Aki Kikinomakaywin 'learning on the land' camp in Thunder Bay gets Indigenous youth excited about science

Indigenous youth gathered this week at Lakehead University and Confederation College in Thunder Bay, Ont., in a special camp centred on Aki Kikinomakaywin — Ojibway for "learning on the land."

Seventeen young people aged 12 to 16 came from First Nations across northern Ontario to participate in the second year of the program that began July 16. The activities included conducting stream assessments through Indigenous ways of knowing, combined with Western science.

A big goal of the camp is to teach STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) by way of land-based, hands-on activities, and to encourage youth to want to pursue post-secondary education.

For Nicholas Cada, who's from Mississauga First Nation, the camp helped him learn a lot about his community and people. Nicholas, 16, said he may even pursue a career in pharmacy.

"The most interesting thing [I've learned is] probably the nature or the medicine walk we went on recently," said Nicholas.

"Going out into the wild and just looking at different medicines that we use that are still common in pharmaceutical areas, that are just completely natural, is really cool to me."

The camp covers the cost of food and accommodations for the youth, including a charter departing from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., to get to Thunder Bay

Lydia Johnson, project lead for Aki Kikinomakaywin, said this year's camp was months in the making.

"To be here and be with the kids has been amazing, and I think, as you can see, everyone's having a really good time," she said.

Johnson said leaders work to root the camp in Indigenous culture, stories and teachings.

"We also are attempting to do a two-eyed seeing approach where we weave together Indigenous and Western ways of knowing," she said. "So you'll see through a lot of our activities that we try to bring both of those ways of knowing in."

One of the goals of Aki Kikinomakaywin is to get Indigenous adolescents excited about post-secondary education, through a novel teaching method.

"Being able to show that we can do science, and we can use our culture and use our teachings, and do those things in tandem I think is so important," said Johnson. "And hopefully we'll start bringing a bunch more youth into post-secondary, and also connected youth, into post-secondary."

Sheila DeCorte, from Anemki Wajiw, is one of the knowledge keepers at Aki Kikinomakaywin.