Editor's note: The following article adopts a modified oral history approach to tell the story of four days on the land, the first four days of the Faculty of Social Work's Centering Indigenous Knowledge course.
It's beautiful September morning at the Ann and Sandy Cross Conservation Area on the southwest edge of the Mohkinstsis. A brisk wind ripples through the knee-high grass, while high overhead a hawk effortlessly rides the thermals and eddies of a perfect Alberta, blue-sky day.
The morning chill, a reminder that winter is not far off, has faded, giving way to the warmth of the sun who seems reluctant to leave summer behind. On a grassy hillock, next to a tipi, a group of University of Calgary social work students listens intently to the teachings of Elder Charlotte Yellow Horn Macleod.
The gathering is part of UCalgary Social Work's new Indigenous Ways of Knowing in Leadership Graduate Certificate. The cohort's opening course, Centering Indigenous Knowledge, begins not in a classroom, but on the land itself. It's a historic moment for the faculty, and the first time any social work program at UCalgary has started with four full days of land-based learning, guided by Indigenous Knowledge Keepers and Elders from Treaty 7 and beyond.
It's been a long time coming and, for many students, faculty and Elders involved, it feels like something long overdue.
