CERTIFICATE IN RECONCILIATION STUDIES

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.

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PROGRAMS / RECONCILIATION STUDIES

Truth-Telling and Reconciling with Indigenous Peoples

Learn together about the history, culture, and worldview of our Indigenous friends and neighbours.

Take 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.

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.

Semester 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 semesters 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 will offer Semester One in the fall and Semester Two in the spring each year starting in 2024/25. 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

9 CREDIT HOURS

RS 5400

RS 5190

James Bay Learning Tour (6 c/h)

DR. CECIL CHABOT AND ANDY WOOD

Reconciliation Studies Practicum (3 c/h)

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

MORE INFO >>

RS Semester and Course Sequencing

Certificate Course Descriptions

WABANAKI NATIONS, DECOLONIZATION, RECONCILIATION | DR. IMELDA PERLEY AND DR. DAVID PERLEY | 3 CREDIT HOURS

SEMESTER ONE

This land-based gathering/course will analyze the contemporary situation of Wabanaki people within Atlantic Canada in the context of their cultural traditions and the historical interactions between Wabanaki people and European settlers. The analysis will include Wabanaki perspectives relating to reconciliation within the New Brunswick context.

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.

FROM THE TRC TO RECONCILI-ACTION | ANDY WOOD AND DR. WALTER THIESSEN | 3 CREDIT HOURS

SEMESTER ONE

This course, taught by Walter Thiessen, Andy Wood and several guest speakers, will explore how we “look back to move forward.” It will include topics such as the TRC and Calls to Action, intergenerational trauma and healing, Indigenous art and literature, Indigenous ways of knowing, economic understandings and sustainability, Indigenous & Canadian law, and connecting on social and systemic challenges (water, poverty, etc.).

JAMES BAY LEARNING TOUR | DR. CECIL CHABOT AND ANDY WOOD | 6 CREDIT HOURS

SEMESTER TWO

This course will be anchored in a learning tour to Moosonee and Moose Factory, on the coast of James Bay, in the homeland of the Moose Cree. Students will participate in the Šawelihcikewin International Knowledge Keepers Gathering, one of the main events in a year-long commemoration of “More Than 350 in the Making: Moose Factory in Omushkego Aski, from Time Immemorial to 1673 to 2023.” Through a variety of learning opportunities including lectures, storytelling, historical tours, film, sharing circles, cultural events and more, students will explore Cree and intercultural concepts of reciprocity, hospitality, kinship, climate, land-based knowledge and more.

GO TO FULL SSU COURSE LIST

RS Course Descriptions

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:

Judith Moses (St. Andrews, NB)
Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux (Thunder Bay, ON)
Kyle Mason (Winnipeg, MB)
Roland Sappier (Fredericton, NB)
David Perley (Tobique, NB)
Imelda Perley (Tobique, NB)

PRINCIPLES & VALUES

Read SSU's commitment to this program

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.”

The Peskotomuhkati Nation

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