Forager Number 2 Fall 2015 | Page 55

elders, eventually becoming one of the earliest Gwich’in nurses. In the 1990s, Welsh was part of an innovative initiative to incorporate a traditional medicine program into the design of the new Whitehorse General Hospital, which was completed in 1997 and is now one of several culturally sensitive holistic health care options available to patients. Besides conducting many workshops on plants, traditional medicine, and Traditional Knowledge with Yukon and Northwest Territories communities and schools, Welsh was also a key instructor at the Gwich’in Science Camp offered by the GSCI from 1995−2001. The camp was a 10-day on-the-land accredited high school course for upper level high school students, and was aimed at stimulating an interest in science and Gwich’in Traditional Knowledge. Open to all students (Gwich’in and non-Gwich’in), it covered instruction in the fields of anthropology, biology, geography, and the Gwich’in Comprehensive Land Claim alongside Gwich’in Traditional Knowledge and oral history. One of the most popular parts of the camp was Welsh’s traditional plant workshop, where she taught students about a particular plant and how to prepare it for medicinal purposes. All of the students were required to choose a project, present their results, and keep a journal about their activities. You can sense their excitement about learning and experiencing new subjects in their entries from the 1997 Knut Lang Camp outside of Aklavik: Monday September 15, 1997 “[In the morning] I worked on my presentation... I am doing poplar buds... I really like it out here. I’m having the time of my life... when I am older I wish that I could have my own camp around Aklavik because that’s where my whole family grew up. I hope that I have the same cabins that Knut Lang has here. I really love the smoke house [made by Neil Colin] because it is made out of [spruce] tree bark.” — (Charlene Firth, Inuvik) By working with Welsh the students learned that all around them are plants that they could use to feed and heal themselves while in the bush, and that just being in the bush can be therapeutic and regenerative. The students also learned that traditional medicine is not only about the traditional use of plants, but that it also involves taking care of one’s body, mind, and soul. About the same time that GSCI started running its yearly camps it became clear that since people were not spending as much time out on the land as they previously had, they were not practicing their traditional ALAN FEHR, ARI INGRID KRITSCH, GSCI INGRID KRITSCH, GSCI Gwich’in youth learning from elders in the community ALESTINE ANDRE, GSCI Forager 2 Fall 2015 49