Blog Post: Meet Talia, Camp Programs Instructor

Aaniin! Hello! 

My name is Talia, and I’m so excited to be back for my second summer working with TRACKS. I’m of mixed Indigenous ancestry on my father’s side, and of mixed European ancestry on my mother’s. I grew up in a few different places, but for the past two years I've been settled down in Burleigh Falls on a lake with my partner and our three pets. I really enjoy living where I do now because I deeply love and appreciate the environment. 

Aside from my general connection and respect I have for the land, I also love entomology, the study of insects. I discovered my love for insects when I was 16 and ever since then I’ve been drawn to how insects interact with the environment, each other, and the world around them. There’s so much to learn from these tiny beings, and I look forward to developing more insect themed programming for TRACKS. A little fun-fact I love is that the word insect in anishinaabemowin is manigoons, meaning little spirit, which I think is adorable.

Two of the big reasons why I'm excited to be working with TRACKS again is the focus of spending time on the land, and the value TRACKS holds in braiding knowledge systems. As somebody who is of mixed ancestry, I deeply resonate with the braiding aspect of our camps. Growing up with two seemingly opposite backgrounds, I naturally braided them together into what now is the way I understand and experience the world. To me, braiding is more than just something I do in the office; it's my way of life. I believe both western and Indigenous perspectives have their strengths, and when combined they support each other in a really powerful way. I like the term braiding because it recognises the strands each in their own respect, and then recognises them together as a whole. Having the focus of our camps be on land based learning too I feel ties everything together, because I find there's a lot of things focused on STEM inside the classroom, but what about on the land? The earth has so much to teach us, as long as we’re able to slow down to watch, listen, and feel. 

I’m so grateful to be a part of the TRACKS team again, and look forward to another summer of getting new youth excited about science!