Students in Kinosao Sipi, Manitoba
Students in Kinosao Sipi, Manitoba @ Robert Rideout
Nature United, The Nature Conservancy’s Canadian affiliate, supports community-led, land-based programs that connect Indigenous youth to their cultures and territories. Through the Emerging Leaders initiative, Nature United works with Indigenous partners to strengthen youth programs by supporting planning and evaluation, building learning exchanges, and developing long-term funding strategies. These efforts aim to ensure that youth have the skills, knowledge, and confidence to be future leaders in their communities and on the land. By focusing on Indigenous values and priorities, the initiative helps nurture the next generation of leaders who are grounded in culture, community, and a deep connection to their territories.
Last update: 28 Nov 2025
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Context
Challenges addressed
The Emerging Leaders program addresses challenges in implementing on-the-land/water programs for Indigenous youth. Common barriers include access to funding, a lack of resources, and the colonial disruption of knowledge transmission. Many funding sources are colonial in their application processes, leading to frustration in arguing for the importance of these programs. Many communities have lower average incomes, requiring costly modern technology to re-establish lost practices. Additionally, the emotional toll on program leaders, who often fill multiple roles, and the risk of burnout are significant challenges. Traditional knowledge transmission is further disrupted by colonization, with fewer individuals able to teach these skills. Language gaps between Elders and youth also present a barrier, despite the potential of these programs to help revitalize languages.
Location
North America
Process
Summary of the process
The success of the Emerging Leaders Initiative comes from listening to what Indigenous partners shared with us in supporting programs that focus on Indigenous youth. That simple but powerful insight shaped these two building blocks. By focusing on supporting programs that reconnect youth to land, culture, and community by catalyzing peer-to-peer connections and sharing out relevant tools and resources to support those running programs, Nature United has helped community partners foster the confidence and leadership needed for the next generation of stewards. The opportunities for connection and resources on the YOLO website build on this foundation by offering communities a way to share knowledge and grow their own on-the-land programs. Together, these efforts strengthen one another as youth members gain experience, communities gain support, and stewardship becomes truly rooted in the needs of Indigenous youth.
Building Blocks
Peer to Peer Learning Connections for Coordinators of On the Land Programs Serving Indigenous Youth
Coordinators have offered feedback that being the only ones doing this work in their communities can feel isolating. We continue to hear from practitioners on the ground that they are hungry for opportunities and are wanting to connect and learn from each other across communities. People want to share practical details about their experience building and running an on-the-land youth program - where others got their funding or received their training. Having spaces to share what’s working and not working, They want to share challenges and to learn from each other.
The YOLO network fulfills a need for resource sharing and communication. The YOLO website features a map of on the land programs for Indigenous youth programs across the country, along with contact information for fellow Coordinators, who can sign up to participate in monthly virtual coffee hours and webinars to connect with others doing similar work. Many connections have already grown out of these coffee hours, with participants sharing tips and funding resources with each other, planning land-based camps together, and talking about getting together for exchanges in the future.
Enabling factors
For the success of this initiative, we have learned the following factors are important:
- Creating opportunities for strong relationships to be built.
- Developing communications materials to help potential participants understand the value of the network.
- Dedicating a position to coordinating the network and “network weaving” - creating connections between members
- Creating accessible and engaging meeting opportunities for network participants (virtual, as well as in person - the value of in person connection is hard to replace)
Lesson learned
The following are key lessons learned through the YOLO network’s experiences of creating opportunities for peer to peer connection among those running on-the-land programs for Indigenous:
- People want access to others doing similar work to them, and the collaborations and support that comes out of spaces for people to connect in unstructured or lightly structured ways is amazing.
- Having “network weavers” in dedicated positions to hold space for people to connect is important - someone needs to hold the role of organizing, inviting, facilitating connections, etc.
Having a strong advisory group to guide the network, its development, and direction has been very important. We are working toward ensuring there is diverse geographic, demographic and skills-based representation and including seats for Elders and youth. Considering how the advisory group can guide us toward ensuring the network is Indigenous-led in the future and grounded in what communities need and want are top priorities for the YOLO network
Developing and Sharing Relevant Tools, Resources and Templates
To support Emerging Leaders programs, Nature United and community partners have developed many tools and resources to support communities in establishing, running and expanding their own on-the-land programs for Indigenous youth. The SEAS Toolkit was developed in 2017 by communities running Supporting Emerging Aboriginal Stewards (SEAS) youth on the land programs on BC's Central Coast, in partnership with Nature United. It is a resource for planning an on-the-land Indigenous youth program developed based on the unique culture and territories of First Nations on the BC Coast, that other communities can adapt to their specific contexts.
In more recent years, several one-off tools and resources have been developed by Nature United or shared out by community partners, in response to need and requests from on-the-land programs, including curriculum documents to link programs to school credits, financial reporting templates, and tipsheets on how to include mentorship opportunities in programs. These all now live on the YOLO (Youth On the Land Opportunities) Community network website in the resource library.
Enabling factors
- Strong relationships with community partners who are willing to share templates and information they have developed to address common challenges.
- Creating spaces for communities to share documents they have developed with each other (e.g., a webinar to share curriculum documents developed in one place can inspire a program Coordinator in another place to develop their own curriculum, as well as facilitate a connection between two people working on the same thing).
Lesson learned
- Tools developed must be able to be easily customized to address the unique needs of local contexts.
- Resource libraries must be considered living repositories where resources, stories and experiences of what has and hasn’t worked can evolve and grow over time. As more and more communities build youth on-the-land programs and share their experience, information must continue to be updated and revised to remain relevant. It is also important to remember that only a fraction of experiences and activities are captured in any given toolkit and may only reflect the needs of those who informed their development.
- Sharing an abundance of information that meets the needs of a diverse group of communities must be balanced with presenting information in a clear and accessible way, to avoid overwhelming users and ensure resources are used by those doing the work on the ground.
- Tools and templates can be useful on their own, but often need human connections and relationships to “animate” them and increase their use. Having facilitators or network coordinators available to walk communities through how to make use of resources can be invaluable.
Impacts
Nature United’s support for land-based learning programs advances Indigenous-led conservation by supporting Indigenous Nations to strengthen their capacity through youth-centered, community-driven programs. Grounded in the vision and leadership of communities, these programs reconnect youth with their territories and cultures, while moving forward local priorities and increasing local capacity.
These programs demonstrate far-reaching benefits: land-based learning has been shown to support holistic well-being—mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual while enhancing confidence, leadership, and educational outcomes. By integrating Indigenous knowledge systems, programs support language revitalization, cultural retention, and stewardship values that foster long-term care for lands and waters. These initiatives also contribute to economic outcomes by supporting in-community jobs, building employment skills, and strengthening community resilience. Programs like food harvesting and on-the-land activities promote food security and climate adaptation. Through partnerships, mentoring, and training, these programs are helping shape the next generation of community-focused leaders
Beneficiaries
Indigenous Peoples, First Nations, Youth, Canadian citizens
Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)
GBF Target 21 – Ensure That Knowledge Is Available and Accessible To Guide Biodiversity Action
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 3 – Good health and well-being
SDG 4 – Quality education
SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities
SDG 13 – Climate action
SDG 15 – Life on land
SDG 16 – Peace, justice and strong institutions
SDG 17 – Partnerships for the goals
Story
Grizzly of the Khutzeymateen
© Tracy Fleming/TNC Photo Contest 2019
“Bear safety is one of the first things we teach to our Emerging Leaders interns each summer.”
Vern Brown has been the Supporting Emerging Aboriginal Stewards (SEAS) Coordinator for the Kitasoo/Xai’xais community since 2016. Before every hike, he says, students take turns reciting safety procedures for recognizing fresh signs of nearby bears and how to prevent surprising bears on the trail. On this particular day, the group came across six grizzly bears on their way to a waterfall; none was startled by the students.
“This day was important because they saw for themselves and realized that the safety techniques work and will keep them safe.”
Nature United has supported SEAS, part of our Emerging Leaders initiative, in coastal British Columbia since 2009, giving students hands-on internships and other educational experiences to connect with the landscape and culture of their traditional territories. In Kitasoo/Xai’xais, where summer internships have been available to high school students since 2012, Vern’s top goals as coordinator are to expose his interns to as much of their territory as possible, inspire curiosity and show them that they have opportunities once they finish school.
Emerging Leaders school programs and youth internships incorporate on-the-land learning in hopes that students' eyes will be open to all of the possibilities that are waiting for them once school is over. Nature United is proud to support these community-designed, community-led programs in Kitasoo/Xai’xais and across Canada, helping to develop the next generation of leaders to steward lands and waters.
“Youth in our community represent the future stewards of our territory,” Vern says. “It is our Nation’s vision to reconnect young people to the Earth and their culture. To teach them where they come from and who they can be.”
Connect with contributors
Other contributors
➔ Zahra Remtulla
Nature United
➔ Shea Henderson
YOLO (Youth On the Land Opportunities) Community Network