“Etuaptmumk or Two-Eyed Seeing adamantly, respectfully, and passionately challenges us to bring together our different ways of knowing to motivate people, to use all our understandings so we can leave the world a better place and not comprise the opportunities for our youth (in the sense of Seven Generations) through our own inactions.”
~ Institute for Integrative Science and Health
The Two-Eyed Seeing Program, funded by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada PromoScience Program, is guided by Etuaptmumk, as translated by Elders Albert and Murdena Marshall, and Dr. Cheryl Bartlett, from Unama’ki (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia). Two-eyed seeing encourages relationship building, co-learning, knowledge scrutinization, knowledge validation, and knowledge-gardening, and guides all aspects of the program, including communication, curriculum development, delivery, and evaluation. A great place to start learning more is here: http://www.integrativescience.ca/.
This year marks eight years of the Two-Eyed Seeing Program, a testament to the program’s relationships, sustainability and perseverance. With guidance from Elders, Knowledge Keepers, community partners, and academic researchers, the Two-Eyed Seeing Program co-creates learning opportunities with and for Mi’kmaw youth in grades 7 to 9 in Mi’kma’ki.
All involved in the program have the opportunity to teach and learn, encouraging reciprocal exchange, humility, and life-long learning. Among its several goals and objectives, the program aims to support youth in their exploration and pursuit of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and careers in postsecondary institutions, while advocating to address barriers to such pursuits, identified in academic and public literature, and by youth themselves.
In 2022, the Two-Eyed Seeing Program welcomed Cathy LeBlanc as Program Coordinator and Community Liaison. Cathy is a Mi’kmaw woman from Wasoqopa’q (Acadia) First Nation, as well as an author of a book rooted in two-eyed seeing, Mi’kmaw Moons: The Seasons in Mi’kma’ki. Cathy brings to the program decades of experience in land-based, experiential learning and work with youth, as well as mentorship skills, knowledge and strong relationships, exemplified by her recent work with Hike Nova Scotia to develop a Mi’kmaw walking program guided by two-eyed seeing. When asked about what drew her to the program, she said:
“Mi’kmaw Moons brought me to this place. Shannan and the Two-Eyed Seeing Program were interested in using the book in their curriculum, so we hosted a book launch at Mount Saint Vincent University in fall 2022. I knew once I started working with this team, that it was meant to be. I haven’t looked back since I joined them, and am deeply fulfilled by the work we do.”
Shannan is a faculty member in the Faculty of Professional Studies, Mount Saint Vincent University, one of the co-founders of the program, member of the program leadership team, and a self-proclaimed “lifelong learner.”
Latest updates
When asked what the program has been up to lately, Cathy and Shannan highlighted recent updates to their website, noting ongoing efforts to have it translated to Mi’kmaw with the support of long-time partner Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey. They spoke enthusiastically about their devoted leadership team, community-based mentors, and staff, made up of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, community-based and university-based, and including Mount students and alumni.
Based on community feedback, the program has offered activities as part of 2 to 3-hour events since 2023. The approach had previously focused on the delivery of a 4 to 5-day summer day camp.
Recently, urban youth, their family, and supports, engaged in two evening events, facilitated by long-term program member, Florence Blackett, in partnership with Native Council of Nova Scotia. One activity, called The Voice of the Drum, was particularly popular with the youth. Originally developed in 2018 by Florence, and former program staff, with the support of program mentors, including leadership team member Velvet Paul, Education Director Sipekne’katik First Nation, and Mount Saint Vincent University Faculty, this activity marries Western teachings in physics with traditional knowledge and teachings about the drum. It truly is a fan favourite!
Noteworthy events from 2023 include a partnership with the MSVU Art Gallery where Indigenous youth hosted their very own art exhibit. This exhibit showcased boats that they built from scratch and painted, with the support of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Alan Syliboy, program staff and the leadership team. It also showcased the Two Eyed Seeing Program logo, co-created by Grace Berry, proud member of Wasoqopa’q (Acadia) First Nation and Gerald Gloade, artist, educator, and long-term program mentor, AND gave patrons a sneak-peak at a short documentary about the program, to be released in Winter 2025.
What’s to come
2024 has kept Cathy and the program as busy as ever, planning several projects. For example:
The Perfect Pairings Project is a new project involving the Canadian Museum of Immigration, Pier 21, Public Programs and Community Engagement Team. Sprouting from a three-year collaboration rooted in a shared passion of food and the various ways of understanding our relationship with food, those engaging in this project will co-create recipes that include culturally and traditionally significant foods or food practices. This partnership was established to co-create opportunities for cross-cultural learning. Cathy and Shannan noted that the program is very excited about the 2024 theme for Mikmaw History Month, Mijipjewey Na Mawa’lusksi’k (Food gathers Us Together). Program Co-Founder, Ann Sylliboy, Director of Post Secondary Education, Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey, was central to cultivating this relationship.
“This is a great opportunity for Mi’kmaw youth to learn about cultures other than their own, and to have the opportunity to teach about theirs. This is Etuaptmumk.”
With sights set on 2025, Cathy LeBlanc is hard-at-work planning an event to bring program partners, stakeholders and rights and title holders together to unveil the fruits of a project she has facilitated since joining the program in 2022. Called The Seven Sacred Teachings Project by those interviewed for this article, Cathy and the leadership team, have worked together, with a community-based subcommittee, to update program terms and conditions or ways of working together, based on the seven sacred teachings. Shannan and Cathy highlighted that this project was identified by partners as core to program objectives and decolonizing the way we work together. A strong example of two-eyed seeing in action, those involved stress this work as invaluable to the academy and beyond.
The program has been working with Mi’kmaw two-spirit graphic designer/illustrator and artist Jessica Jerome on The Seven Sacred Teachings Project for two years now to ensure that these concepts will be available to all in both text and graphics. Jessica is involved in bringing the methods of two-eyed seeing to teaching both adults and children. Said Jessica, “We aim to bring the traditional ways while incorporating the Western ways of teaching. It’s important that we bring Mi’kmaw oral stories and traditions to life through workshops. Our youth are the future, and for us to nurture their growth, they need to be rooted in tradition and education.”
Along the same vein, scheduled for the first week of December 2024, as part of the program’s ongoing Mentorship Mawi’omi, Indigenous youth will come to the Mount for a two-day event aimed at providing youth with skills to apply for university, college and jobs, specifically those in STEM and applied science fields. This event will also serve as an engagement event, where youth, their chaperons, and program partners can discuss ways we can make such opportunities more accessible to Indigenous youth.
“It is important for youth to see themselves in their education,” Jessica said.
“We have engaged community-based education support workers every step of the way in planning this event, and hope that many attend with the youth. They often know the youth very well and have strong relationships with them,” said Cathy.
Finally, with the guidance of partners, the program is creating a new kit for participating communities. This kit is a two-eyed seeing library, aimed at supporting teachers and youth in engaging the younger generations in learning about this concept. It will include books selected by the program and partners, as well as materials to guide relationship-building and co-learning. We aim to make these kits available in spring 2025.
For more on this program, please email Cathy LeBlanc at tesprogram@msvu.ca, check out our website, and follow us on social:
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