Dan Levy encourages everyone to take U of A ‘Indigenous Canada’ class with him

Dan Levy is going back to school and is inviting everyone to sit with him at lunch. Metaphorically, at least. The writer, actor and newly-nominated Emmy hopeful is helping to bring awareness to an online course currently available through the University of Alberta, which teaches the history of Indigenous people in the land colonially known as Canada and explores contemporary issues from an Indigenous perspective.Sharing information about the course on his Instagram page on August 17, Levy announced that he will be starting the course this upcoming weekend and hosting weekly discussions with the professors every Sunday for the 12-week duration. The discussions and Q&A segments will be shared on Levy’s social media page and begin Sunday, August 23 at 3 p.m. ET.“I thought, if I’m going to sign up and learn, maybe some other people would want to join me and we could do this as a group,” said Levy in his IG video. “If you’re anything like me, I was not a good student and I need group support. I thought this could be a really great way of doing that.” As of press time, almost 92,400 students had enrolled in the course.

 

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I’ve just signed up for a (free) course being offered through the University of Alberta called Indigenous Canada. It’s a 12 lesson course that explores Indigenous histories and contemporary issues from an Indigenous perspective. I will be hosting weekly discussions with the Profs every Sunday for 12 weeks with the hope that we can all learn together. Sign up via link in my bio!

A post shared by Dan Levy (@instadanjlevy) on Aug 17, 2020 at 6:47pm PDT

Indigenous Canada is an online course offered through U of A and is open to all, can be completed for free, or students can pay a small fee to receive a certificate once they have completed the course (U of A students can also earn a course credit). The 12-week course is described as looking at history from an Indigenous perspective and exploring “key issues facing Indigenous peoples today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations.” Topics include fur trade and other exchange relationships, land claims and environmental impacts, legal systems and rights, and contemporary Indigenous life, art and its expressions.[video_embed id='2015738']RELATED: Indigenous writers are reshaping North American literature [/video_embed]Levy, who noted that the course is open to anyone inside and outside of Canada, added that the events of the past eight months have been a clear reminder that if we fail to know our history, we are doomed to repeat it. “If 2020 has taught us anything it’s that we actively need to relearn history, history that wasn’t taught to us in school, to better understand and contextualize our lives and how we can better support and be of service to each other.”Levy’s return to "school" is one of the many ways the Schitt’s Creek creator is staying productive during quarantine. Also on Monday, the first trailer for HBO’s Coastal Elites was released, which stars Levy alongside Issa Rae, Bette Midler, Sarah Paulson and Kaitlyn Dever, in a COVID-inspired satirical dramedy set during the ongoing pandemic. Each actor filmed their scenes in isolation and played characters whose lives have been affected by the pandemic, as well as the recent globalization of the Black Lives Matter movement and the ongoing presidency of Donald Trump. So, more than ever, they play people just like us.Coastal Elites premieres Saturday, September 12 at 8ET on Crave in Canada.[video_embed id='2010201']BEFORE YOU GO: The importance of Indigenous women supporting each other [/video_embed]