Working with Indigenous Communities

Overview

Course description

This course focuses students on developing a professional identity by examining personal ethics, Indigenous values, experiences, and worldviews. Students will develop a critical understanding of the role of diversity, self-determination, social and economic justice, and power relations in forming strong and healthy communities. Students will use critical thinking concepts to explore and reflect on historical and current perspectives when engaging in ethical decision-making. Legal, political, social and cultural connotations around self-determination for Indigenous peoples are considered.

Course content

The following Indigenous principles guide the design and delivery of this course:

Social and economic justice, appreciation of diversity, respect for protocol, encouragement and respect for self-determination, the ethical use of power, and the absence of violence combine to form strong and healthy communities.
Through collaborative work and a return to Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing, Indigenous communities have power, the capacity to effect change, and the ability to care for their members.
Critical thinking and effective articulation of ideas in various formats and settings are essential to effective community involvement.
Ethical decision-making requires continual reflection, commitment to Truth and Reconciliation, and decolonization.
Understand Indigenous-led community practices of care.

Learning activities

Lecture
Group work
Student presentations
Guest speakers
Audio-visual presentations

All methods of instruction apply to in class, hybrid and/or online modes of learning.

Means of assessment

This course will conform to the Douglas College Evaluation Policy regarding the number and weighting of evaluations.

Written assignments
Group presentations
Self assessment
Classroom activity participation
Other

This is a letter-graded course. Students who wish to use this course in the CYC program are required to obtain a minimum grade of 60% (C) to use as a prerequiste course within the diploma or degree.

Instructors may use a student’s record of attendance and/or level of active participation as part of the student’s graded performance. Expectations and grade calculations regarding class attendance and participation will be clearly defined in the instructor course outline.

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

Summarize the impact of personal, cultural, professional and societal values on their work in the Indigenous community.
Examine the characteristics of a healthy Indigenous community.
Articulate social justice and diversity issues and how to apply ethics to them.
Explain how experiences of oppression and power apply to Indigenous populations.
Assess and apply models of critical thinking in written and oral forms.

Textbook materials

Textbooks and materials are to be purchased by students. A list of required textbooks and materials is provided for students at the beginning of the semester.

Requisites

Prerequisites

Course is restricted to Indigenous Pathway students. Students from other programs, please contact coordinator for registration.

Corequisites

None

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

September 2026 (Current)

Course Transfers to Other Institutions

Below are current transfer agreements from Douglas College to other institutions for the current course guidelines only. For a full list of transfer details and archived courses, please see the BC Transfer Guide.

Institution	Transfer details for CYCC 1112
There are no applicable transfer credits for this course.