Outdoor Learning Conference 2026

Joignez-vous à la conteuse mi’kmaq Julie Pellissier-Lush et à l’éducatrice Julie Gagnon, coautrices de La Petite Robe Rouge, pour un atelier interactif et émouvant de 75 minutes inspiré de cet album trilingue (français, mi’kmaq, anglais).
À travers le récit, la poésie et le chant, les participant·e·s sont invité·e·s à explorer le puissant symbolisme des robes rouges suspendues à travers le Canada, rappels des femmes, des filles et des personnes bispirituelles autochtones disparues et assassinées. L’expérience tisse des perspectives mi’kmaq et acadienne, ouvrant un espace de réflexion, d’empathie et de dialogue. Les participant·e·s découvriront également comment des élèves de l’École Saint-Augustin sont devenus des agents de changement grâce à un projet collaboratif de courtepointe de robes rouges, reliant justice sociale et engagement envers l’environnement.
Plus qu’un atelier, La Petite Robe Rouge est une invitation à se souvenir, à agir et à bâtir un monde plus compatissant et plus juste, une histoire à la fois.
 

Join for some joyous chat, songs and smores (courtesy of GEOEC) around the campfire. This is an all ages event. If you have an instrument or voice to share please bring it to the circle :)

This session explores the deep connections between identity, food, and land. We invite participants to gather on the land to share food, stories, and presence. Izzeddin will share traditional Palestinian dishes such as hummus, حمص and bread, recipes from his Mother. Jade will share the cakes of her childhood taught to her by her Grandmother. Together we shall eat, around the small fire. Through cooking, conversation, and shared experience, we hope to create a space where culture, belonging, and healing emerge through the stories carried in our foods and in our homelands. Through this shared meal, we reflect on how food carries memory, how stories connect us, and how the land holds space for belonging and care.

For more than 100,000 years, people have gathered around the hearth; a glowing centre of warmth, community, and survival. Long before matches or lighters, all of our ancestors relied on skill, patience, and a deep relationship with the land to bring fire to life. In this hands-on workshop, participants will rediscover traditional fire-making methods including bow drill, flint and steel, pump drill, and fire piston. Each person will have the chance to practice these time-honoured techniques, gaining confidence to teach them to learners of all ages. Together, we’ll explore fire not only as a practical tool, but as a symbol of connection, reminding us of our dependence on healthy forests and living ecosystems. In an age of intensifying wildfires and ecological stress, understanding fire’s role in both human and environmental health helps us rekindle respect for this elemental force and for the responsibility that comes with tending it well.

Nature is queer! There is a multitude of diversity in the natural world, from fungi with over 23,000 sex types to 1500+ different animals who engage in same-sex sexual behaviour. Why is queer ecology so important? Queer people have been and continue to be oppressed and discriminated against, often with an argument that being queer 'isn’t natural', which couldn’t be further from the truth. Queer ecology has long been omitted from science because of human bias, but it’s time to celebrate the full beauty of nature!


In this workshop, we’ll share our curiosity and knowledge, go on a wander together and explore diversity in sex, reproduction, same-sex sexual and social relationships, and behaviour outside of stereotypical human gender roles and family structures. Julie will provide resources to help support educators in incorporating queer ecology into their teaching practices. We’ll also explore ways to be more inclusive to members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community while leading outdoor learning.