If you’re searching for a meaningful, educational, and reflective way to celebrate Canada Day, the New Canadians Centre is inviting you to spend the day learning from the land.
The non-profit organization is hosting “Lessons from the Land” for the fifth year, bringing free activities led by local Indigenous leaders to Jiimaan Kinomaagewin (Canadian Canoe Museum) at 2077 Ashburnham Drive in Nogojiwanong-Peterborough.
Taking place on Tuesday, July 1 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:05 p.m., the day will include activities, programs, and opportunities to learn about and celebrate Indigenous heritage, culture, and knowledge.
For many years, NCC used the day to host the Multicultural Canada Day Festival, which was one of their most celebratory events of the year with lots of food, dance, markets, and diverse cultures.
However, with the commitment to walk alongside Indigenous Peoples, especially after the May 2021 discovery of 215 unmarked graves at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., NCC decided to take a different approach to Canada Day and make it a day to pause and reflect on the path forward to Truth and Reconciliation.
“We decided to move away from celebrating multiculturalism in Canada on that day and instead holding some space for our newcomers, immigrants, and refugees to learn more about the real history of Canada as a nation,” says NCC Community Engagement Manager Mauricio Interiano.
“We’re really excited to be partnering with amazing Indigenous local leaders and to be running a lot of workshops and activities, so that our clients can have a different understanding and relationship with the land in this country that they decided to move to.”
Interiano explains that many of NCC’s clients frequently ask about the significance of the Indigenous land acknowledgements that frequently preface civic and community occasions, and this event allows the organization to provide context and education.
“Many folks who have come from other countries don’t have a real sense of history that happened on this land,” he says. “Indigenous folks have been taking care of our land, and we wanted to connect with this in a more meaningful way, and Lessons from the Land brings us that opportunity.”
The event will kick off with an opening ceremony led by Curve Lake First Nation leader and advocate Janet McCue who will be joined by her sister Linda McCue. Anishnaabe Kwe (Ojibwe/Cree) spoken word artist Sarah Lewis, who was the City of Peterborough’s inaugural poet laureate, will also recite her original poetry and set a reflective and inspirational tone for the events of the day.
While in past years, Lessons from the Land has featured activities around medicine wheels, cedar teachings, and walks at local parks, this year’s event at the Canadian Canoe Museum, on the shore of Little Lake, will focus on learning from the water.
“The Canadian Canoe Museum being open now presented this opportunity to get onto the water and to learn more about canoes and this way of transportation that Indigenous Peoples have used in the past,” Interiano says. “Many of our clients haven’t been to the museum and this gives them the chance to do that while learning and getting on the water on a nice summer day.”
Following this theme, at 10 a.m., Janet McCue will lead a talk about mnoomin (the Anishinaabemowin word for wild rice, pronounced mah-noh-min) and its importance in Anishnaabe culture, and will also provide some recipes for how it can be used.
From 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., guests can board a Voyageur canoe for a tour of Little Lake. Guided by the Canadian Canoe Museum, the participatory, educational event is open to people of all ages and skill levels, but is limited to 35 people and must be booked in advance. Participants should come dressed for the water.
Other family-friendly events will run simultaneously beginning at 10:30 a.m., including a fast-paced River Race game led by TRACKS Youth Program, an educational program hosted by Trent University that combines Indigenous science and western science within an environmental context.
The interactive activity will explore the journey of salmon, eel, and sturgeon during spawning season in the Lake Ontario tributaries by studying the obstacles they face, the importance of the waterways, and the role of traditional ecological knowledge in understanding local ecosystems.
Alternatively, guests can explore the sacred relationship between Indigenous communities and medicinal plants during “Rooted Teachings: Medicines of the Land,” a hands-on workshop led by Robyn Ivory from Indigenously Infused, a Curve Lake First Nation company that grows, harvests, and infuses traditional plants into candles, mists, and melts.
Participants will be guided through the uses, teachings, and stories of traditional medicines, as Ivory highlights the four Sacred Medicines and seven Grandfather Teachings. Anishinaabemowin language and cultural teachings will be woven throughout the session as participants deepen their understanding of how plants are grown, harvested, and prepared with respect, and how these medicines can support our well-being today.
“Robyn will be bringing some medicinal plants to teach folks the different ways that they can use this important gift from our motherland,” Interiano says.
The final event to run simultaneously will be a strawberry pin beading circle. Jaida Ponce, a Kichi Siibi Niizi Mnidoo Anishinaabe youth from Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, will lead the meaningful beading workshop centred on ode’imin (the Anishinaabemowin word for strawberry, pronounced o-day-min, which literally translates to “heart berry”), symbolic of love and truth in many Indigenous cultures.
Ponce will share teachings, stories, and reflections rooted in Anishinaabe traditions and values as participants bead their strawberries and learn the cultural significance of beading. All materials will be provided. The workshop is limited to 35 participants, though no advanced registration is required.
Those unable to attend the beading circle are invited to pick up a free beading kit at the NCC office at 221 Romaine Street after July 1 and follow an online video tutorial by Dominique O’Bonsawin, an Abenaki and French-Canadian artist who owns the Cedarlilie Bead Shop.
At noon, Thomas Olszewski’s Grandfather’s Kitchen will be catering a lunch of soup and bread, before Janet and Linda lead a drumming circle to close the event at 12:45 p.m. After that, attendees will be able to explore the Canadian Canoe Museum free of charge, courtesy of NCC.
To expand the conversations and educational opportunities beyond July 1 and to help community members to continue to reflect on the path forward, NCC has a virtual hub of educational resources that are always accessible. Participants will find videos and information on Turtle Island, Nogojiwanong, the residential school system, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and the 94 Calls to Action, and much more.
“On their own time and at their own pace, people can learn more about Indigenous Peoples and, in general, how to be friends of the environment and the land that we’re on,” Interiano says.
Given that Lessons of the Land will be taking place outdoors, NCC is encouraging participants to bring a refillable water bottle (a water fountain is on site), a dish pack for lunch (bowl, plate, spoon, and fork), sunscreen, and chairs or blankets to sit on. There are plans to move inside the museum should there be rain.
But, above all, Interiano encourage people to come to the event willing to learn and reflect.
“We want people leaving this space feeling more appreciative of the land that we’re on and learning more about what the land has to offer outside the context of Canada,” he says. “I hope folks learn a new recipe, learn new ways of engaging in nature, and learn the knowledge that a lot of Indigenous folks have been using for many years — but also to learn other ways of celebrating Canada Day and the land that you’re on.”
For more information on Lessons from the Land, and to access the virtual education hub, visit www.nccpeterborough.ca/lessons-from-the-land-2025/
This branded editorial was created in partnership with the Peterborough Regional Health Centre Foundation. If your organization or business is interested in a branded editorial, contact us.
