Camp Kawartha is delighted to be able to work with TRACKS (TRent Aboriginal Cultural Knowledge and Science) Program to create a space where campers and students can learn about Indigenous ways of knowing and strengthen their connection to the land.
TRACKS is an educational program based at Trent University which provides hands-on experiences for youth interested in the intersections of Western and Indigenous sciences. TRACKS builds community by encouraging youth of all backgrounds to engage with each other and the environment in a way which honors Indigenous knowledges and relations with the environment.
Thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough, we will be erecting a Tipi next to the Camp Kawartha Environment Centre. This partnership and project will be carried out under the guidance of the First Peoples House of Learning (FPHL) at the University.
Along with the regular programming that both Camp Kawartha and TRACKS offer, this project would also include a gathering for Indigenous high school aged youth. TRACKS Oshkwazin is a program that provides cultural education and leadership development opportunities for Indigenous youth from local high schools. Oshkwazin hosts cultural and leadership gatherings for Indigenous high school students throughout the year, including water ceremonies, land-based workshops and storytelling panels with knowledge holders. For example running a workshop on Ishkode (fire), students engage directly with fire, built by humans and utilized for things like cooking and gathering. They learn about the ways in which humans interact with fires and how fire helps to maintain the canvas of the tipi. In this way, the tipi becomes a symbol of connection and reciprocal relationship that exists between human culture and our environments.
We hope to have the tipi available for programming by mid-June.
