Submitted by Nadine Lefort Manager of Communications & Outreach

On February 14th and 15th, thirty people from NS Department of Education and Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources (UINR) gathered at Ulnooweg’s Asitu’lɨsk for a snowy Wskɨtqamu-based professional learning workshop called Deepening Roots: Reconnecting with Wskɨtqamu.

Participants from NS Department of Education’s Mi’kmaw Services Branch (MSB), Education Innovation, Programs and Services, and teachers who are helping to develop a new Netukulimk course spent two days in the forest and in ceremony to nourish their relationship with Wskɨtqamu (the land, Mother Earth).

Spending time deepening this relationship allowed participants to foster their individual Sense of Place, Emergence, and Participation, a concept that supports learning. By grounding themselves in place, participants grow more confident in their roles as engaged members of our world, and…live more connected with Wskɨtqamu and with one another.

Participants spent time walking in the deep forest, they cleaned a lentuk skin with Joe Googoo, they harvested medicines with Sutik (Judy) Bernard, they set snares with Joef Bernard, and they made pɨtewey and cooked lu’skinikn over a fire. It was so enriching!

When they were indoors, they participated in discussions with Elder Albert Marshall about Etuaptmumk, Msɨt No’kmaq and the importance of spending time on the land. Naomi Pierrard introduced the group to the importance of growing our Sense of Place, Emergence and Par ...