The University of Alberta is offering a new free online course to highlight the history and accomplishments of Black Canadians.
Called Black Canadians: History, Presence, and Anti-Racist Futures, the course will explore topics like systemic racism and unconscious racial bias in Canadian institutions.
The course became available Friday.
Course director Andy Knight, a political scientist at the U of A and provost fellow in Black excellence and leadership, spoke with Radio Active host Jessica Ng about the four-module course.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q. What knowledge gap did you want to address with this course?
Many people aren’t aware of the history and the presence of Black Canadians. And we thought it would be useful to have a course like this to fill gaps in knowledge about Black migration, community building, activism and the ways in which Canada’s Black people have contributed to the making of what we call the Canadian multicultural mosaic.
The idea came to me after George Floyd died in the spring of 2020, when he was murdered by white police officer Derek Chauvin in Minnesota.
Radio Active9:43A new open online course is added to the U of A’s growing list
Black Canadians: History, Presence and Anti-Racist Futures joins the growing list of free courses from U of A. Andy Knight is a political scientist and a provost fellow in Black excellence and leadership. He developed the course.
When we saw this on television, we were just appalled by how this Black man was treated. It made me realize the legacy of slavery that remains with us today so we thought it was a good time to explore the history of it and what that’s done to people of colour in North America and particularly in Canada.
Another thing we tried to do with this course is elevate and pay attention to the contributions that Black people have made in Canada. We hear a lot about civil rights leaders in the U.S. like Martin Luther King Jr. but sometimes people don’t know anything about their own civil rights leaders and individuals who stood up to racism.
The course is hopefully opening up the eyes of all Canadians to Black history, Black presence and anti-racist futures that we hope to attain as we counter instances of racism, systemic racism as well as unconscious bias.
Q. How is the course structured?
It has four main modules and it’s offered on a platform called Coursera, the U.S.-based massive open online course provider.
It’s open to everyone, not just limited to Black people.
There’s no limitation in start and end times, but you can easily complete it in four to six weeks.
Q. What more would you like to see be done to elevate Black history in Canada?
My hope is that this course will lead to elevation of the scholarship and the ideas of Black scholars, creatives and philosophers to the point where they’re treated with equity at the same level of white Canadians and people of different colours. I think this is a good way to begin that process.
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
