University of Alberta course focused on Indigenous history seeing spike in enrolment following residential school discoveries

WINNIPEG -

A free online course offered by the University of Alberta focused on "Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada" has seen a spike in enrolment in recent weeks.

The Faculty of Native Studies is offering a 12-lesson online course called Indigenous Canada.

The school says the program, "explores key issues facing Indigenous people today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations."

A spokesperson said for the U of A said this program has been available to anyone since 2017 and its popularity has grown since then due to world events and interest from celebrities such as Dan Levy.

The spokesperson added the school saw a giant spike in enrolment since the discovery of the mass graves in Kamloops, where 215 children from an area residential school were found.

"The week after the discovery, registration went from its normal steady 1,000–2,000 new enrolments per week to over 40,000 new enrolments," the spokesperson said in an email to CTV News.

The course takes roughly 21 hours according to the school and it is flexible based on each person's schedule.

While the spokesperson said they don't know the enrolment numbers per province, they said the course is popular around the world.

"Canada is obviously where it's most popular, followed by the United States," the spokesperson said

For those who want to participate in the course, registration is always open and people can enrol at any time.

People can sign up for the course online.