4 Seasons of Indigenous Learning - Outdoor Learning Store

Registration for the 2023-2024 course is now closed

Our intention is to open registration for all seasons of learning again in Spring, 2024. You can sign-up for our updates to be notified when registration is open, and contact info@outdoorlearningstore.com with any questions.

We offer the 4 Seasons of Indigenous Learning as an acknowledgement that authentically undertaking a personal learning journey towards Truth and Reconciliation takes more than just a day or month each year, but should be across all four seasons.

This initiative encourages and empowers educators to deepen their understanding of Indigenous knowledge and perspectives while strengthening connections with the local land.

This learning is open to EVERYONE. While the content of the modules in Season 1 is specific to Canada, it is transferable across Turtle Island (North America).

The Journey: October, 2023 – June, 2024

All Participants will have the opportunity to:

Access 1 Learning Module per month for 10 months (10 modules in total).

Gather virtually each month to hear from an Indigenous Leader, Educator or Elder (see list below).

Receive $25 towards accessing excellent Indigenous Learning Resources.

Earn a Certificate of Completion for the modules and a Certificate of Attendance for watching all of the presentations (live or recorded).

Connect with a Community of Educators from across Turtle Island who can learn, share and connect on this learning journey together.

Season 1

Foundations of Knowledge

Season 1: Foundations of Knowledge

Registration for the 2023-2024 course is now closed

Includes:

10 Reconciliation Education Learning Modules: ~30 mins of Learning / Month (see list of modules below)
A Certificate of Completion issued by the First Nations University of Canada upon completion of all 10 modules
10 Opportunities to Gather Virtually with Indigenous Leaders, Elders and Educators (see bios below)
Access to all of the Presentation Recordings
A Certificate of Attendance upon watching live or recorded versions of all 10 virtual gatherings (10 learning hours)
$25 towards excellent Indigenous Learning Resources
Access to a Learning Community to learn, share and connect with

Group / Organization Registration: 10% off for groups of 10 or more using this discount code at checkout: 4seasons10 Groups can register online through our regular registration process, or you can submit this spreadsheet or a Purchase Order to info@outdoorlearningstore.com. Please include First Name, Last Name and Email of each registrant.

Please Note:

This is the same learning opportunity as Every Child Matters – 4 Seasons of Reconciliation. We have just updated the naming to better reflect the learning. So if you have taken this learning, we invite you to register for Season 2: Learning from the Land.
While the content of the modules in Season 1 is specific to Canada, it is transferable across Turtle Island (North America). Alternatively, for those outside of Canada, you can access just the Resources, Presentations and Support.

Season 1

Season 1 Learning Modules

We’ll make available 1 module /month on the 1st of each month for 10 months.

These will take approximately 20-30 minutes each to complete and you can do these in your own time, at your own pace.

Completion is required for your Certificate of Completion for the First Nations University of Canada.

Season 2

Learning from the Land

Season 2: Learning from the Land

Registration for the 2023-2024 course is now closed

This new year of learning endeavors to support you in strengthening your personal connections with, and understanding of, the local Land as a way of allowing yourself to better understand and appreciate local Indigenous knowledge, perspectives, culture and history. This season will be more reflective and will provide prompts to get outside, and ground your learning in your local place.

In this course, we will:

Explore and build our relationships with the Land;
Examine ways of interacting with the Land, and learning more about the Land;
Discuss teaching and learning from the Land;
Learn and share best practices for bringing this knowledge and experience into the classroom or to share with others.

Includes:

NEW Learning from the Land Modules: 30-45 mins of learning / month
A Certificate of Completion issued upon completion of all modules
10 Opportunities to Gather Virtually with Indigenous Leaders, Elders and Educators (see bios below)
Access to all of the Presentation Recordings
A Certificate of Attendance upon watching live or recorded versions of all 10 virtual gatherings (10 learning hours)
$25 towards excellent Indigenous Learning Resources
Access to a Learning Community to learn, share and connect with

Please note:

Prior to taking this, we encourage you to take Season 1: Foundations of Knowledge.
50% off for Indigenous Participants.
Group / Organization Registration: 10% off for groups of 10 or more using this discount code at checkout: 4seasons10 Groups can register online through our regular registration process, or you can submit this spreadsheet or a Purchase Order to info@outdoorlearningstore.com. Please include First Name, Last Name and Email of each registrant.

Participate

Register for just the Presentations, Resources & Support

Don’t have time to do the learning modules? From outside of Canada where the Season 1 Learning is focused?

Registration for the 2023-2024 course is now closed

Includes:

10 Opportunities to Gather Virtually with Indigenous Leaders, Elders and Educators (see bios below)
Access to all of the Recordings
A Certificate of Attendance upon watching live or recorded versions of all 10 virtual gatherings (10 learning hours)
10% off excellent Indigenous Learning Resources
Access to a Learning Community to learn, share and connect with

Indigenous Presenters for Monthly Virtual Gatherings

All participants will come together at these Virtual Gatherings.
These will be held on Thursdays at 4pm Pacific Time / 7pm Eastern Time and will be, on average, 60 minutes in length.

These will be recorded and the recordings will be made available for all participants in the event you are unable to make them.
We will offer a Certificate of Attendance (10 Learning Hours) for everyone who watches all 10 (either live, or the recording).

Doug Anderson

October 26, 2023

Doug is Bungee (Scottish Métis, Manitoba), and lives in Toronto, where he has worked for 30 years as an educator and author supporting people of all ages and levels of learning. He is committed to helping preserve Indigenous knowledge within Indigenous communities, and to ethically facing this knowledge on its own terms into diverse urban contexts.

Doug teaches at the University of Toronto and with elementary schools in the land. He is co-contributor to the Indigenous Lens on Natural Curiosity: The Importance of Indigenous Perspectives on Children’s Environmental Inquiry.

Kevin Lamoureux

November 16, 2023

Kevin Lamoureux is an award-winning Indigenous scholar and well-known public speaker. He has published several, has written many academic articles, and has taught for several universities, colleges and institutions. He formerly served as Education Lead for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

Lamoureux has been seen on TV, in the media, documentaries, and is a three-time TEDx speaker. He has consulted for business, government, schools and other organizations.

Bonnie Harvey

Nov 30, 2023

Bonnie is a proud Ktunaxa woman that loves her family, friends and community. Bonnie is committed to being a lifelong learner of her ancestors’ isolate sounds and the Ktunaxa way of being and knowing.

As a story sharer Bonnie has travelled all over ʔamakʔis Ktunaxa and beyond to share her knowledge and love through legends.

Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer

January 11, 2024

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants (now adapted for young adults).

She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.

Smokii Sumac

February 8, 2024

Smokii is an Indigenous poet and PhD Candidate in Indigenous Studies at Trent University, where his work centers on the question: how do we come home? His first poetry collection, you are enough: love poems for the end of the world, won an Indigenous Voices Award for published poetry.

As an Indigenous adoptee, intergenerational residential school survivor, and two-spirit person, Smokii’s lived experiences are deeply embedded into his art and research.

Ariana Roundpoint

March 7, 2024

Ariana is wolf clan of the Kanien’kehakah people, born and raised in Akwesasne. She has a strong passion for culture revitalization, important work that is needed in order to protect Indigenous knowledge and ways of life for the upcoming generations.

Ariana is the co-author of Sila and the Land, the story of a young Inuk girl who goes on a journey that teaches her about the importance of the land and her responsibilities to protect it for future generations.

Dr. Christopher Horsethief

April 18, 2024

Christopher is an Indigenous organizational theorist that leads language revitalization efforts by incorporating proven second language acquisition strategies into the perpetuation of ancient languages.

His app development, governance consulting work, and leadership endeavors combine key constituents of his education, offering new strategies for old problems.

Dr. Niigaanwewidam (Niigaan) James Sinclair

May 23, 2024

Niiggan is Anishinaabe and an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba. He is a regular commentator on Indigenous issues and is the co-editor of the award-winning Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water and Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories.

Niigan obtained an MA in Native- and African-American literatures at the University of Oklahoma, and a PhD in First Nations and American Literatures from the University of British Columbia.

Nasuʔkin (Chief) Joe Pierre

June 6, 2024

Joe was elected to the position as the Chief for the ʔaq̓am Community in 2016. Nasuʔkin Joe previously served on ʔaq̓am Council as a councillor and brings with him that experience, as well as vast cultural knowledge and story telling.

Joe also serves as the Indigenous Education Coordinator for the Southeast Kootenay School District and sits on the First Nations Education Steering Committee.

Sophie Pierre

June 6, 2024

Sophie is a residential school survivor and accomplished Indigenous leader. Sophie is the former Nasuʔkin (Chief) of ʔaq̓am, was appointed Chief Commissioner of the BC Treaty Commission and was awarded with the Order of Canada. She previously sat as the co-chair of the International Advisory Committee to the Indigenous Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy of the University of Arizona.

She now spends her time as an elder adviser to her community and to the Ktunaxa Nation.

Jenna Jasek
Indigenous Learning Facilitator

Indigenous Advisor, Educator, and Lover of Land-based Learning

Jenna is a certified teacher, and has been an Indigenous Advisor with us for several years, and helped to launch The Outdoor Learning Store. She is on a learning expedition which involves her culture, traditional teachings, languages and Knowledge of nature.

Jenna believes Indigenous perspectives connect effortlessly with outdoor, hands-on and place-based learning. Her goal is to provide students opportunities to explore, learn and immerse themselves in the outdoors and outdoor education alongside Indigenous perspectives and Knowledge.

Jenna lives at the headwaters of the Columbia River which runs through and is the unceded territories of her ancestors, the Secwépemc and Ktunaxa people.