Certificate in
Reconciliation Studies
EARN A CERTIFICATE WITH AN EMPHASIS ON TRUTH-TELLING AND RECONCILING WITH INDIGENOUS PEOPLES THROUGH HYBRID ONLINE COURSES AND LAND-BASED LEARNING.
PROGRAMS / RECONCILIATION STUDIES
Truth-Telling and Reconciling with Indigenous Peoples
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Learn together about the history, culture, and worldview of our Indigenous friends and neighbours.
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Explore an honest look at how diverse peoples encountered each other on “Turtle Island” as Europeans began to land and settle here. Become informed about the histories of treaties and our responsibilities.
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Understand the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its Calls to Action. Respond by investigating the possibilities and challenges of reconciliation as we head toward the future together.
Modules and Course Sequencing
The successful completion of the Certificate in Reconciliation Studies requires a total of 18 credit hours. Students therefore need to complete two modules that consist of hybrid online courses, land-based learning, a learning tour in James Bay, and practicum to complete their CRS.
Semester One is the academic core of the Certificate in Reconciliation Studies and consists of 3 hybrid online courses that are centered on a two-week in-person module (offered next in Oct. 14–25, 2024) in St. Stephen, New Brunswick and the Peskotomuhkati Nation’s Camp Chiputneticook. Hybrid online courses combine some online engagement with an intensive in-person module providing experiential, land-based and storytelling approaches to education. One of the courses can be taken entirely online for those not able to attend the fall module. Semester Two consists of a Learning Tour to James Bay (Moosonee and Moose Factory and a practicum in your local community.
Students may start with either semester. Currently, each semester is offered in the fall on a rotating basis, but SSU plans on offering Semester One in the fall and Semester Two in the spring each year. Click on the tabs below to view all components of the program.
9 CREDIT HOURS
RS 5445
RS 5145
RS 5645
Indigenous Sovereignty and the Colonial Legacy (3 c/h)
DR. LAURENS VAN ESCH
Wabanaki Nations, Decolonization, Reconciliation (3 c/h)
DR. IMELDA PERLEY & DR. DAVID PERLEY
From the TRC to Reconcili-Action (3 c/h)
DR. WALTER THIESSEN & ANDY WOOD
THE CRS AT A GLANCE
DURATION — 8 MONTHS (FULL TIME)
CREDIT HOURS — 18
DELIVERY MODE — HYBRID ONLINE COURSES, LAND-BASED LEARNING, STORYTELLING, JAMES BAY LEARNING TOUR, PRACTICUM
EMPHASES — TRUTH-TELLING; TRC AND CALLS TO ACTION; RECONCILIATION; DECOLONIZATION, INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGNTY; HISTORY, CULTURE, AND WORLDVIEW OF OUR INDIGENOUS NEIGHBOURS
Certificate Course Descriptions
INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGNTY AND THE COLONIAL LEGACY | DR. LAURENS VAN ESCH | 3 CREDIT HOURS
SEMESTER ONE
This course will explore historical framework including topics such as pre-contact context, concepts of sovereignty, nation to nation engagement and treaties, traditional worldviews and shifting cultural understandings, types/phases of colonialism, residential schools, and the importance of differing languages/ interpretations. Indigenous knowledge-keepers and storytellers will be invited to share much of the content of the in-person module.
FAQs
PROGRAM ADVISORY COUNCIL
In consultation with Indigenous colleagues, neighbours, and friends, this certificate program is designed to prepare students to commit to an ongoing process of reconciliation as invited by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
An advisory council has been formed to ensure ongoing engagement with, feedback from, and accountability to Indigenous leaders and educators for our new certificate program. Our advisory council currently includes:
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Judith Moses (St. Andrews, NB)
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Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux (Thunder Bay, ON)
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Kyle Mason (Winnipeg, MB)
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Roland Sappier (Fredericton, NB)
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David Perley (Tobique, NB)
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Imelda Perley (Tobique, NB)
PRINCIPLES & VALUES
OUR PARTNERS
St. Stephen’s University is located on the homeland of the Peskotomuhkati (Passamaquoddy) people. We are grateful for their welcome and friendship, and we are always seeking ways in which we can develop our relationship in mutually respectful ways, including our conversations with Chief Hugh Akagi and others about our Reconciliation Studies program. It is a privilege that we are able to locate some of our program on the Peskotomuhkati Nation’s Camp Chiputneticook (15 minutes north of St. Stephen’s University).
We respect the intentions of the Treaties of Peace and Friendship, while acknowledging the many ways in which governments and others have failed to honour their part of those agreements. It is our desire to live up to the responsibility of being “treaty relatives.”
