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New online courses on Aboriginal issues

The University of Sudbury and Trent University have partnered together to create and offer two new online courses, the first of their kind in Canada, aimed at bridging the knowledge gap on urban Aboriginal issues.
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The University of Sudbury and Trent University have partnered together to create and offer two new online courses, the first of their kind in Canada, aimed at bridging the knowledge gap on urban Aboriginal issues. Supplied photo.
The University of Sudbury and Trent University have partnered together to create and offer two new online courses, the first of their kind in Canada, aimed at bridging the knowledge gap on urban Aboriginal issues.

The two universities will alternate the delivery of the courses over the next five years, with Trent University offering the courses for the 2015-2016 academic year.

"There are very few courses in Canada that deal with urban Aboriginal issues and as the majority of Aboriginal people now live in cities it is very important that research and teaching now focus in this area.” said Dr. Kevin Fitzmaurice, a faculty member at the University of Sudbury’s Indigenous Studies Department in a news release.

"As the courses will be offered right across Canada, we anticipate students from many other universities as well as from more remote Aboriginal communities where on-line courses make universities much more accessible. Students from Laurentian, Toronto, York, and Ryerson should be especially interested in these courses because of their Sudbury and Toronto content."

Beginning in September 2015, Indigenous Peoples in Urban Centers will be accessible online to students across Canada.

The course will be drawn from two major studies on urban Aboriginal experience: the Toronto Aboriginal Research Project (TARP), the largest study ever done on Aboriginal people in the city of Toronto; and the Urban Aboriginal Task Force (UATF), which examined Aboriginal issues in five Ontario cities, including Sudbury.

The second course, Indigenous Peoples City as Home, will be available in January 2016, and will be a comparative study of urban Aboriginal people in Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand.

“I am very excited about the development and teaching of these courses, they are incorporating some of the most up-to-date and extensive scholarly research on this subject in conjunction with a diversity of video guest interviews with key leaders and practitioners in the urban Aboriginal community.” said Fitzmaurice.

"It's important, especially in light of the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, that people have a better understanding of the issues facing urban Aboriginal people," said Dr. McCaskill, professor of Indigenous Studies at Trent University.

"These courses are filling an important knowledge gap."

The new courses are funded through a province-wide COU / MTCU grant.

For more information on the online courses which will be offered this year by Trent University please see: www.trentu.ca/indigenousstudies

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