(This feedback was gathered by ECSU at two sessions that included ECSU board directors, student representatives on University Committees, Graduate students, and Foundation year and other students. Including it here verbatim.) KL
"Pros:
- Everyone is on an even plane regarding learning outcomes. Learn great context surrounding the subject.
- Learn how to respectfully ask about cultures in order to learn more.
- Would support studio class for learning with this historical context.
- For students who are not from/did not grow up in Canada, it would be an interesting subject and may make them think about issues around the world. International students may not have these types of issues in their country. It may be good for students from Canada to learn about this issue within an art context, not just historical.
- There’s a lot of misunderstanding about First Nations peoples. It would be good to explore and interact with First Nations’ present conditions and issues.
- People would learn about the ever-present issues in North America.
- Learn about the culture of the place you are in, gain a better understanding of the place, attitudes, and history. It’s important not to be ignorant of that.
- Learn about cultural appropriation and create an opportunity for dialogue.
Cons:
- Maybe not a course, but incorporated into the curriculum as a whole, e.g. AHIS, Social Sciences. Let us not perpetuate the institution’s habit of treating Indigenous people as “subjects.”
- Shouldn’t be mandatory, but integrated in a broader art history course.
- We should also focus on other groups of people going through the same issue, like Palestine.
- Not everyone is interested in culture, or even specific cultures. They think it does not matter to them. Having it be mandatory seems like it is imposing one ideology to students. Also, a lot of people won’t be able to use what they learned because it’s considered cultural appropriation.
- Some students feel as if it is irrelevant to their major.
- Mandatory course could be counter productive
- Some students who have been lucky to learn about Indigenous issues in their primary school education might find it repetitive.
- People may not pay attention if it is a forced course and they are not interested. (e.g. Ecological perspectives)
One piece of feedback we received was quite startling. A Foundation student said, “My only exposure to learning about colonization was from [Disney’s] Pocahontas.” This means that they have been studying at Emily Carr for 5.5 months and have not yet learned about colonization or First Nations issues from a different perspective. We cannot allow this experience to be the norm for incoming students if the University is truly committed to integrating Indigenous knowledge into teaching and learning practices. "