Project George: An Indigenous Land-Based Approach to Resilience for Youth

Participatory research.

Interviews with community members.

Literature review of relevant academic content on the issue.

Data collection and analysis.

This article describes participatory research that engaged with Project George, a culturally responsive land-based initiative led by the Moose Cree First Nation. In this article, the author contextualizes resilience from within the community focusing on their lifeways, their land, their language, and their value system. The research findings suggest that a return to land-based learning is an effective way to respond to the ongoing colonial complexities affecting the health and wellness of Indigenous youth in Canada

The workshops and programs described in the article were conducted with high ethical standards shown through a strong commitment to respecting and engaging with Indigenous values, especially those of the Moose Cree First Nation, and concerns within the field of culturally responsive land-based research initiatives.

As discussed in the research findings, there is a strong belief that land-based learning initiatives, when inspired and driven by Indigenous people, foster a regenerative approach to health and wellness based on land-relations, culture, and identity. Through projects such as Project George, Indigenous communities can use land-based learning to respond to the ongoing colonial complexities affecting the health and wellness of Indigenous youth in Canada and draw strength from the community’s resilient practices of survival.

Documents produced in community consultations and meetings.

Community knowledge, in material (written, visual, and audio) or oral history.

Academic publications on land-based methodologies.

Documents produced in community consultations and meetings.

Community knowledge, in material (written, visual, and audio) or oral history.

Academic publications on land-based methodologies.

“In my discussions about resilience with an Omushkego Knowledge Keeper, he explained that mushkawiseeo (meaning mental and physical strength of character) is a built-in safety mechanism that protects children. It comes from the Creator. Another Moose Cree language speaker and Knowledge Keeper confirmed that when describing resilience in relation to Project George, the relevant word would be mushkowahtisiwin, meaning strength. My limitations as a non-Cree-speaker made it difficult to unpack the deeper meaning embedded in the language, but at the same time, I am learning how Indigenous languages intersect with ways of being, doing, and thinking in relation to what it means to live and to be well.” (p. 181)

“Given that settler-colonialism seeks to erase Indigenous Peoples through land acquisition and control, land-based wellness entails a conscious departure from Western compartmentalized notions of health, well-being, and education. Learning comes from the land and is guided by “the social relations, knowledges and languages that arise from the land” (Wildcat et al., 2014, p.I). Regenerating Indigenous methods of learning from and with the land centres Indigenous perspectives and cultural identifiers regarding what it means to sustain the deeper meaning of life, as expressed in the Moose Cree language—pimatisiwin. In this way, land-based initiatives are a form of resisting colonial dominance by shifting cultural identity such that the land is guiding how to be in good relationships, which as many Knowledge Keepers expressed include land, plants, trees, stars, and animals.” (p. 182)

Science and Technology Studies, Environmental Sciences, Education