Aki Gakinoomaagewin [Teachings from the Earth] as Peace Education

The Canadian classroom is the primary tool of acculturation in the aspirational goal of building a common Canadian identity. In extreme cases, as in the case of residential schools, the classroom has acted as the primary tool of violent assimilation. If we consider the role of “aki,” translated as “earth” in Anishinaabeg, and her role in fostering a healthy Indigenous identity, we can suggest that Indigenous identity is formed through our relationships with animate and inanimate earth-based tools practised with aki. This chapter will discuss a path to peace for Indigenous peoples based on the integration of earth-based approaches into a teacher training programme using Indigenous approaches to research and formal processes of organizational change. Anishinaabeg culture is a learning/peace culture. Thus, the proper response to Indigenous colonial violence is to help our people learn their peace culture. This approach begins with reconnection to aki using Indigenous traditional approaches to learning.