ELDER ALBERT D. MARSHALL, Mi’kmaw Spiritual Leader, O.C., LLD, is from the Moose Clan and a fluent Mi’kmaw speaker residing in Eskasoni, Unama’ki (Cape Breton Island), Nova Scotia, the territory of the Mi’kma’ki.
Elder Marshall is the spokesperson for the Mi’kmaw Nation on matters related to related to natural resources and environmental issues and tirelessly promotes cultural revitalization, the Mi’kmaw language and the need to live sustainably. Awarded the 2023 Indspire Lifetime Achievement award he is a passionate advocate of cross-cultural understandings of healing and of our human responsibilities to care for all creatures and our Earth Mother. – see video.
Elder Marshall coined the term Etuaptmumk in 2004 (Bartlett et al., 2012; Hatcher et al., 2009) as a key guiding principle of the Institute of Integrative Science and Health (IISH) work at Cape Breton University (CBU), Nova Scotia to bridge Indigenous/Mi’kmaw and Western perspectives, and to “help reconnect humans reconnect to the Earth” (Bartlett et al., 2015, p. 283).
Meeting at Humber, Tkaronto in 2020, Louise and Elder Albert have been working together to promote Land-based play and co-learning through storytelling, an approach that has national and global relevance for protecting biodiversity, climate action, and resilience.
LOUISE ZIMANYI, of French-Canadian and Hungarian descent, is a mother, professor of Early Childhood Education (teaching Land-based Play and Co-Learning through Etuaptmumk/Two-Eyed Seeing) and researcher.
Louise lives and plays in Tkaronto—Trees Standing in Water (Toronto), part of Treaty 13 and the Dish with One Spoon territory.
Building on work with children and families, teaching and training, and global advocacy work in early childhood care and development, Louise explores how Earth-centered pedagogies and practice in the early years can plant the seeds of sustainability for current and future generations. Building on the benefits of outdoor play for wholistic child development, through collaborative work and co-learning, she explores systemic change including through shifting post secondary Early
Childhood Education (ECE) training, in-service professional
development and early years programming to advance outdoor/land-based playand decolonized learning. For more information, see Children Make Connections to the Earth, Instead of Taking Notes…, Sharing Circle, and More than Just a Course.
