Skip to Content
textbox background Search

COURSES

   

Register Now

FNST 040
First Nations Studies II

0 Credit

Description

First Nations Studies 040 is a Social Science course at the ABE Provincial level, equivalent to Grade 12 Social Studies. This course deals with various issues facing First Nations communities with a focus on First Nations in B.C.

Delivery Method

Delivery is self-paced, allowing you the flexibility to proceed through the course according to your own schedule. TRU-Open Learning has no admission requirements and you can register for this course at any time.

Prerequisites

ENGL 028 , English 11 or equivalent skills.

Objectives

This course has two main objectives:

  1. To provide students with information to help them understand the various issues facing First Nations communities today, and to provide a framework for examining the numerous changes that have affected traditional First Nations lifestyles.
  2. To provide students with opportunities to develop Social Science skills at the Provincial level:
  • Citizenship--intelligent participation in social, economic, and political events. First Nations students of today will probably be directly involved in policy-making of the near future. By understanding how past policies affect their communities, they are better able to participate effectively. Non-aboriginal students are more likely to support First Nations efforts at change if they, too, understand the issues and their relationship to the larger issue of social justice.
  • Perspective--ability to evaluate events in the larger contexts of history, geography, politics, etc. This course shows how past ideologies have affected First Nations communities.
  • Critical thinking--this course encourages a balanced and systematic approach to forming opinions. Students will examine the assumptions and stereotypes implicit in many mainstream histories and social policies.
  • Value analysis--FNST 040 looks at how value systems translate into actions. Students will have the opportunity to examine the particular strengths of First Nations communities and institutions, while examining their own values in the process.
  • Lifelong learning skills--will be encouraged by showing the relevance of history to present events and systems, and by exposing students to specific resources they can explore further.

Course Outline

These modules are your guide to working through the course. There are eight modules. Each of them is devoted to a particular topic area as follows:

  1. Early Contacts and the French Regime in Eastern Canada: This module provides a brief introduction to the early history of Canada from a First Nations point of view. It includes some early contacts between First Nations people and Europeans on the east coast of Canada, and the different alliances between the eastern First Nations and the French.
  2. British Rule and Colonization of the West: looks at the relationship between the British and First Nations, including an examination of the post-confederation treaties, how they were negotiated, and what they might mean today.
  3. British Columbia: Contact and Settlement: begins with the fur trade, then goes on to discuss the Douglas Treaties, early settlement, the gold rush, BC's land settlement policies, the Chilcotin War, and finally the role the missionaries played in colonization.
  4. British Columbia: The Land Question: begins with a look at the BC colonial government's policies on aboriginal land claims and the tug-of-war between BC and the federal government over reserve land allocations from the 1860s to the end of the century. The second part of the module looks at land claims issues, focusing on the Nisga'a as one example.
  5. First Nations Economics and Resource Management: looks at how the colonization of other First Nations resources has paralleled colonization of the land, and also at the ways First Nations have resisted this colonization, regaining some of their traditional rights.
  6. Modern Agents of Colonialism: Child Welfare System: looks at residential schools and the child welfare system as tools of colonialism. The second part of the module shows ways that the child welfare system can be decolonized, with emphasis on services, programs, and policies that give decision-making power to First Nations communities.
  7. Modern Agents of Colonialism: Criminal Justice and Education Systems: looks at inequities for First Nations people in the criminal justice and education systems, and at some culturally sensitive programs, many developed by or co-operatively with First Nations, that are helping to reverse the situations.
  8. Toward Self-Determination: examines several watershed events over the past three decades (the White Paper, repatriation of the Canadian Constitution, the Oka crisis, and the rejection of the Meech Lake Accord); contemporary models of aboriginal self-government; and examples of First Nations leadership.

Maximum Completion

30 weeks maximum completion. Students may choose to complete a course in less than the allowed maximum time.

Required Text and Materials

  1. Brody, Hugh. Maps and Dreams. Douglas & McIntyre,
    Type: Textbook: ISBN: 0-88894-593-0
  1. York, Geoffrey. The Dispossessed. McArthur & Company,
    Type: Textbook: ISBN: 1-55278-061-9

Brody, Hugh Maps and Dreams; York, Geoffrey The Dispossessed. Note: If you have already completed FNST 030, you will not need to order textbooks for FNST 040. The same textbooks are used in both courses.

The components of this course are as follows:

  • Textbooks
  • Course Manual
  • Modules 1-8
  • Assignment file
  • Video tapes

Additional Requirements

A videocassette player (VCR).

Open Learning Faculty Member Information

A course tutor is available to assist students, usually by phone and mail. The course package normally includes a welcome letter stating the tutor's name, address, phone number, and office hours.

Assessment

Your grade for assigned work will be made up as follows:

Assignments 67%
Participation 8%
Final exam 25%
Total 100%

General assignment description:

Questions, adding up to 100 marks, will be included at the end of six of the eight modules. The assignment for Modules 1 and 2 (Assignment 1) is submitted at the end of Module 2, and the assignment for Modules 6 and 7 (Assignment 5) is submitted at the end of Module 7. Assignments are usually 50% short answer questions, 35-40% short essays or point-form responses, and 10-15% discussion. Assignment 6, however, at the end of Module 8, is mainly a research project based on a current event involving First Nations people--locally, provincially, or federally. The information will be analyzed in terms of the concepts presented in this course.

Individual centres may choose activities/assignments more suited to the needs of their particular communities.

You will be given a grade for the above assigned work and this grade will contribute 75% to your final grade for the course. The remaining 25% will come from your final exam which you will write at the end of your course work. You must pass the final examination in order to pass this course.

Exam: examination sessions are held every month. Your permitted exam sessions will be listed in your course welcome letter.



(back to top)