Secondary

Students at this level can participate in group research projects about hunting. There are varioud different animals that are hunted within the province of Quebec, some in more remote areas, specific to Indigenous people and others open to more game hunting.

Each group can choose an animal from the list of hunting game and can answer the following questions:

1) What is the natural characteristics of this animal ( where it lives, what it eats, it's breeing cycle, etc.)

2) What are the regulations around hunting this animal (how many can each person kill, what do indigenous hunting right look like)?

3) How many people can these animals feed?

4) What is the cultural significance for this animal in some Indigenous cultures? What is one things we can learn about the relationship between Indigenous people and this animal?

Students can present these projects to each other and to other people in their schools.

Quebec Guide to Hunting

First Nations Traditional Hunting

In this lesson, we can start to look at the relationship between these three plants, and how traditionally, they were planted together because they support each other.

You can take this project into a number of areas:

1) Maintaining the theme of relationships, we can encourage students to develop research into looking at other ways plants can be planted together to support one another, and develop a whole campaign of relational plants. You can expect some of the research to involve looking at the anatomy and reproduction of plants as well beginning to explore the cultural significance of the plants they are researching.

2) Students can use the three sisters as a jumping off point for looking into the farming industry of Quebec; they can do some research in to the methods that the farming industry feeds to many people in comparison to the ways in which self sustaining gardening projects can support families and what that looks like. 

At the end of the school year, it is possible to plant a three sisters garden to be able to anticipate this lesson again the fall with new students who can use the hands on experience of the harvest and promotes the relationship between students as those planting are supporting the learning of those harvesting.

Three Sisters Planting

Three Sisters Planting USA 

Youtube Video for Companion Planting & Stories

3-Sisters Story from Haudenosaunee 

Following 8th grade where students have begin to look at the science behind the 3 sisters, and other types of agriculture across Canada, in the 9th grade, it would be a beautiful opportunity to start to explore the experience of return to food sovereignty across Indigenous communities.

1) Students in social studies begin to talk more in depth at this grade level about the experience of colonization for Indigenous people, this is a good opportunity to begin teaching about the beginning of food insecurity as the expectation to move from traditional lifestyles to civilizing practices and how that impacted eating in Indigenous populations. 

2) Students can research the ways in which Indigenous communities are developing food sovereignty projects in their communities; with this inspiration, students can then, in groups, work on developing proposals for community gardens and agricultural opportunities that can benefit their own community; they can research the land that is available within the community, how much of certain plants can be planted acreage, how many people could be fed based on those fields and gardens, what funding and distribution could look like if the community they live in were to engage in a food sovereignty project.

Resources for Food Insecurity and Sovereignty

Colonization & Food

How food became a weapon of colonization 

Native American Food Sovereignty, Explained 

CBC Article on Harvest

CBC Article about 3 sisters 

Food Sovereignty on Turtle Island 

At the 8th grade, students will have done an in-depth look into the hunting industry within the province of Quebec. At this level, you can begin to unpack with the class about the hunting rights afforded to Indigenous people across the country and by province. There are research opportunities to see if things differ by nation, by province and by animal population.

In 2022, there were two articles that came out below around Moose Moratoriums (there may be new ones today, but these ones are a good point of reference for debate): The Algonquin in Western Quebec wanted to implement a moratotium on hunting to allow the opportunity for the moose population to grow with the threat of game hunting; at the same time, in Manitoba, the provincial government wanted to implement a moose moratorium for the same reasons, yet there was concern by the Métis community around food sovereignty and rights to hunting.

Activity: You can have two groups do some indepth research into each side of what effects a moratorium has on all people (game hunting, feeding families, Indigenous rights, moose populations). In an imaginary world, you could engage in a debate between the two sides around why a moratorium is important, using arguments from the sides to discuss impact. 

If you find that this is a lot for the students, it is possible to choose only one of the examples and to conduct the same sort of debate between the people involved (Manitoba Government vs Métis; Algonquin vs Game Hunters). This is good opportunity to engage in considering Indigenous rights, Animal Rights and the relationshis between them.

Hunting Traditions very much Alive

Indigenous tourism 

Algonquin ban in Western Quebec

Manitoba hunting 

Before diving into the origins of Thanksgiving, you can begin by looking at the Ohenton Karihwatehkwen Thanksgiving Address for the Haudenosaunee people ( check out this link for  LBPSB Resources  on the topic).

Students can begin with the previous activities to consider gratitude and thankfulness in their own lives, and that leads to one of the major holidays in the fall time: Thanskgiving.

Activity: Students will explore the truth origins of Thanksgiving as opposed to the commercial parts that have been presented over time; students will create posters or adds highlighting one aspect of the truth about thanksgiving ( can also be social media posts as well as students are very much into instagram posts and tiktoks).

The students can highlight either a hard truth about colonial thanksgiving or they an emphasize a truth about original thanksgiving from Indigneous cultures to create a display of images and informational media that can inform, in short bursts about the truth of Thanksgiving.

American Thanksgiving 

CBC Article on Thanksgiving

Native American Girls talk Thanksgiving