Plants as Our Relatives: the creation and gifting of a relational learning task

Transformative land-based learning experiences, facilitated by Instructors and guided by Elders, Ceremonialists, Knowledge Holders, and community members, bring learners from diverse communities together to deepen understanding of Indigenous perspectives and experiences. In response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's Call to Action #63.C “building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect”, a unique relational learning experience titled Plants as Our Relatives was designed to extend “intercultural understanding empathy, and respect” beyond human relationships to our more than human relatives; our relatives from the soil—the diverse plants that have nourished these lands—and all that live there within—since time immemorial. This relational experience was then shared with non-Indigenous science colleagues who accepted this gift and adapted it for a third-year Biology land-based learning course that compares Indigenous ways based on relationships with creation and respect for the natural order of life to Western ways based on maximizing land productivity and land management. This perspective paper describes the Indigenous worldview that led to the creation of “Plants as Our Relatives” followed by the implementation and impact of integrating this learning experience into the post-secondary Biology curriculum.