From a Place of Hurting to a Place of Healing

RESTORING INDIGENOUS PATHWAYS TO WELLNESS

 

When people think about a museum, they often imagine a place where history is kept behind glass. At the National Indigenous Residential School Museum of Canada, we believe history should do more than tell us where we have been—it should help guide where we are going.

 

The museum exists to share the truth about the residential school system and honour the stories of Survivors and their families. But our vision reaches beyond remembering the past. Guided by Survivors, Elders, and Knowledge Holders, we are working to transform the museum from a place of hurting to a place of healing.

 

One of the ways we are doing this is by restoring knowledge that residential schools tried to interrupt, including our relationship with the land.

 

For thousands of years, Indigenous Peoples understood that wellness came from living in balance—with ourselves, our families, our communities, the natural world, and Creator. The land provided food, medicines, teachings, and a sense of identity. Every season carried lessons, and every plant held important teachings.

 

Residential schools separated children from those teachings. Languages were silenced, ceremonies were forbidden, and generations grew up without the opportunity to learn the knowledge their ancestors had carried for millennia. Today, many young people are reclaiming that connection.

 

This summer, the museum launched land-based initiatives that invite people to learn directly from Indigenous Knowledge Holders. Through medicine walks, plant workshops, and the inaugural Medicine Gathering, participants discover not only the names and traditional uses of plants, but also the values they teach: patience, gratitude, responsibility, and respect.

 

Alongside these programs, the museum is developing a permanent Indigenous plant exhibit that tells the story of traditional land use, the disruption caused by residential schools, and the restoration of Indigenous wellness practices. Historical interviews with Elders are helping shape the exhibit, ensuring their voices continue to teach future generations.

 

One of the youth helping bring this vision to life, Ludwig Lenze from Long Plain First Nation, is serving as a Skaabe—a helper—working alongside Elders to review historical interviews and preserve their knowledge for future generations. It is a reminder that cultural restoration is not only the work of Elders; it is also the work of youth who choose to listen, learn, and carry these teachings forward.

 

“Working alongside Indigenous Elders has expanded the way I see the world around me and my place in it,” says Ludwig Lenze. “These teachings aren’t just about the past—they’re meant to be lived and shared. I realize that being a Skaabe at this moment is incredibly important. It means listening with intention so that one day I can help pass these teachings on to the next generation.”

 

That same spirit of learning across generations is at the heart of the museum’s inaugural Mashkikiin (Medicine) Gathering to be held in September 2026.

 

For three days, Knowledge Holders, Elders, harvesters, educators, and community members will come together to share teachings about Indigenous plants, land stewardship, and traditional wellness. More than a series of workshops, the Gathering offers an opportunity to restore something that residential schools worked to erase: the natural passing of knowledge from one generation to the next.

 

The Gathering also reminds us that Indigenous medicine is about more than the plants themselves. It is about learning when to harvest, how to give thanks, why reciprocity matters, and how caring for the land is inseparable from caring for ourselves and one another. Every teaching begins with relationship. This matters for Indigenous athletes, too.

 

Sport develops discipline, determination, and physical strength, but wellness is about much more than what happens on the field, court or track. Mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being are interconnected. Indigenous teachings remind us that caring for one part of ourselves means caring for all parts of ourselves.

 

Learning about traditional plants encourages youth to slow down and notice the world around them. Harvesting respectfully teaches patience. Preparing medicines teaches responsibility. Spending time on the land creates opportunities for reflection, gratitude, and belonging. Many young people describe these experiences as helping them feel grounded and reminding them that they are part of something much larger than themselves. That sense of identity can be a powerful source of resilience.

 

When young people understand that the knowledge they are learning has supported their ancestors for countless generations, they begin to see themselves differently. They recognize that they come from people who knew how to live with the land, care for one another, and overcome tremendous challenges. Those teachings continue to offer strength today.

 

As Indigenous communities continue to reclaim language, ceremony, sport, and cultural practices, restoring traditional plant knowledge is another pathway home.

 

Healing does not happen all at once. It happens through relationships—with our Elders, with our communities, with the truth, and with the land beneath our feet.

 

Every medicine walk, every Elder interview, every youth volunteer, every conversation shared around the Medicine Gathering, and every plant added to the museum’s living exhibit is another step toward restoring what was interrupted.

 

“Our hope is that every young person who visits the museum leaves with more than knowledge of history,” says the Museum’s Executive Director, Lorraine Daniels. “We hope they leave knowing they belong, that their culture holds generations of wisdom, and that the land still welcomes them as a teacher.”

 

Because when we reconnect with the land, we are also reconnecting with ourselves.

 

Healing does not happen all at once. It happens through relationships—with our Elders, with our communities, with the truth, and with the land beneath our feet.

 

We hope young people leave knowing they belong, that their culture holds generations of wisdom, and that the land still welcomes them as a teacher. ~ Lorraine Daniels, Executive Director