Braiding Knowledges Canada (BKC) is proud to announce the selection of 12 Land-Based Learning (LBL) initiatives from across Canada. Chosen through a national call for proposals, these projects will receive funding for the 2025/2026 period. Each initiative demonstrates a shared commitment to advancing Reconciliation through Research and fostering the braiding of Indigenous and Western knowledge systems.
The LBL program lies at the heart of BKC’s mission to nurture talent and build capacity in knowledge braiding. The 12 selected projects showcase place-based learning, strong community engagement, and innovative approaches to weaving together diverse knowledge systems.
The funded projects across Turtle Island, Canada, encompass a variety of themes and approaches. Each project braids Indigenous and Western knowledge systems, environmental stewardship, and intergenerational learning:
Sioux Valley Dakota Nation (SVDN) is launching FACTS—a five-year, land-based youth learning program focused on Food, Agriculture, Climate Change, and Traditional Synergies. The initiative empowers 24–36 Dakota youth to become future leaders in food sovereignty, climate resilience, and environmental stewardship by braiding Dakota traditional knowledge with modern tools, including drone technology, GIS mapping, and digital storytelling.
Led by the SVDN Lands, Resources & Environment Department, and supported by Elders, Knowledge Keepers, educators, and professional trainers, the program centers on culturally and ecologically significant sites in Treaty 2 Territory, including bison habitats, flood zones, and medicinal harvesting areas.
Key goals include:
With partnerships including the SVDN Elder Council, local schools, and the National Circle for Indigenous Agriculture and Food, FACTS represents a transformative, community-driven model of Indigenous-led, intergenerational, and interdisciplinary learning. It strengthens cultural continuity while equipping youth to address today’s most pressing environmental challenges.
Nipîy Tu Research & Knowledge Centre, an Indigenous-led organization in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, is launching Braiding Generations—a two-year, seasonal land-based learning and mentorship program that will run from Summer 2025 to Winter 2027. Building on Nipîy Tu’s established land-based initiatives (Fish Camp, Muskrat Camp, Buffalo Camp, and the Knowledge Forum), the program cultivates intergenerational leadership, cultural transmission, and environmental stewardship through a structured mentorship model.
The program will establish Elders and Youth Circles, who will co-develop strategic plans for long-term land-based mentorship and governance. Through seasonal camps, workshops, and leadership development activities, youth aged 16 and above will be mentored by Elders, and in turn, begin mentoring Grade 8 students from the community’s two schools. This strengthens community capacity while supporting environmental and cultural continuity in the Peace-Athabasca Delta (PAD).
Grounded in the knowledge and leadership of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Fort Chipewyan Métis Nation, and Mikisew Cree First Nation, Braiding Generations responds to the urgent need to safeguard cultural heritage threatened by colonization, environmental change, and the loss of Elders. It will create a pool of informed and engaged youth leaders, ensuring that Indigenous Knowledge tied to the land is protected and sustained for future generations.
The Whispering Pines Clinton Indian Band is launching the Young Guardians and Ranger Rider Program, a land-based, intergenerational initiative that braids Traditional Secwepemc knowledge with Western ecological practices. Designed to empower youth and community members, the program builds local capacity while ensuring the protection and stewardship of the land for future generations.
Participants, particularly youth and young adults, will engage in cultural teachings, language, and traditional land-use practices alongside training in environmental monitoring, range management, and conservation strategies. Guided by Elders, Knowledge Carriers, and skilled professionals, participants will gain hands-on experience that strengthens cultural pride, life skills, and pathways to leadership and employment in environmental stewardship.
Key goals:
This initiative supports reconciliation in action by honouring Indigenous Knowledge, fostering environmental awareness, and embedding Indigenous values in regional land governance. By investing in the program, partners contribute to long-term ecological sustainability, cultural continuity, and community resilience for the Whispering Pines Clinton Indian Band.
All Nations Hope Network (ANHN), in partnership with Sturgeon Lake First Nation, is launching a one-year seasonal medicine harvesting/scouting camp initiative in Southern Saskatchewan to revitalize sacred food and plant medicine practices. Rooted in Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Doing, the program fosters healing, resilience, and intergenerational knowledge transfer, addressing the impacts of colonization while building pathways for cultural continuity and wellness.
The camps will immerse 30 youth and community members in land-based education, ceremonies, and traditional teachings led by Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and cultural leaders. Participants will engage in the stewardship of medicines, learning practices that strengthen cultural identity, spiritual wellness, and ecological responsibility. Guided by ANHN’s extensive network and trusted partners, the program prioritizes inclusivity, ensuring diversity across age, gender, and identity.
Key goals:
Led by Margaret Kîsikâw Piyêsîs, Elder Willie Ermine, Miranda Northwind, Carolyn Pelletier, and Joe Bear, the project affirms the central role of youth in sustaining Indigenous knowledge systems. By creating safe, inclusive, and community-driven spaces, the initiative strengthens cultural resilience and nurtures the healing power of land, medicines, and ceremony for future generations.
The Tłı̨chǫ Government, through its Department of Culture and Lands Protection, leads the Trails of Our Ancestors project—a cultural revitalization initiative designed to strengthen intergenerational knowledge transfer through immersive, land-based learning. Each summer, Tłı̨chǫ youth embark on a traditional canoe journey across Tłı̨chǫ Ndè, retracing ancestral travel routes from communities such as Whatì, Gamètì, and Wekweètì, and converging in Behchokǫ̀, a historic gathering place for Tłı̨chǫ families.
Along the journey, youth are guided by Elders, knowledge holders, educators, and trained guides, receiving teachings in place names, oral histories, land stewardship, traditional laws, and survival skills. This on-the-land education fosters cultural identity, environmental knowledge, and the resilience of Tłı̨chǫ ways of life, while reclaiming a practice disrupted by the legacy of residential schools.
Key goals:
Rooted in partnerships with all four Tłı̨chǫ communities, families, schools, and allied funders, this project ensures that cultural knowledge, language, and land-based skills remain vibrant and relevant. By empowering youth as stewards of land and tradition, the Trails of Our Ancestors project strengthens cultural identity and affirms the resilience of the Tłı̨chǫ Nation for generations to come.
The Kluane First Nation (KFN) is re-establishing a trapline in Kluane National Park and Reserve (KNPR) for the first time in over 80 years, marking a significant step in asserting its rights, promoting cultural resurgence, and facilitating intergenerational knowledge transfer. This initiative responds to both the decline of wild Dall’s sheep in southwest Yukon and the disruption of Indigenous trapping practices caused by colonial displacement during the creation of the park.
The project positions the trapline as both a cultural and ecological monitoring tool, creating a decolonial space where Indigenous and Western knowledge systems are braided together. KFN youth, Elders, Guardians, and knowledge holders will engage in experiential land-based learning, working alongside non-Indigenous collaborators, including Parks Canada and academic partners, to restore trapping practices and strengthen monitoring programs in KFN Traditional Territory.
Key goals:
This project affirms Indigenous self-determination, reconciliation, and the resurgence of language and culture, while also addressing pressing ecological challenges. By restoring trapping as part of KFN’s identity and governance, it strengthens both community well-being and the transformation of decision-making systems in the Yukon.
The Regional Cree Trappers’ Association (CTA), in partnership with the Cree Nation of Eastmain Cultural Department, is leading the Land-based Fish Traditional Knowledge & Biology Summer Camp. This program braids Cree traditional knowledge with Western ecological science through land-based learning, focusing on fish and water systems. Designed for up to 15 Cree youth (ages 15–35), the camp promotes environmental leadership, cultural pride, and intergenerational knowledge sharing.
The camp takes place at nîpisîwânakâshich (Willow Island), near the mouth of îsimenîu-sîpî (Eastmain River) in Eeyou Istchee, Quebec. Youth will learn traditional fish harvesting practices and the relationships between water and the environment from local knowledge holders. At the same time, CTA scientists and collaborators from Genome Quebec, Niskamoon Corporation, and McGill University guide them through biological and ecological field learning. This approach weaves together Cree teachings and scientific monitoring methods to strengthen conservation leadership and self-determination.
Key goals:
Grounded in established community relationships, this initiative empowers Cree youth to navigate confidently between the Indigenous and scientific worlds. By bridging knowledge systems on the land, the program supports Cree-led conservation and advances the broader goals of Braiding Knowledges Canada.
The Foothills Ojibway First Nation (FOFN) is leading a multi-year initiative to map and renew biocultural health in the Foothills and Rocky Mountains of Alberta. Rooted in Anishinaabeg cultural knowledge, land-based teachings, and ceremonial practices, this work supports Indigenous youth and community in carrying forward stewardship responsibilities for the next seven generations. By braiding Indigenous knowledge with Western science, the project fosters cultural resurgence, regenerative economies, and land-based learning rooted in ancestral homelands.
The program is based in and around Hinton, Alberta, within FOFN’s traditional territory, and engages participants from across Anishinaabeg homelands—including those with relational connections as Nehiyawak and Anishinaabeg.
Key goals:
This work is significant because the Foothills Ojibway were entrusted as runners and hereditary leaders to carry forward Anishinaabeg governance, teachings, and ceremonies to the Rocky Mountains following the Treaty of Niagara (1764). The project has the potential to be transformative in advancing Indigenous-led conservation, food sovereignty, and environmental education in Alberta and beyond.
Pacific herring are a keystone species for human and more-than-human relations in the territorial waters of the Kitasoo Xai’xais (KX) First Nation on the Central Coast of British Columbia. After decades of decline and commercial fishery closures, herring populations have raised deep concerns about the health of their ecosystem and the continuity of cultural practices tied to them.
This project builds on the partnership “Git qṃsistá: learning together to revitalize herring” between the KX Stewardship Authority, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Oceana Canada, and academic researchers. While the broader partnership focuses on inclusive fisheries management, KX community members identified a pressing need to support tangible, community-led outcomes for herring while meaningfully involving youth.
The project will be led by the KX Stewardship Authority and take place in Gitdisdzu Lugyeks, the Indigenous Marine Protected Area declared by KX in 2022. During herring spawning season, youth and Elders will participate together in field-based activities such as spawn transplants, habitat restoration, and harvesting hemlock branches to enhance spawning grounds.
Key goals:
This project offers youth direct, relational experiences in land- and water-based stewardship, advancing ecosystem revitalization and cultural continuity. By braiding Kitasoo Xai’xais Knowledge Systems and Western science, the work contributes to stronger, healthier herring populations and renewed intergenerational responsibility for stewardship.
This project will expand year-round, land-based learning opportunities that prepare T’Sou-ke youth and community members for Tribal Journeys, a powerful annual paddling and cultural gathering of Indigenous Nations. The overall goal is to revitalize cultural practices, strengthen connections to territory, and deepen intergenerational learning through hands-on preparation for this journey.
Canoe practices, traditional gift-making, language learning, and cultural workshops, such as weaving and carving, will culminate in a week-long journey where youth and community members paddle ancestral waters alongside other Indigenous Nations. These journeys are guided by protocol, leadership, and cultural teachings, providing participants with experiential cultural learning and leadership opportunities.
Activities will take place across T’Sou-ke’s traditional territory, including culturally significant sites such as the newly constructed Siosun gazebo, which will be activated as a cultural learning space for storytelling, ceremonies, and on-the-land teachings.
Key goals:
Through this project, T’Sou-ke Nation is uplifting youth, revitalizing culture, and honoring relationships with the land, water, and other Nations for the journeys ahead.
The goal of this project is to reconnect Inuit youth with their ancestral language through immersive, on-the-land learning. By centering on language, culture, and intergenerational mentorship, the camp strengthens Indigenous identity, supports the resurgence of Inuktitut, and cultivates the next generation of youth leaders.
The project will be led by the Students on Ice (SOI) Foundation, drawing on its experience with the Saavittut program. Inuit language instructors, Elders, youth mentors, and knowledge holders will co-develop and deliver programming in collaboration with community partners. Youth will engage in activities such as storytelling, harvesting, tool-making, and immersive language sessions, all guided by traditional knowledge and seasonal cycles.
The camp will take place in Inuit Nunangat, specifically in Mittimatalik and Pangnirtung. These culturally and ecologically rich locations will serve as a living classroom for land-based, language-centered learning.
This work is significant because it responds to the urgent need for Indigenous language revitalization and the desire for youth to learn in culturally meaningful, land-based ways. By weaving together language, land, and intergenerational mentorship, the camp fosters a sense of belonging, identity, and leadership among Inuit youth while advancing cultural resurgence.
Key goals:
Through this initiative, Inuit youth will walk forward with their language and culture, carrying knowledge from Elders and the land into the future.
Braiding the Seasons is a seasonal training and mentorship program designed to reconnect Gitxsan youth and community members to ancestral lands (Lax’yip), Gitxsan Ayook (law), and scientific research practices. Led by the Wilps ‘Wii K’aax Territorial Stewardship Initiative, this program weaves Gitxsan knowledge systems grounded in millennia of land-based observation and governance with Western science to build long-term capacity in cultural heritage research, ecosystem monitoring, and ecological restoration.
Seasonal field-based learning camps will be held across Wilps ‘Wii K’aax Lax’yip in the Sustut, Babine, and Upper Skeena watersheds. Elders, Matriarchs, archaeologists, scientists, Guardians, and cultural mentors will guide participants in archaeology, CMT documentation, mountain goat research, and ecological remediation. The work is significant because it restores intergenerational knowledge transfer, strengthens Gitxsan self-determination, and responds to climate and environmental crises through community-led stewardship grounded in story, place, and responsibility.
Key Goals:
