Pathways to Reconciliation: the Kitcisakik Land-Based Education Initiative

ABSTRACT

Grounded in settler colonialism and resurgence, this paper presents multiple accounts gleaned from students who underwent experiential ways of learning about Indigenous cultures and sociopolitical issues through a land-based education experience considered as a contribution to building reconciliation. For over 8 years, the semi-nomadic community of Kitcisakik in Western Québec has received non-Indigenous students to experience living ‘off the land’ and share Anicinape ways. Originally inspired by a community desire to share and transmit Anicinape culture while re-appropriating wider territories of their ‘occupied’ ancestral land, this became a grassroots social economy initiative, offering 4- to 10- day educational trips for students. In addition to encouraging cultural dialogue and mutual respect, the initiative exemplifies the benefits of Indigenous learning pedagogies that are both experiential and land-based. Students describe how they physically and spiritually encounter Indigenous resilience via a confrontation of the neocolonial intricacies evident in contemporary Canada. Such critical self-reflection is necessary in Canada’s nascent era of decolonization.

RÉSUMÉ

Fondé sur le colonialisme de peuplement et la résurgence, le présent article présente de nombreux témoignages d’étudiants ayant expérimenté des méthodes d’apprentissage empiriques des cultures autochtones et des enjeux sociopolitiques par l’entremise d’une expérience pédagogique mettant en valeur le territoire et qui est considérée comme une contribution à la réconciliation. Depuis plus de 8 ans, la communauté semi-nomade de Kitcisakik, dans l’ouest du Québec, a accueilli des étudiants étrangers venus découvrir comment on peut vivre de la terre et apprendre les traditions Anicinapes. Inspirée à l’origine par le désir de la communauté de partager et transmettre la culture Anicinape tout en se réappropriant des territoires plus vastes de leur terre ancestrale « occupée », cette initiative est devenue une initiative d’économie sociale de base proposant des voyages éducatifs de 4 à 10 jours aux étudiants. En plus d’encourager le dialogue culturel et le respect mutuel, cette initiative illustre les avantages des pédagogies d’apprentissage natives aussi bien empiriques qu’axées sur le territoire. Les éléves décrivent leur rencontre physique et spirituelle avec la résilience autochtone par le biais d’une confrontation avec les subtilités néocoloniales évidentes dans le Canada contemporain. Cette introspection essentielle est indispensable à l’ére naissante de la décolonisation du Canada.

KEYWORDS:

• Land-based Education
• resurgence
• indigenous
• adherence
• youth

MOTS-CLÉS:

• éducation basée sur la terre
• résurgence
• indigéne
• réconciliation
• jeunesse

Acknowledgments

We are extremely grateful to all community members who participate in this working collaboration and research. We also wish to thank the Michaëlle Jean Centre for Global and Community Engagement from the University of Ottawa for their continued support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Cégep is a step program between secondary school and university provided in Québec’s education system. It stands for Collège d’enseignement général et professionnel.

2. ‘The Anicinape community of Kitcisakik has lived since time immemorial on their ancestral lands […] The community is governed by a Band council composed of a Chief and three councillors [sic] elected according to local custom. The members of the Kitcisakik community have long been considered as “squatters” on their own territory and do not have reserve status under the Indian Act’ (Algonquing-Anishinabeg-Nation, 2018).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Alex Trebek Innovation and Challenge Fundfrom Michaëlle Jean Centre for Global and Community Engagement.