Words from the Guest Editor

On behalf of the land-based pedagogy courses at the University College of the North (UCN), it is my honour and privilege to welcome you to this special issue of Muses from the North – a collection that emerges directly from the lands, communities, and lived experiences that have shaped our students’ learning journeys.

Over the past several years at UCN, land-based pedagogy has become a central approach within the Aboriginal and Northern Studies (ANS) program. Through courses such as Land Pedagogy I and 2, Ithinto Mechisowin (Food from the Land), Food Sustainability and Indigenous Knowledge and subsequent land-based learning initiatives delivered across northern communities and UCN, students have been invited to step outside the conventional classroom and re-engage with knowledge systems rooted in land, relationships, and lived experience.

These courses were designed not simply as outdoor activities, but as critical pedagogical spaces where students encounter Indigenous ways of knowing, relational accountability, and experiential learning. Guided by Elders, knowledge keepers, community members, and the land itself, students engage in harvesting medicines, preparing food from the land, learning about ecological relationships, and listening to stories tied to particular places. Such practices challenge the assumption that academic knowledge must be detached, abstract, or exclusively text-based. Instead, they affirm that knowledge is relational, embodied, and deeply connected to place.

For many students, these courses represent a transformative encounter with education. In northern Manitoba – where communities maintain longstanding relationships with land and water- learning on the land often resonates with students’ personal histories and cultural identities. As a result, students frequently begin to see themselves not only as learners within an academic institution but also as knowledge holders who carry community stories, lived experiences, and cultural teachings. The impact of this shift becomes visible in their academic work.

One of the most compelling outcomes has been the way students carry these experiences into other areas of their studies. In research methodology courses, students increasingly design projects that draw upon community knowledge, land-based practices, and visual storytelling methods such as Photovoice. Rather than viewing research as detached observation, they approach it as a relational process grounded in responsibility to community and place, exploring topics such as environmental change, cultural resurgence, Indigenous health, and the social impacts of resource development in northern regions.

Similarly, within theoretical courses and writing assignments, the influence of land-based learning becomes evident in the emotional depth and reflective nature of students’ work. Many of the literary pieces included in this special issue illustrate how learning on the land creates space for students to process complex histories of colonialism, identity, and cultural reconnection. Their writings carry a tone of personal reflection, resilience, and healing. They reveal that when students engage with land-based knowledge systems, academic writing itself can become a form of storytelling, remembrance, and community dialogue.

The significance of integrating land-based learning within academic institutions extends far beyond individual student experiences. Historically, formal education systems in Canada have been deeply implicated in colonial projects that marginalized Indigenous knowledge systems and attempted to disconnect Indigenous peoples from their lands and cultural practices. Residential schools and assimilationist policies sought to replace Indigenous epistemologies with Eurocentric frameworks of knowledge. Bringing land-based pedagogy into higher education represents an important step toward addressing this history.

Land-based learning challenges dominant academic hierarchies by recognizing that knowledge is not confined to textbooks, classrooms, or laboratories. The land itself becomes a teacher. Elders and knowledge keepers are recognized as scholars whose teachings carry generations of wisdom.

Students learn through observation, participation, reflection, and storytelling – methods that align closely with Indigenous epistemologies and methodologies. This approach also aligns with broader efforts toward decolonization and reconciliation within Canadian education. Decolonization requires more than simply adding Indigenous content to existing curricula; it involves rethinking how knowledge is produced, who is recognized as a knowledge holder, and how learning relationships are formed. Land pedagogy invites universities to move beyond symbolic inclusion and toward meaningful structural change by centring Indigenous ways of knowing within academic practice.

In this context, this special issue of Muses from the North is particularly significant. The journal has long served as a platform for northern voices, creative expression, and student scholarship. By dedicating this issue to land-based learning, we highlight how academic work can emerge directly from relationships with land, community, and cultural knowledge. The contributions included here – ranging from research papers to reflective essays and creative writing — demonstrate how students translate their experiences on the land into academic inquiry and artistic expression.

Together, these works illustrate that land pedagogy is not only an educational method but also a pathway toward cultural resurgence, intellectual empowerment, and relational learning. They remind us that education can serve as a site of healing and reconnection when students are encouraged to engage with knowledge systems that reflect their histories, communities, and lived realities.

As educators, scholars, and community members continue to explore new possibilities for teaching and learning in northern contexts, the voices captured in this special issue offer an important reminder: meaningful education must remain grounded in relationships — with the land, with community, and with the stories that shape who we are.

I am deeply grateful to the Elders, knowledge keepers, and community members who have generously shared their teachings with our students and have made this learning possible. I thank the students whose courage, openness, and creativity fill every page of this issue — your voices matter, and your stories deserve to be heard. I also wish to acknowledge the Muses from the North editorial team for their ongoing commitment to northern student scholarship, and to extend my sincere appreciation to the copy editor of this special issue for their careful and dedicated work in bringing these submissions to publication.

We offer these works from Treaty 5 territory, with gratitude and responsibility to the lands and people whose knowledge continues to teach us.