Indigenous Great Lakes Network Initiative (IGLNi)
http://www.indigenousgreatlakesnetwork.org/

The Indigenous Great Lakes Network Initiative is aimed at equitable inclusion of Indigenous perspectives, research priorities and interests across the Great Lakes Basin watershed. Facilitated by a team of Trent University faculty, research assistants and undergraduate students under the umbrella of the Indigenous Environmental Institute (IEI), this initiative supports Indigenous-led research related to the caretaking and protection of the Lakes and their diversity of ecosystems and more than human beings. The intention of IGLNi is collaboration, knowledge sharing and communication, and the building of respectful, reciprocal multinational relationships between Great Lakes Indigenous communities, Nations, Tribes, organizations, and researchers.

TRACKS (TRent Aboriginal Cultural Knowledge and Science Youth Program)
https://www.trentu.ca/iess/experience/resources-and-connections/tracks

TRACKS is an educational program that was founded in 2010. TRACKS facilitates dynamic, land-based youth programming that braids multiple scientific approaches by centering Indigenous ways of knowing and being. We are hosted by Trent University within the Indigenous Environmental Studies and Sciences Program (IESS) and operate in partnership with founding partners the Kawartha World Issues Centre and the First Peoples House of Learning. TRACKS intentions include: offering opportunities to youth to actively engage with a multitude of worldviews to further understand and develop their personal skills, gifts, and tools; contribute to hands-on InSTEAM (Indigenous Science Technology Engineering Art and Math) learning opportunities from the elementary to post-secondary level; spaces where intergenerational knowledge can be shared and mentoring relationships can be nurtured; provide spaces where youth can be empowered to build relationships, learn together, and grow as leaders while honouring their diverse identities and backgrounds; and encourage youth to deepen reciprocal relationships within their environments and embody understandings of their responsibilities to the land.

Fish Forever

Project Fish Forever is a collaborative effort involving TRACE Lab, the Water Quality Centre, the Onakawana Education Fund, and McGill University’s Yargeau Lab. It aims to engage both settler and Indigenous communities across Canada in monitoring polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination in fish. The project seeks to establish fish monitoring and surveillance hubs nationwide, initially focusing on PFAS and later extending to other contaminants of concern. The goal is to ensure that all Canadians can safely fish for sustenance and recreation without concerns about consuming contaminated fish. The two-year pilot program includes the creation of sampling hubs in collaboration with Salmon Coast Research Station on the West Coast, Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation and Michipicoten First Nation in the Great Lakes, and Camp Onakwana in the James Bay Lowlands. The research aims to deepen our understanding of PFAS in fish, particularly in regions where fish hold cultural and subsistence significance.

Great Lakes Fishery Commission – Indigenous Environmental Institute Partnership

The Indigenous Environmental Institute (IEI) of Trent University and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) entered a historic partnership in June 2024. GLFC is a binational commission that works to caretake, protect and restore the Lakes and the associated fishery. The GLFC/IEI partnership supports the research priorities of Indigenous communities, Tribes, Nations and organizations, the IGLNi and establishes a scholarship program for Indigenous graduate students and community learners. The community learner support is intended for youth training and capacity building.

Potawatomi Thrivance Collective

This collective of Citizen Potawatomi Nation scholars and community members from across the United States and Canada seeks to reclaim, remember and revitalize our cultural practices and connection to our original homelands in the Great Lakes. We gather virtually during each moon cycle and in-person three to four times during the seasonal round. The benefits of cultural reclamation and strengthens our identities and extends to our relatives living in Oklahoma and other locations outside of the Great Lakes basin. We work to remember our foodways, ceremonies and teachings and share them through our personal and collective work.