This Winter/Spring, our class cohort attended a five-day intensive Land-Based Study Tour of Ugpi’Ganjig (Eel River Bar First Nation, NB) — hosted by MILBE graduate Jasmine LaBillois, her family, and community members. This Study Tour enabled our cohort, to engage through an experiential learning style, with the community of Ugpi’Ganjig, its members, and the surrounding Lands and Waters.
During this time, we were able to participate in and observe several Land-Based activities, including Maple Boiling, Black Ash pounding and basket weaving, as well as medicinal salve and tea preparation. We were also very fortunate to participate in several ceremonies including a Full Moon Ceremony and a Sweat Lodge Ceremony.
Maple boiling with Everett
Medicinal salve preparation
Black Ash Pounding Demonstration with Chad (L) and Harry (R)
Additionally, during our trip, we spent a morning with a Grade One class and Elder Becky LaBillois at the Msit No’kmaq Forest & Nature School – an Early Childhood Land-Based Education site located within the community. Through these experiences, we were able to examine the ways localized environments (i.e. surrounding land, water, air, plants, animals, etc.) can inform language, cultural teachings, and Land-Based practises.
From this study tour, we were able to establish a deeper understanding and awareness of Mi’kmaw knowledge systems, worldviews, and theory, while considering the integration, application and development of Indigenous Land-Based knowledge in the curriculum of early years students.
As part of our programs commitment to providing the communities we visit with a reciprocal exchange of knowledge and/or labour, our host and community members requested our cohort come together to combine our academic and professional knowledge, to build a skeletal framework for a four-week certificate that introduces Educators to the theory and praxis of Early Childhood Land-Based Education.
This work would ultimately help to support the Msit No’kmaq Forest & Nature School and its facilitators, by helping to better prepare and equip attending parents, Educational Assistants, and Educators through ensuring they can effectively support and facilitate Land-Based learning needs, objectives, and outcomes.
During our time in Ugpi’Ganjig, I was struck by the views that felt like the coastal version of home — landscapes, shorelines, and waters with elements that were both foreign and at times familiar. I found moments to sneak in some art via our course’s journalling assignment, which required us to complete several Land-Based observations and reflections during our stay.
