Learning Story – Caribou Donation
April 24, 2026
What Happened?
Today Ted Tsetta returned with another donation of caribou. Over the last few weeks, we have spoken a lot about how to build a relationship with the animal before you begin to work on it. The Bushkids now had the opportunity to try to remove the hide and cut the meat up, some of which we would eat for lunch. Ted shared that we would use everything that was on that table. The hide was going to be brought to St. Pat’s to teach the students how to make a hide and the bones were going to be gifted to some Elders in N’dilo, who had requested them to make hide tools.
Before we began, Ted reminded us that we always take time to thank the caribou for its life before we begin to work on it. Here are a few other thoughts he shared:
“I never harvest the young or pregnant caribou because they need time to grow.”
“When I shoot a caribou, I always take care of it if I need to transport it.”
“We use clear plastic to transport the meat, because garbage bags have chemicals in them.”
“The first people I share the caribou with are the Elders.”
Why is it Important
During the past seven sessions we have spent a lot of time learning about caribou from Elders, knowledge holders, stories and each other. We have built a deep relationship with the caribou through this sharing process.
In the Western education system, we use a tool called spiral learning, which is similar to this.
“Spiral Learning – We can also think of this as ‘emergent learning’, where instead of learning in set units, we draw out learning and schedules from what is happening on the Land and with all learners. Our curriculum often follows the seasons and it emerges through time, rather than dictating how we spend our time.”
What’s Next?
We will continue to build relationships with different animals that are harvested from the Land. We will also continue to build relationships with Ted and other Elders and knowledge holders. On May 8th , Donovan will come to the site to work with the Bushkids on a beaver hide.
We had a wonderful Literacy event on Sunday. Thank you to everyone who came out. We love to have families join us on the site, so that we can build strong relationships with everyone in the community. Please let us know if you are interested in attending more events like that one.
BushKids Quotes
“How old is the caribou?”
What is the most important thing to remember when working with the caribou?
“It’s make a relation ship with the animal.”
“What is the ball?” (Hip joint)