Hosted by IndigenEYEZ, in collaboration with the FEELed Lab, UBCO Principal’s Research Chair in Communities, Justice, and Sustainability, and the UBC Centre for Climate Justice
Syilx people are the best protectors of our syilx lands, waters and timixʷ, and we need everyone who lives here on our territory to feel and act that way.” — Jeannette Armstrong
What: This spring, we are delighted to once again collaborate on offering the ‘Land as Teacher’ workshop. This session starts with an online orientation prior to the full-day in-person workshop at the FEEled Lab.
LAND AS TEACHER—spring 2026 consists of
April 30, 2026: Online Workshop (1-3 pm) together with
May 22, 2026: In-person Workshop (9 am-3 pm) at the FEELed Lab
Where: Virtual (April 30) & In-Person (May 22) at Woodhaven Ecocultural Centre (Remember: Woodhaven is like Narnia: it is a magical place, but you need to know the secret directions of how to get here! Google Maps will send you astray!)
Who It’s For
People from any sector—education, community, social services, health, environment—who want to move beyond land acknowledgements and into active, relational responsibility for living on syilx homelands.
Why It Matters?
We all have a responsibility to care for the lands, waters, and communities that sustain us. This workshop is about taking steps to act on that responsibility—not just understanding it. As the climate changes, adaptation and innovation are critical—but so is moving beyond a rote land acknowledgement toward actions rooted in gratitude, relationship, and place. This begins by changing how we perceive, imagine, and interact with the land, guided by syilx worldviews.
What You’ll Walk Away With:
- A felt understanding of what it means to move beyond a rote land acknowledgement
- Simple practices to deepen your connection to the land
- Inspiration and ideas for ways to act on your responsibility to this place
- Suggestions for how these creative, sensory ways of learning from and with the land can be adapted and carried to your own work and community
Micro-shifts for Living in Right Relationship
From Understanding to Action — practical ways to take responsibility for the place where you live
Feeling Less Helpless — shifting from overwhelm to empowered, relational action
Gratitude Practices — noticing and naming what we are grateful for as a foundation for care
Changing Our Values & Behaviours — exploring how our daily choices reflect our relationship to land and community
What to bring (for in-person workshop):
- Lunch, water bottle
- Comfortable clothing and footwear appropriate for being outdoors
- Coffee and light snacks will be provided
REGISTER NOW
COST: $150 per person
A number of subsidized spaces are available for members of the UBCO community. If you would like to apply for one of the subsidized spots for UBCO community members, please contact Fabiola Melchior at fabiola.melchior@ubc.ca.
Registration link:
About the Facilitators
KELLY TERBASKET
Kelly brings the strengths of both her syilx Okanagan and European ancestry to her work as a leader. Through 30 years of on-the-ground engagement with community, Kelly came to see relationship breakdown as a common barrier to the success of programs and came to understand that revitalizing Indigenous ways is key to turning this around. She co-founded IndigenEYEZ as a means of supporting natural champions in communities to better respond to the impacts of colonization. Kelly is focused on the role of relationships in systems change and is sought out for her capacity to help deepen relations at a time when building connections across differences is essential. She has a BSW, Executive Coaching Certification, and extensive training in creative facilitation through Partners for Youth Empowerment (PYE Global). She lives in her family’s ancestral home on the Blind Creek Reserve in syilx territory in the Similkameen Valley.
ASTRIDA NEIMANIS
Astrida is a cultural theorist working at the intersection of feminism and environmental change. Her research focuses on bodies, water, and weather, and how they can help us reimagine justice, care, responsibility and relation in the time of climate catastrophe. Her most recent book, Bodies of Water: Posthuman Feminist Phenomenology is a call for humans to examine our relationships to oceans, watersheds, and other aquatic life forms from the perspective of our own primarily watery bodies, and our ecological, poetic, and political connections to other bodies of water. Astrida’s research practice includes collaborations with artists, writers, scientists, makers, educational institutions, and communities, often in the form of experimental public pedagogies. Her writing can be found in numerous academic journals and edited collections, artistic exhibitions and catalogues, and online media.
ERIN DELFS
Erin believes deeply in the power of syilx-led sovereignty and climate justice and is passionate about finding ways for fellow settler activists in the Okanagan to meaningfully support this work. Erin’s master’s thesis, “Transforming ‘white settler environmentalism’ in the Okanagan: Settler activists working towards solidarity with syilx sovereignty and climate justice”, offers a window and invitation into this ongoing process. Erin has been witnessing, learning, and training in IndigenEYEZ’s facilitation methodologies – including Creative Empowerment methodology – since the fall of 2024. They worked as a youth camp facilitator at Culture Jam in Eugene, Oregon over the summer of 2025, and co-facilitated two successful “Land As Teacher” workshops with Kelly and Astrida at the FEELed Lab in October 2025.
This project is supported by the Principal’s Research Chair in Communities, Justice and Sustainability, The Centre for Climate Justice and the FEELed Lab.
All FEELed Lab events strive to be feminist, anticolonial, antiracist queer and trans-positive, accessible spaces.
The FEELed lab 