What does stewardship mean? For TRACKS, it begins with tackling increasingly complex environmental challenges with a better understanding of culture. A hands-on outdoor education program, TRACKS is a global leader in helping bridge cultural divides by providing Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth with learning experiences at the intersection of traditional knowledge and western sciences. TRACKS, which is based out of the Indigenous Environmental Studies and Sciences Program of Trent University and supported by First People’s House of Learning. The training being provided to students of all cultural backgrounds is helping propel a more holistic approach to the workforce. We spoke with Madison Laurin to learn more.
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Why TRACKS? How did it start?
TRACKS began in 2010. The program was envisioned by faculty members and students in the Indigenous and environmental studies and science program here at Trent. We realized that it was a really steep learning curve for undergraduate students to halt the way that they’ve been thinking throughout elementary and secondary school; to flip what they know on its head and learn really different perspectives – on and from the land. So, we had this idea to take our teachings and make it accessible to younger students. Now, TRACKS is helping students from grade six all the way through to undergrad become steeped in Indigenous knowledge and how that world-view – traditional knowledge – can complement western science.
Are you having success? Is traditional knowledge becoming more accepted as a complimentary skill-set to western science amongst scientists?
In terms of acceptance within the disciplines of western science, it’s not becoming absorbed within that. It’s taught in scientific curriculums, but it’s not becoming ingrained. That said, I think that there are a lot of scientists, researchers and education faculties that are seeking out opportunities to learn more about traditional knowledge and how they can incorporate it at all levels. As a program, TRACKS doesn’t have that one thing that happened that we can credit for pushing forward, but the model itself is a success and we can push it forward. The fact that we are growing at a rate that was never imagined by those who founded the idea, shows people are seeking out our programs in order to expand their worldviews and ways of knowing. So, there are small signs that it’s becoming more accepted across society.
What’s your goal?
With TRACKS, our goal is to raise awareness about the value of Indigenous traditional knowledge so that it becomes part of decision-making processes and becomes a source of information for people who are involved in those processes at a higher level. And we’re seeing it happen already here at Trent. Our staff and students are looking to integrate traditional knowledge into all aspects of scientific research at a higher level, both institutionally and at the government level, as well.
We increasingly hear that young people – especially young people who grow up in urban landscapes – are disconnected from nature. Can learning about and from the land, through traditional knowledge, help restore a connection that’s being lost?
I think it’s absolutely true that we can see that we’re seeing a disconnect between youth and the land. When I think about how our work can restore that connection, I just go back to how I’ve seen students react when we take them onto the land. They’re instantly comfortable in nature, even if they’ve never experienced it before. They kind of revert back to their natural selves inside of nature and you can see the connection they find to the nature around them. The connect ion is there. You just have to nurture it and learning about traditional knowledge by its very nature does that.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned through TRACKS? What’s the most important thing you hope students learn through TRACKS?
Listening. That listening is critical. And we try to show students and staff the importance of listening, but also what it feels like to be heard. If you’re in a conversation with somebody and you’re listening actively to them, they are seeing and feeling what it means to actually be heard from the person they are directly speaking to. And they are recognizing that it feels good to know that the person they are speaking to actually wants to understand their perspective. The more we do this on a one-on-one basis, with students that are in high school, the more they will understand how it feels to be heard. And, as a result, because they know what it’s like to be heard, and they move into the future, they will know why it’s important to actively listen to the people around them. That simple lesson, we hope, can have a ripple effect across society.
And listening is critical to hearing the truth that needs to be heard when trying to achieve meaningful reconciliation. But when it comes to taking action to advance reconciliation – as students, as teachers, as a society – we can almost become paralyzed by the fear of making a mistake, especially when trying to tackle reconciliation with an issue like protecting biodiversity. What’s your advice?
Anybody who is in this realm of work has that anxiety. Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike. It sometimes feels like you don’t want to make a wrong turn. First and foremost, don’t be afraid to be vulnerable and to share how you’re feeling. If you can be truthful and vulnerable about your passion to protect biodiversity – that’s something that everyone can get on board with. Everyone across the board can get on board with protecting biodiversity and if you are transparent and clear about your intention in that way, and that you don’t want to disrespect anybody, people will listen to you and point you in the right direction. And that’s another thing: ask for help. There will always be people who can help. Right now, in Ontario for example, there are Indigenous education consultants at most high schools and within most school boards. It’s partly their job to help point teachers and students to resources that are available for personal learning and to use with larger projects they want to tackle. So, seek out resources and don’t be afraid to ask for help from a vulnerable place.
Do you have hope – for nature and for reconciliation?
If I had been asked this question before I had come to TRACKS, it would probably have been different. I have been incredibly and constantly encouraged by the youth we work with. The knowledge that they have and are exposed to at young ages now is incredible. I mean, we’re working with youth who are six and can acknowledge the land better than I can. They are exposed to these things at a really young age – acknowledging the land and who’s land they’re on, and their responsibilities to that land. So, I’m incredibly hopeful from that perspective. But we can’t take steps backward. We need to make sure we keep making strides forward.
What’s the one thing you know now that you wish you knew at 15?
I’m constantly learning and unlearning things and I think that it’s important that adults recognize that it’s okay – we are always going to be learning. But the thing that I’m always pushing myself to learn more about is how to be vulnerable and how to ask people for help when I need it. I’m trying to be more open about that and to bear my heart in that way – it’s very hard for a lot of people, but I wish that when I was 15 that I had been comfortable to ask people for help and to let people know what I was passionate about. I think I would have been able to make more connections and meet more people and be more inspired than I was.
What do you think?
Madison and TRACKS have shown us how science can be a tool to advance reconciliation and how traditional knowledge can complement western science. It’s an important perspective to hear and traditional knowledge, without question, is a tool everyone needs to understand as we work to bridge cultures and find solutions that will endure to the challenges that we face.
• To find solutions that will work for all peoples, do we need to bridge culture and science more often?
• Is there a risk in coupling land and people, social justice and the environment, science and social science?
What happens when different cultural approaches clash?
• How do we not only reconcile differing ideas, but also differing cultures – and differing cultures and beliefs within individual cultures and peoples?
• To protect biodiversity – to advance meaningful reconciliation – does it all come down to listening and feeling that we too are being heard?
Over to you.