“What has changed in terms of your perspective with First Nations people? What has led to this change?”

When this class first started, I had little knowledge about First Nations people and history. I also didn’t know what we would learn in this class. I only knew about residential schools and what Indigenous kids experienced, the scary incidents that happened to Indigenous kids in residential schools. 

BC First Peoples class taught me many things that happened in residential schools and First Nations history. My understanding got much better with this class. We’ve had guest speakers four times throughout this class and each of them contributed to my learning along with what I learned in this class. Mr. Cowie’s presentation during the plant walk taught me how FN people used their resources effectively. In his second visit, I’ve seen traditional activities of First Nations and I had a chance to play as well. Andrea’s visit contributed my learning in terms of stereotypes and behaviours that Indigenous people still face in the society. Her speech was significant to see what they still experience now as an Indigenous person. And for me, most importantly, speech of residential school survivor Sam George was very beneficial for my learning and to shape my perspective. He shared his experiences, and how he was treated in residential school with us. It directly changed my perspective and I learned everything more deeply by listening to a survivor. On the other hand, there are many more things I learned throughout this class besides learning about residential schools. This class taught me about the culture, and traditions of First Nations and fur trading which I had no idea about before this class. I also learned the topographic features of BC. I didn’t know these before this class.

In general, all of these topics that we went through has changed my perspective on First Nations. My understanding got much better with this class. 

Core Competency

Collaborating was significant to achieve the success in this class. We had many short group presentations and it’s necessary to talk to people in your group in order to have a good presentation. We also involved in many group discussions and sometimes we worked together for handouts.