Students from several schools across the country recently stepped out of the classroom for land-based learning activities. Anishinabek News reports that a group of Westgate Collegiate & Vocational Institute students made moose and bison burgers as part of a program hosted by the Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre. In Northern Saskatchewan, Clearwater River Dene School students took part in a fish camp led by land-based educator Paul Haynes. “I think it motivates kids more to come to school and they know that they have to get their work done if they want to go out and do stuff with Paul,” said CRDS Teachers Assistant Eden Fontaine. At the University of Waterloo, science students took part in a four-day Traditional Medicines Land-Based Field Course on the lands near Alderville First Nation, where they worked with Anishinaabe Elders and facilitators, created medicine boxes, and took part in a sacred healing ceremony in a traditional sweat lodge. The University of Saskatchewan’s Indian Teacher Education Program also hosted a series of land-based sessions over the last school year where K-12 students learned about topics like bison teachings, honour sacrifice, and using education for the good of others.
