The Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) is pleased to offer the online Indigenous cultural awareness course “The Path: Your Journey Through Indigenous Canada”, created by NVision–a majority Indigenous-owned consulting company dedicated to empowering Indigenous communities.

The Path is an acclaimed six-module course on the history and contemporary realities of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis from coast-to-coast-to-coast. It has recently been updated with a more interactive format and new information on land acknowledgements, unmarked graves, urban Indigenous realities, and Canada’s United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. This version of The Path will also include a section on CIP’s reconciliation journey and the work we are undertaking to advance reconciliation efforts within the planning profession.

The modules cover the following topics:

  • “Name Calling” introduces participants to the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis of Canada, and debunks many of the stereotypes that shape perceptions of them.
  • “Land, People, and Stories” looks at the historical and cultural roots of the First Nation and Inuit societies that have existed here for thousands of years, and the emergence of Métis as a distinct people.
  • “Canada’s Colonial History” traces the tangled path of Indigenous/Crown history, from first contact through the historic treaties, right up to the events that shape their rapidly evolving relationship today.
  • “Contemporary Realities” explains how the events of the past have shaped contemporary Indigenous life and reality and continue to challenge modern Indigenous communities. 
  • “Relationship Building” explores the ways in which Indigenous society remains deeply rooted in rich and diverse cultural values and traditions, and how understanding those can build positive individual and inter-societal communication and relationships.
  • “Towards Truth and Reconciliation”, the final module, examines and celebrates the milestones marking legal and social progress over the last two decades, while looking ahead at the work still to be done. 

In offering The Path, CIP is working to support the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s (TRC) 94 Calls to Action, with a specific focus on Call #57  to provide skills-based training and education for those working in all levels of government and Call #92 for those working in private practice and the corporate sector to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a reconciliation framework and apply its principles to corporate policy and operational activities. CIP also supports the TRC’s broader Calls to Action on Education for Reconciliation, with the goal of stronger education for people across Canada.

This course is eligible for six unstructured and self-reported continuous professional learning (CPL) credits. In addition to CPL credits, you will also receive a certificate of completion from the online platform and a CIP digital badge. This badge verifies the skills that you have gained by completing this course and it can be easily added to your LinkedIn profile, email signature, website, and more!