How can we work towards an education that honours students’ identities, languages, and individual rhythms above all else? What would such an education program look like and feel like in my local context? Where am I in my ongoing journey as an uninvited guest on this territory, learning and educating others? These are some of the many questions I am reflecting on following my recent podcast with Loretta Robinson, a Naskapi and Cree educator from Kawawachikamach, who helped create the Naskapi Niistim outdoor learning program, Competency 15, and the ‘Day on the Land’ professional development session.
During our conversation, Loretta shares stories and reflections from her life, including growing up in Kawawachikamach, gathering medicines with her aunties, and caribou hunting with her father. As a mother, she also expresses her wish to secure the best possible educational opportunities for her child to grow at their own pace and rhythm. She mentions how early on, she observed the impacts the land had on her child and herself as a youth.
These reflections inspired the Naskapi Niistim program—which translates as ‘Naskapi first’—an outdoor learning program for five and six-year-olds built on four pillars: connection to the land, elders and knowledge keepers, community, and knowledge. Rooted in seasonal teachings and the Naskapi language, the program encourages students to connect with and express their emotions and identities.
Loretta reflects on her formal Quebec teacher training and what it means to be a Naskapi educator, saying, “I learned to become a teacher… But when it comes to learning on the land, part of me feels that I’m unlearning how I was taught to be a teacher.” This experience of navigating between Indigenous and Eurocentric systems and worldviews inspired the central metaphor of her master’s research: a canoe navigating two merging rivers. “It always felt like I had to leave my canoe to go paddle the other canoe,” she explains. Loretta included this metaphor when developing Competency 15: Value and promote Indigenous knowledge, worldviews, cultures, and history during her time at the First Nations Education Council. She mentions that the Competency is like an ongoing journey in which teachers move from being the expert to being the learner, and that the point is to continuously reflect on that journey and where you are along the way.
Loretta, alongside community members such as Elder Jacob Mameanskum, organizes a professional development day to nurture Competency 15. The session is called ‘A Day On The Land’. It takes place each fall and offers non-Naskapi educators the opportunity to learn by observing cultural activities and building relationships with community members. Currently, this Day is open to select educators working for the Central Quebec School Board.
Want to learn more? You can tune in to the full episode below. You’ll also find it on more popular podcast platforms.
We also invite you to watch this Wapikoni video to learn more about Naskapi Niistim. You can also open this link to tune in to the song “Akua Tuta” by Kashtin, Florent Vollant, and Claude McKenzie —that Loretta mentioned during the podcast.
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