Aboriginal Peoples and the Environment

Abstract

Contemporary Aboriginal communities in Canada face numerous environmental issues. In response to a Canada-wide needs assessment of First Nations com­munities, the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER) located in Winnipeg created the First Nations Environmental Education and Training Pro­ gram. This unique program is based on both Indigenous and western environmen­tal knowledge and uses these knowledge systems to assess, monitor, and audit the environment from Indigenous perspectives. This article reports a qualitative re­ search project that used a participatory/collaborative research design to evaluate a community-based course taught in this program from the perspective of the stu­dents and one-course instructor. The article also discusses some issues in hands-on learning in First Nations communities, community-based research, and Aboriginal adult education.