Local elders have teamed up with an Edmonton college to teach the Internet about aboriginals.
Staff at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) launched their first-ever online Aboriginal Awareness course last week. The course, developed in partnership with the Michif Institute in St. Albert, uses video and first-person accounts to teach people about Inuit, Métis and First Nations' culture.
NAIT has a growing aboriginal population, says Bill McMullen, the course organizer, so it's created this course to help staff and students work better with them. "We wanted to find some way to support our aboriginal students."
With the help of writers, videographers and three area elders — including Michif patron, former senator Thelma Chalifoux — the college has prepared a detailed primer on everything from honour songs to Inuit facial expressions that teachers and students may encounter in the classroom. The course is only open to staff right now, McMullen says, but will soon be available to students and the public.
This course was written and designed entirely by aboriginals, says Chalifoux, and took three years to complete. "What an exciting project — that we can bring this kind of education to the world [is] long overdue."
Bridging the gap
Many aboriginal students come from remote communities, Chalifoux notes, and face a huge culture gap when they come to a university. The government has many programs to help immigrants overcome their culture shock, she says, but none for people moving within Canada.
"They have absolutely no idea of the difference between rural and urban life," she says. "It's the same as having a person from Africa over here … and dumping them in the middle of Edmonton."
This can lead to unintentional tensions in the classroom, notes Sharon Morin, who works at the Michif. Say an Inuit student was constantly wrinkling her nose at you during a conversation, for example. You might think she's offended, but she's actually speaking to you — to the Inuit, wrinkling your nose is like shaking your head to say "no."
Likewise that same student may be offended if a teacher points at her and asks her to speak. "Pointing your finger at an Inuit person is like saying, 'you need to die,'" Morin explains. It's also a very quiet culture, meaning the student is less likely to speak out in class.
The course features numerous videos of the three area elders explaining these and other concepts, including the medicine wheel, the Métis sash, and the importance of elders. It also includes samples of common Cree words used in the classroom.
First-person accounts offer detailed pictures of aboriginal life. "I would like you to picture this," Chalifoux writes in one piece. "Mama washing clothes over a washboard and a tub; the boys chopping wood and hauling it in to get the fire going ... Papa is away working. This might sound like a story to you, but this is how it really was in a lot of the homes of the Métis many years ago when I was a little girl."
The course is a living history project in a lot of ways, McMullen says. Much of aboriginal culture is oral, so very little of these traditions have been written down. "This kind of knowledge is going to be lost, and we want to record that and save it."
Chalifoux says she plans to hold online talks with students as the course develops. "Finally, people are going to learn about us."
Chalifoux hopes students learn that aboriginals are a living part of modern Canada. "We're part of Canada," she says. "We're all human beings, and we're not different."
