Hal Eagletail is member of the Northern Dene TsuuT’ina Nation. Located in the Treaty 7 area of southern Alberta. He is the owner of Eaglestar Enterprises Ltd. A company that specializes in Cultural consultant work for all industries. He also owns a bottle depot business and partners with Pacific Developers known as Eagle Pacific. Hal helps hospital patients get back to health with traditional knowledge of herbs and ceremony. He is also a Master of Ceremonies for First Nation Pow Wows and Round Dance celebrations across North America. He also facilitates conferences and workshops. He has traveled international taking Native dance troupe’s to help educate and promote First Nations history and cultural identity. He’s traveled to New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany, France and England. In 2007 he was asked by the Alberta Government to represent First Nations of Alberta at the Smithsonian Folklife festival in Washington DC on Historical Evolution of Alberta’s Native Peoples. Humour is one of First Nations best healing medicines and Hal has no shortage of that to prescribe.
Sherpas Cinema is a boutique production house where youthful creativity and originality meets award-winning experience. The use of cutting edge filmmaking techniques, inventive animation and graphic design, intimate character development and detailed audio composition are coupled with years of multifaceted mountain experience and savvy. Our films have been heralded as the best of their kind and have toured the globe with worldwide accolade winning numerous awards.
Dr. Gabrielle E. WeaselHead, Tsapinaaki (Tsah-bee-nah-gi) is a member of the Kainai Nation, Blackfoot Confederacy. An Associate Professor in Indigenous Studies with Mount Royal University, her teaching background includes instructing on topics around First Nation, Métis, and Inuit history and current issues, Indigenous Studies (Canadian and International perspectives), Indigenous cross-cultural approaches, and Indigenous research methods and ethics. Her dissertation research focused on the interplay between trauma and resilience in the postsecondary experiences of Indigenous adult learners. Other research interests include meaningful assessment in higher education, Indigenous homelessness, intercultural parallels in teaching and learning research, Indigenous lived experience of resilience, Indigenous community-based research, parenting assessment tools reform in child welfare, anti-colonial theory, and anti-racist pedagogy.
Love and appreciation for our beautiful planet and the balance of life on it develops best through direct connection to the land that sustains us. Children, especially early learners, can safely immerse in simple, creative, thought-provoking curriculum based outdoor activities that speak to their natural curiosity and desire for exploration, discovery, and reasonable risk-taking. Participants will walk away from the this session with ideas to apply in class on Monday, as well as points to ponder and confidence to push the limits, just a little!
Love and appreciation for our beautiful planet and the balance of life on it develops best through direct connection to the land that sustains us. Children, especially early learners, can safely immerse in simple, creative, thought-provoking curriculum based outdoor activities that speak to their natural curiosity and desire for exploration, discovery, and reasonable risk-taking. Participants will walk away from the this session with ideas to apply in class on Monday, as well as points to ponder and confidence to push the limits, just a little!
Since time immemorial, a mass migration has taken place in the autumn skies over our Rocky Mountains. Bi-annually the Golden Eagle migration occurs in the front ranges, a 10,000 year route that takes these raptors from their northern breeding sites to their southern wintering grounds. On this interactive walk-and-talk, learn how to make curriculum connections to the local landscape through interpretation and story telling. Participants will get a free Unit of Study along the chance to win door prizes from Gear Trade.
A proponent and believer in outdoor education, Leith has worked with youth in the outdoors with organizations such as YMCA Camp Chief Hector, University of Calgary Outdoor Centre, RiverWatch, Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society, Outward Bound and Alberta Parks. She is the owner/operator... Read More →
Explore how nature journaling can boost mental health and deepen students' environmental responsibility. This session introduces hands-on activities aligned with your curriculum, helping students connect their learning with nature. Walk away with practical tools to enrich your classroom practice and inspire a meaningful relationship with the land.
Join the Outdoor Learning Centre Staff for a hands on session involving: fire building, outdoor cooking, hypothermia wraps and more. We will discuss ways to incorporate science concepts into your outdoor lessons, or to incorporate outdoor skills into your science class. The content of the session will be the most relevant to the K-8 Alberta Science curriculum, but can easily be applied to other contexts.
**PLEASE NOTE** Participants will be given the chance to cook and eat bannock. We will provide gluten free bannock just in case, but it would be good to know how much we need to make.
Colleen Lee (BSc, BEd) is an outdoor, environmental, and experiential educator with the Canadian Rockies Outdoor Learning Centre. She works with teachers from across Canadian Rockies Public Schools to design meaningful land-based learning experiences that connect directly with curriculum... Read More →
Braeden Kelly (BSc, BEd) is a land-based learning teacher with the Canadian Rockies Outdoor Learning Centre. He works with teachers in the Canadian Rockies Public School division to co-create outdoor experiential learning experiences that connect to the curriculum. His previous... Read More →
What hidden lessons does nature have to teach us? Join author, Cassandra Troughton, as she brings her story, The Tree Spot, to life and uncovers four transformative lessons that nature offers to those who pay attention. Through guided reflections and interactive activities, you'll gain practical tools to integrate these lessons into your teaching, using nature to inspire connection, gratitude, and a sense of belonging among your students.
Project WILD's mission is to provide wildlife-based conservation and environmental education that fosters responsible actions toward wildlife and related natural resources. All curriculum materials are backed by sound educational practices and theory, and represent the work of many professionals within the fields of education and natural resource management from across the country.
WILD Outside Assistant Manager- Western Canada, Canadian Wildlife Federation
I'm an environmental educator with over 12 years of experience working directly working with land conservation, outdoor recreation and nature experiential education. Now working with the WILD Outside program (for high school age youth), I now help to mentor a wide variety... Read More →
We will be smudging in a circle first then we will be having Circle Teachings regarding the above information. Participants should know we are having a smudge ceremony to begin.
I am Cree/Metis Treaty 6/Metis Homeland and I have been in education for 18 years as a teacher, admin, strategist, and learning lead. I bring Indigenous Perspectives to the classroom and school community. There are many ways Land-based learning can benefit students while balancing... Read More →
Nature supports wellness in many ways, but not all students have equitable access to nature. Mainstream outdoor education is inaccessible, exclusive, and expensive. It perpetuates systemic racism, ableism, classism, heterosexism, sexism, cissexism, and sizeism. Many youth feel ignored, unwelcome, and unprepared in outdoor education. Join Jaclyn Angotti (CPAWS) and Jeff Siddle (GEOEC) as we explore how to make outdoor education inclusive for all. Learn how you can provide inclusive nature connection opportunities that support your students’ wellbeing. This outdoor session will help guide your role as a teacher in responding to inequity in outdoor education. We will demonstrate how to take your favourite environmental lesson plans and apply cross-cultural guidelines to make your lessons more accessible for all your students!
Jaclyn has 15 years of experience leading science and environmental education programs throughout Alberta. She has a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Alberta and a Master of Education from the University of Calgary. Her passion for connecting others with nature is integral... Read More →
Will Gadd is a legend in the extreme sports world. He won the X Games, set two world records for paragliding, and safely led numerous large TV and research expeditions into highly dangerous—and rewarding—environments. He climbed up a frozen Niagara Falls, flew a paraglider over the Grand Canyon, and taught his kids (and doctors and oil sands workers) to positively manage risk with the direct, entertaining and effective tools he learned through a lifetime of living on the edge. He speaks with personal humor and professional depth on effective tools to do great things while staying safe, team resiliency, succeeding in low-knowledge environments, and doing what the everyone said was, “Impossible!” Most recently he and his teams found new life forms in glacial caves for a Discovery TV show, and helped a planetary scientist sample the world’s oldest rocks in Canada’s Arctic. He is an award-winning author, film maker and (no awards) dad in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. His current book project is titled , “Surviving and Succeeding in High-Hazard Environments,” published fall ’25, based on his own experiences and interviews with ten of the top medical, industrial, corporate and military risk managers in the world.
