How this knowledge keeper is sharing traditional Indigenous teachings with Regina students

This story originally published on June 21, 2023.

A Regina program is offering students an opportunity to earn school credits while learning Indigenous culture and practices.

Planning for Miskasowin askihk, Campus Regina Public's land-based program, started back in September of 2022.

Students spend four hours a day for one semester getting hands-on outdoor experiences.

This program, run in partnership with Regina Public Schools and the University of Regina, lets students earn high school and university credits.

The most recent semester had about a dozen students. Their last class of the term was at the Echo Valley Provincial Park, where they set up camp and learned from Gary Gott.

Gott is an advisor and teacher's aide with the program. He shares knowledge he learned from his grandparents and relatives.

"It's basically finding yourself or finding oneself on the land, and finding a connection to the land and how you connect to it in your own way," Gott said. "We educate these students on what we know from the scientific perspective and also from the spiritual and cultural perspective."

WATCH| Land-based learning teaches students Indigenous perspective on science, culture, and spiritual elements: 

Land-based learning teaches students Indigenous perspective on science, culture, and spiritual elements

1 year ago

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Students from Regina Public Schools enrolled in a land-based learning program are benefitting from hands-on, outdoor learning. Knowledge keeper Gary Gott is sharing traditional teachings about medicinal plants, speaking Cree, and tanning hides.

Students learn how to set up their tents properly, chop wood, cook food over a fire, canoe, and learn about plants and medicines while hiking.

"I'll be going for a hike and also exploring some of the properties of some of the medicines or some of the plants and leaf matter that exists all around us as well. And maybe a little bit into spirituality and a little bit into a the role of glaciers and in the formation of this land," Gott said.

Leah Prosper, a 17-year-old Grade 12 student at Balfour Collegiate in Regina, applied because she wanted experiences she didn't get growing up in the city.

She said one of her favourite things to do so far in the program was hide tanning. It was hard, but she loved to learn something her ancestors have been doing for hundreds of years.

She said it can sometimes be difficult going to school because of the treatment some Indigenous students get from teachers and others.

"The curriculum, you know, there's always like a little bit of racism in it. So like this, it's a reason for us to be proud, I guess, and to find a reason to actually love education rather than dread going to school every day."

Darius Matechuk, 16, also attends Balfour Collegiate as a Grade 11 student. He wanted to learn more about himself and where he comes from.

Matechuk said he loved that he learn to speak his language and get a university credit in Cree 100 along the way. He now knows some Cree phrases to introduce himself.

"I love learning about myself and learning the skills to find out more of who you are," said Matechuk.