- traditional territories of the B.C. First Nations and relationships with the land:
Sample topics:
- traditional territories of local First Nations
- Traditional territories may overlap.
- difference between political boundaries and traditional territories
- how the land shapes and influences First Peoples worldview (e.g., stewardship, cultural practices of the land, relationship to language)
- cultural and linguistic diversity that exists among B.C. First Peoples
- role of oral tradition for B.C. First Peoples:
Sample topics:
- Elders as knowledge keepers who share the history of their people and lands
- oral tradition as valid and legal evidence (e.g., Delgamuukw v. B.C., 1997; ownership of property, territory, and political agreements)
- stories, songs, music, and dance as forms of narrative
- Oral tradition shapes identity and connects to the past, present, and future.
- Oral tradition provides guiding principles for living.
- indigenous concept of time (e.g., spiralling versus linear)
- impact of historical exchanges of ideas, practices, and materials among local B.C. First Peoples and with non-indigenous peoples:
Sample topics:
- trade networks and routes
- settlement and migration patterns
- maritime and land fur trade
- exchange of goods, technology, economy, knowledge
- industries (e.g., gold rush, whaling)
- provincial and federal government policies and practices that have affected, and continue to affect, the responses
of B.C. First Peoples to colonialism:
Sample topics:
- Indian Act and its amendments
- enfranchisement
- White Paper, Red Paper (Alberta), Brown Paper (B.C.)
- residential schools, including federal apology, Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Report
- treaties, including fishing and hunting rights
- Sixties Scoop and foster care system
- Canada’s constitution (e.g., Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms)
- UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- resistance of B.C. First Peoples to colonialism:
Sample topics:
- political actions of local and provincial indigenous groups (e.g., Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, Métis Nation British Columbia)
- Tsilhqot'in War
- Gustafsen Lake
- Idle No More
- Judicial cases (e.g., Calder, 1973; Guerin, 1984; Sparrow, 1990; Van der Peet, 1996)
- Cindy Blackstock and the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling
- ecological justice and protests (e.g., pipelines, logging, hydraulic fracturing, liquefied natural gas, hydroelectricity)
- role and significance of media in challenging and supporting the continuity of culture, language, and self-determination
of B.C. First Peoples:
Sample topics:
- portrayal and representation of First Peoples in media
- repatriation and ownership of cultural objects
- ethics of copyright, patent rights, intellectual property, and appropriation
- commonalities and differences between governance systems of traditional and contemporary B.C. First Peoples:
Sample topics:
- traditional governance
- band system
- land claims and self-governance
- contemporary challenges facing B.C. First Peoples, including legacies of colonialism:
Sample topics:
- missing and murdered women
- stereotypes and institutionalized racism
- intergenerational trauma
- judicial and correctional system
- child welfare system