how to look at cultural teachings in a more analytical way, to look at them differently and to not just take them at face value ... but to actually think about them critically.”

The idea for the First People’s program was initiated in 2001 by Concordia University’s Centre for Native Education.

For more information on the courses being offered visit  http://scpa-eapc.concordia.ca/en/undergraduate-programs/major-in-first-p...