Program coordinator: Dr. Douglas Wharram

The Minor in Aboriginal Studies is a multi-disciplinary program offered to candidates for the degrees of Bachelor of Arts. The Minor program is an alternative to a Minor offered by a single department and satisfies the degree requirement for a Minor.

For many years, the place of Aboriginal peoples in Canadian culture and history has been undervalued. Indeed, the persistent assertion that Canada is the product of "two founding nations," French and English, is a striking reminder of this perception. Within the past thirty years, however, this lack of awareness on the part of the larger society has begun to change - in part because of the demands of Aboriginal people that their legitimate claims be recognized. For example, there are daily reminders in the media of

past and present injustices, as well as increasing calls for recognition of aboriginal rights and the settlement of outstanding land claims. We believe that by bringing the Native experience to the fore, the proposed minor in Aboriginal Studies will help to put these issues in the context needed to understand them. This is an interdisciplinary program that has been designed to promote understanding of Native peoples, in particular those inhabiting Newfoundland and Labrador, their traditions and the historical roots of the complex issues that need to be resolved. We suggest that a minor in Aboriginal Studies will prove useful to any university graduate who wishes to have a fuller understanding of her or his country. Moreover, the perspective taken in the program will be especially useful for prospective teachers who will need to explain aboriginal issues to their classes, and it will also be valuable for students planning a career in social services, management, law, administration, health care delivery, forestry, and mining - just to name a few.

The university currently employs a number of faculty members - in the fields of Education, History, Linguistics, Anthropology/Archeology, English, and Social Work, who both publish and teach in the area of Aboriginal studies. In fact, the number of courses presently offered by these instructors would easily meet the requirement of an Arts minor. By bringing these courses together in the form of a minor, we can signal the importance of Aboriginal studies to our students and to the public.