Bush Kids NWT
Based in Yellowknife, we provide training and mentorship to educators to bring their practice outdoors. We envision all educators in the NWT spending time connecting with nature and community as a regular and integrated part of their practice. Bushkids offers mentorships to teachers, with their students, to help them to feel comfortable implementing on-the-Land learning into their pedagogical approaches delivered in the public school system. Land led learning should be accessible to all children and youth. We are grounded in a Land-based philosophy where Indigenous and Euro-western world views co-exist in a mutually respectful and welcoming space (i.e. “ethical space”).
Ni Hat’ni Dene Youth Program
Ni Hat’ni Dene is a network of Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation members, young and old, who serve as the stewards of Thaidene Nëné. An important responsibility of Ni Hat’ni Dene guardians is the transmission of knowledge to younger generations. Each summer, interns aged 18-24 join crews led by senior guardians. As they spend time on the land and water, interns learn about navigation, harvesting, reading the weather, language, and safety in the Dene way (by doing). This intergenerational transfer of knowledge ensures our rights and responsibilities as Łutsël K’é Dene in the stewardship of Thaidene Nëné will continue to be recognized and exercised into the future.
Supporting Wellbeing
Supporting Wellbeing provides tools and resources for individuals who deliver land-based programming, helping equip them to mitigate and respond to mental health challenges while on-the-land. The program was designed by and for Northern, Indigenous, land-based programmers.