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Archives for December 2020

Dog Sledding for Land-Based Learning

December 10, 2020

Surrounded by the expansive boreal forest and the soft sounds of canine paws on snow, Sidney Klassen glides through Bloodvein River First Nation behind his team of dogs. Mr. K, as he’s known to students at Miskooseepi School, is providing a “hands-on experience for the kids to be out in nature.“ Dog sledding is part of the school’s newly-formed Land-Based Learning program.

“We take the dogs out and I show students how to handle them, how to bring them to the truck and bring them to the staging area where we launch,” Sidney explains. Students practise getting the sled ready and hooking up the team. They also learn parts of the sled, like rigging and lines. But their learning runs deeper than physical skills.

“The kids learn about the connection between the dogs and humans when they take care of the dogs,” says Sidney. “They develop responsibility. The implications for learning are endless.”

Who is Sidney Klassen?

Sidney is a former physical education teacher. He has grown to love his new role as Land-Based Instructor but he’s not comfortable with the title. “I’d change Instructor to Coordinator or Facilitator,” he says. ‘Instructor’ is more suitable for a local, not a former Winnipegger like him, he explains.

Sidney with the dogs and a student

“I’m not from Bloodvein River First Nation and I don’t know the land like the locals do.”

Sidney works closely with teachers and residents of the Manitoba First Nation community to connect traditional knowledge to classroom learning.   

“The goal is to get the kids outside on the land, in the bush behind the school, out on the river in canoes, or on hiking field trips,” he says. It’s all part of learning science, social studies and mathematics in new ways. 

From the Circus to Teaching

Sidney became a teacher at age 39, after an unusual career route.

His inspiration to teach started when he “ran away with the circus.”  

Years ago, Sidney worked as the crew chef with the Caravan Stage Company, a traveling circus on a tall ship sailing boat. “The pirate ship theatre was started by two old, card-carrying hippies and it led me to look at my life and chase my dreams. I thought that if they can build a hippy pirate ship, I can do what I want to do.”

What he wanted to do was teach.

How Sidney Started Dog Sledding

He left the traveling circus with a plan to go to university. But first, he took a trip to the Yukon. The trip sparked a new passion. “I took up dog sledding and fell in love with it. I was working for an esteemed champion dog musher and he taught me about dog mushing. I loved being able to see beautiful territory, and I loved the interaction between the humans and dogs.”

When he returned to Winnipeg for university, Sidney formed a dog sled team of his own. With his two dogs, and sometimes a friend’s dog, he traveled the city’s river trails. He had no idea that his love of dog sledding would one day carry into his classroom in Bloodvein River First Nation.

“When I got to Bloodvein, I wanted to start a dog team,” he says. “I put together a fundraiser to raise funds for equipment and got started.”

The team began with six dogs donated by Kevin Lewis who runs the Cree cultural immersion camp in Saskatchewan called kâniyâsihk Culture Camps.

Showing Students the Ropes

The dogs live with Sidney. He has a kennel with doghouses behind his home. “I take students on a tour of the kennel to meet the dogs. I show them how the kennel is set up, and how to care for them.”

Sidney also takes students dog sledding along Indigenous travel routes. The trip includes Ojibwe teachings from an Elder and local trapper.

“Gabriel Green, drives ahead with his snowmobile and takes us down his trapline,” Sidney shares. “He pulls a cargo toboggan behind his snowmobile. The students take turns driving the dog sled or riding in the sled or the toboggan.”

Stopping at designated spots, Gabriel shows his traps and tells stories about the dog team that he had years ago. “Having that platform for Gabriel to share his knowledge and stories is really great,” says Sidney. “We tie-in classroom learning and we’re getting the kids out into nature, over the river and on the trail.”

Students enjoy the adventure. “Just being out on the sled with the kids, even though they might be acting cool at the time, I know they’re excited,” says Sidney. “It’s a beautiful, sunshine-y day, running through a beautiful trail…one of the best feelings ever for me.”

“Word gets around that Mr. K has a dog sled team and takes kids out sledding,” says Sidney. Students like to share stories about their experience of driving the dog sled on their own, he adds.

Each trip includes eight to 10 students from grades four to nine. “Last winter we were out with the kids about five or six times,” Sidney says. The most recent trip was in March, before COVID-19 school closures.

Other Land-Based Learning Activities

The Land-Based Learning program involves more than dog sled education.

“One of my highlights every year is the overnight trip to the Manitoba Museum,” Sidney reflects. The Miskooseepi students spend an overnight inside the museum. It includes a behind-the-scenes tour of the curator’s room to view artifacts from Pauingassi First Nation. Students learn about the importance of protecting their cultural heritage.

“These are items from their culture. They learn that their culture is significant and valued by the world.”

Knowledge keepers like Culture and Language teacher Yvonne Young take students out on the land where they learn to identify plants and pick medicine. They also learn how to use plants, like offering tobacco.

Last winter, a few students took an ice fishing day trip. “We’re fortunate to have William Young be a part of the program. He had ice fishing equipment donated and took us to Round Lake to go ice fishing,” Sidney says.

“The kids have their Anishinaabe culture in their blood,” he says. He notes that many students can teach him about hunting, fishing and living off the land. “They go out with their fathers, uncles, grandfathers or aunts, and they have a lot of knowledge.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, instructors and students are now doing remote learning. Sidney is running logistics, getting homework packages delivered and monitoring social media. He plans to set up a spot this winter so that students can get out onto the land. “We’ll have the ice fishing shacks, cross-country skis and snowshoes, and let the kids use them.”

Filed Under: Cultural Heritage, First Nation Communities, Indigenous Traditional Knowledge, Indigenous Youth Tagged With: Bloodvein River First Nation, dog sledding, Land-based learning, Sidney Klassen

A Little Paper Creates a Big Problem

December 10, 2020

At eight years old, Michael Zelniker had no problem admonishing adults to stop littering in the streets of Montréal. Today, his dedication to protecting the environment has grown into a quest to protect the boreal forest for future generations.

The Issue with Tissue

“Tissue companies are flushing away our forests and our future,” warns the filmmaker from his Los Angeles home. 

‘The Issue with Tissue’ is the title of his latest project—a film to let the world know that “the boreal forest is being clear cut so we can wipe our bums with softer, more plush toilet paper.”

Michael was shocked when he first learned that one of the most ecologically important forests in the world—Canada’s boreal forest—is being destroyed to make toilet paper.

“What we do to each other, we do to ourselves; what we do to the land, we do to ourselves,” he says. 

Who is Affected?

There’s more to the boreal forest than just trees. The boreal forest plays an important role in slowing the effects of climate change. It stores almost twice as much carbon as tropical forests and has more surface freshwater than any other ecosystem on the planet. 

“I discovered that more than 600 First Nations call the boreal forest home and have for thousands of years; that the boreal is home to caribou and other wildlife. It is the nesting ground for the songbirds we hear in our parks and our backyards.” Michael’s backyard is in California but as a child growing up in Montréal, he went to summer camp 100 miles north at the southern edge of the boreal forest.

“I hated camp. I was a troubled kid and as a result, I was always in trouble,” he remembers. He discovered his love of nature during this otherwise unhappy camp experience.

“The breathtaking view of endless forest was the one thing that comforted me at camp.” It forged in him a deep lifelong connection to trees. “When I’m in a forest today, I feel like I’m with long-lost family.”

While researching the toilet paper issue, Michael spent dozens of hours on Zoom talking with scientists, activists, and First Nation leaders. “Everyone opened their hearts and shared their story with me,” he says. It was an incredible privilege, he adds.

Inspired by the conversations, Michael knew he had to share the untold story with the world.

Lessons from Indigenous Elders and Leaders

“I began to feel, ‘If not me, then who? If not now, then when?’”

Elder Leslie Orvis Sr. and William Young

Those two questions led to an inspiring filmmaking experience. Michael collected over 100 hours of footage as he traveled across Canada to interview First Nation Elders and leaders, including Bloodvein River First Nation Elder Leslie Orvis Sr. and Pimachiowin Aki Board Director William Young.

His journey began in BC with Canadian cameraperson Abanoub Andraous. The two of them drove, with multiple stops along the way, to Eastern Quebec where they flew north by bush plane to the George River. There, they met with Valérie Courtois, Director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, and Innu as they celebrated the migration of the caribou. “It was a profoundly moving experience,” Michael says enthusiastically.

He describes the entire filmmaking experience as “eye-opening and life-changing.” He hopes the film will have a strong impact on others, much like the journey has had on him.

“I had so many special moments filming,” Michael says. He was touched by the hospitality and generosity of the people that he got to visit and talk with. “I felt deeply honoured.”

“What has caused us to go so wrong as a species?” he asks. Learning from First Nation Elders and leaders, Michael says that we have lost connection to the land and with each other. “As a result, settler colonial types like me look at how to value land based on dollars and cents, and as a way to exploit rather than as a member of our family.”

Elder Dave Porter of Kaska First Nation in northern British Columbia shared his wisdom with Michael. “Mother Nature, since the beginning of time, takes care of us because Mother Earth has provided us this environment to live so well. If we don’t begin to take better care of Mother Nature, we’re going to destroy her ability to take care of us.”

Elder Porter also told Michael that “when you’re in a forest, you’re with family.” Michael heard similar themes from others across the country.  

Chief Darrell Bob of the Xaxli’p Community in Lillooet, BC invited Michael into his sweat lodge. “He pointed to the stones that warmed the sweat lodge and said, ‘These are our grandfathers.’”

The lessons continued as Michael met with Elder Dave Courchene from Turtle Lodge in Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba. He explained about natural law—to only take as much as you need.

“Give thanks to what you take with an eye for the seven generations in front of you,” explains Michael. He had never heard this lesson until he met with Indigenous people.

“In American white culture we believe that a lot is good, more is better, and too much is just right. And we see it even with the pandemic—what were people hoarding? Toilet paper.”

After his footage comes together and is shared with the world, Michael hopes that North Americans will make the connection between trees and paper products like toilet paper, and become “more mindful of how we’re using them.”

He recalls a memorable statement that Elder Courchene made to him, and it is a mighty ask: “If you can do one thing, get them to give us back the boreal and we can take care of the rest.”

Imagine the possibilities if that were the result.

Here are ways that Michael suggests for you to make a difference:

  • Buy recycled paper products made from post consumer content
  • Buy wood, pulp & paper products with the FSC certification seal
  • Whenever possible, stop using single use disposables—use reusables
  • Demand that governments fulfill their commitments to Indigenous Peoples to protect/conserve their ancestral home­—the land, air and water—the animals, plants and trees that inhabit these wild spaces
  • Support the establishment of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCA)
  • Spend time in nature. Bring your child to wild spaces. Connect with the other creatures, the trees, plants, and animals that make up Mother Earth’s creation. They are all members of our wider family. Treat them as such
  • Support First Nation Guardian Programs

Michael Zelniker is a Canadian-born award-winning actor/director based in Los Angeles. He is a member of the Climate Reality Project Leadership Corps (led by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore), serving as Co-Chair of the Los Angeles Chapter. His film, ‘The Issue with Tissue’, is set for release in 2021. We will keep you posted on its release date and how/where to watch it.

Filed Under: Boreal Forest, First Nation Communities, Indigenous Traditional Knowledge Tagged With: Bloodvein River First Nation, Elders, Michael Zelnicker, The issue with tissue

The Pimachiowin Aki Song

December 10, 2020

Cultural heritage expresses who we are and how we live. Anishinaabeg have shared language, stories, and songs for generations in Pimachiowin Aki.

This is the Pimachiowin Aki song—a sacred song created to recognize that Pimachiowin Aki is the land that gives life and is vital to the spiritual, emotional, and physical survival of Anishinaabeg as a people:  

Whey Ha Why Oh Whey
Whey Ha Why Oh Whey
Whey Ha Why Oh Whey
Whey Ha Why Oh Whey Ya Whey Ya
Whey Ha Why Oh Whey
Whey Ha Why Oh Whey Ya Whey Ya

Anishinaabeg dibaajimowin (This is an Ojibwe Story)
Gaagige bimosemagan (It exists and travels through eternity)
Pimachiowin Aki (On the land that gives life)

[The verse is sung four times]

“That song is forever going to sound in this world. And it’s going to sound all over, and the wave that travels to every part of the world, that song will travel to. Our people’s voice needs to be heard. The knowledge that Anishinaabe people have is vital to our own survival. And vital to mankind.”

Eric Courchene, Sagkeeng First Nation

Filed Under: Cultural Heritage Tagged With: Anishinaabemowin

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