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Ätà Kù Hunting Trip Over seven weeks, with the direction of many Elders and the energy of the youth, we successfully developed a land-based pilot Summer Camp program out of the age-old Burns Family camp, now called Ätà Kù (“father’s place” in Southern Tutchone). With 15 youth participants attending 3-days a week, and another 15 kids attending the weekly art camp, Ätà Kù offered programming to a total of 30 kids. The camp culminated with a multi-day, overnight moose hunting trip, pictured above. On this trip the youth were taught traditional hunting skills as well as how to set up and maintain base camps. For many, the hunt was emotionally, spiritually, mentally and physically rejuvenating. Over the course of the summer, we saw participants grow in self-confidence, teamwork, leadership, tenacity, traditional language development, cultural land-based learning, connections with Elders, and so much more. “They started out the camp digging outhouse holes and finished it on the top of a mountain,” says Rebecca Bradford-Andrew, Team Lead for the First Nation Education Advocates. Horse Camp Our Horse Camp came to a close mid-August after 7 weeks of offering a land-based horse-therapy program to roughly 10 students for 3-days a week at the Heart Bar Ranch outside Whitehorse. The youth selected for this program have significant challenges in their life but through soft and hard skills acquired at the camp, every one of them now shows new strengths and resilience. “They’re showing increased self-confidence, self-control and respect, connection with animals and the land. They have learned to ask for help and support each other,” says Rebecca Bradford-Andrew, Team Lead of the First Nation Education Advocates. “But there was also a mastery of skills, like being calm around the horses, reading their body language, overall horse care, and saddling and catching their horse.”
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