Aboriginal Peoples and the Environment

• Main Author: Simpson, Leanne R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: UBC Faculty of Education 2021
• Subjects: Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources; Winnipeg; Environment; Canada; First Nations
• Online Access: http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/CJNE/article/view/195844; https://doi.org/10.14288/cjne.v22i2.195844

Contemporary Aboriginal communities in Canada face numerous environmental issues. In response to a Canada-wide needs assessment of First Nations com­munities, the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER) located in Winnipeg created the First Nations Environmental Education and Training Pro­ gram. This unique program is based on both Indigenous and western environmen­tal knowledge and uses these knowledge systems to assess, monitor, and audit the environment from Indigenous perspectives. This article reports a qualitative re­ search project that used a participatory/collaborative research design to evaluate a community-based course taught in this program from the perspective of the stu­dents and one-course instructor. The article also discusses some issues in hands-on learning in First Nations communities, community-based research, and Aboriginal adult education.