Case Study | Land-based education in the Redberry Lake Biosphere Region

Overview

In Saskatchewan’s only UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (called Biosphere Regions in Canada), Indigenous communities are reconnecting education to the land through a newly developed land-based education curriculum. 

The Redberry Lake Biosphere Region (RLBR) has been leading educational activities to teach local students about biodiversity and sustainable practices in the area for four years. Now, it is collaborating with Elders and knowledge keepers from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation and Mistawasis Nêhiyawak—two First Nations within the region—to develop a land-based education curriculum that will:

• give students a deeper understanding of interconnectedness
• promote environmental stewardships
• foster local sustainable practices and holistic wellbeing
• support reconciliation with Mother Earth to heal relationships

The curriculum will embrace a two-eyed seeing approach, integrating Indigenous knowledge with western scientific data and concepts. Activities will centre on Indigenous protocols, storytelling, traditional games, the history of the land, biodiversity, water stewardship, and sustainable land use practices.

Engagement and Solutions

Established by UNESCO in 2000, RLBR sits at the southern fringe of the boreal forest, where it meets the sprawling aspen parkland of the Prairies. The region is on Treaty 6 territory, the traditional territories of three First Nations and homelands of the Métis Nation. People in the region live through their connections to the land. Given that the mandate of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves is to nurture balance and connection between humans and nature, fostering Indigenous-informed, land-based education programs is natural in RLBR.

Since its inception, the biosphere region has built relationships with local First Nations to create opportunities to learn about local biodiversity and land protection initiatives. Together, they have led day programs and field trips where Elders and knowledge keepers collaborate with the biosphere region, working with students to monitor species at risk, collect data, and conduct ecosystem restoration. Through this work, students deepen their connections to the land and are given opportunities to lead.

Through a Seeds to Saplings program, for instance, students gather seeds to nurture into saplings, and each spring, they decide where to plant them, thereby taking some responsibility for making tangible improvements to the land. Older students teach their younger peers. The biosphere region is expanding the program to build capacity at the community level.

Recognizing the First Nations partners have day-to-day responsibilities that limit their availability, the biosphere region has adapted its processes to accommodate their needs. By extending funding timelines, becoming more flexible with meeting times and formats, and prioritized transparency when it comes to reporting back to funders on timelines and delays, the biosphere region is helping ensure the work can be done in a good way.

Outcomes and Future Vision

The biosphere region has built connections with young people of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation and Mistawasis Nêhiyawak to champion and advise on the land-based education curriculum and act as leaders and mentors. The curriculum is a focus for the University of Saskatchewan’s School of Environment and Sustainability—which is studying innovative approaches to sustainability education—and is continually strengthened through ever-deepening relationships with Elders. Ultimately, RLBR plans to deliver the curriculum in line with a “nature calendar”—a tool that will guide the implementation of land-based education programs according to the seasonal frameworks of First Nations partners’ worldviews. The biosphere region has begun adapting education spaces at its new interpretive centre, which is set to host land-based education programs in fall 2025.