Asitu’lɨsk – Ulnooweg Education Centre
Indigenous Learning Centre
That which gives you balance
It is a place of balance.
Etuaptmumk
Etuaptmumk or Two-Eyed Seeing is a guiding principle developed by Mi’kmaq Elder Albert Marshall. It is a gift of multiple perspectives that recognizes that better outcomes are more likely if we bring two or more perspectives into collaboration, creating balance.
Netukulimk
Netukulimk is an essential concept that guides Mi’kmaw beliefs and practices, about the deep understanding and respect for the interconnectedness of all things. The message of Netukulimk is to take only what you need, leaving a balance for the seven generations.
A Place to Reconnect
A Place to Come Together
A Place to Learn
A Natural Place
How we got here
The History of Asitu'lisk
For thousands of years, the Mi’kmaq cared for the forest and riparian zones along the waterway. In 1840, the Wentzell Family settled onto what was later to be called Windhorse Farm, and for six generations they cared for and protected the land by practicing sustainable forestry and agriculture. Then in 1990 Jim and Margaret Drescher and their family became the new caretakers of the land.
The Dreschers, along with ten “forest families,” spent thirty years creating a culture of protecting and learning from the land, demonstrating the longest-standing sustainable forestry in modern Canada.
At the end of 2021, as part of an historic land-back initiative, the Dreschers brought their long-standing dream to life in returning Windhorse Farm to the rightful caregivers, the Mi’kmaq; the original people of this land, Mi’kma’ki.
In 2022, UEC renamed the space Asitu’lisk, which is a verb meaning that which gives you balance.
The land has come full circle.
OFFICIAL GRAND OPENING
Land Based Learning
EXPERIENCE
Ulnooweg Education Centre inspires Indigenous communities via a holistic educational approach, through initiatives in science & innovation, agriculture, and health while revitalizing Indigenous culture and language for the benefit of all youth and communities. Our initiatives include agriculture, financial education, science & innovation, and land-based learning.
At Asitu’lisk we promote healing and learning with our ways of exploring, connecting, and being. Educational programming is being led by the Ulnooweg Education Centre in this space – for instance, youth recently learned about engineering by constructing a steam lodge!
We encourage our partners to envision their programming hosted at Asitu’lisk in the future, and are open to all conversation leading towards the sharing of this land.
FUTURE PLANS
DREAM
Asitu’lisk has been part of an historic land-back initiative for the Indigenous peoples of Atlantic Canada. To honour this beautiful transition, the Ulnooweg Education Centre envisions big, bold, beautiful improvements for the infrastructure and capacity of the space, including:
- a performance arts centre
- an observatory
- habitat tools for youth on the trails
- canoe building in the woodshop
- an outdoor amphitheatre
- a traditional sweat lodge
- and more!