Lessons from the Land

You’re reading the July 7, 2026 edition of the Peterborough Currents email newsletter. To receive our email newsletters straight to your inbox, sign up here.

---

Hi, I’m Alex Karn and I’m thrilled to welcome you to this week’s Peterborough Currents email newsletter!  It’s been a while, but I’m so grateful to be back on the team as Peterborough Currents’ new co-editor. It seemed fitting that the week of my return coincided with the start of summer and a July 1 celebration highlighting the teachings of hand-drummer, knowledge-keeper, and Curve Lake First Nations elder Janet McCue. We met for the first time on the waters of Chemong Lake, where she taught me about the traditional Indigenous practice of harvesting mnoomin, or wild rice, into canoes. This time, she taught newcomers to Canada and longtime Nogojiwanong residents about the ode’imin, or heart berry, before participants split off to learn about Indigenous medicines, make porcupine quill art, or venture out onto Little Lake in a voyageur canoe. You can also read this full article on the Peterborough Currents website, if you prefer. Let’s get right into it!

---

Newcomers to Nogojiwanong learn Lessons from the Land

by Alex Karn

Dozens of tiny toads hopped across the stone pavers outside the Canadian Canoe Museum on July 1, darting beneath folding chairs and volunteers’ feet as organizers prepared for the sixth annual Lessons from the Land event.

Museum staff joked that the corn kernel-sized amphibians seemed to have appeared overnight, just in time to welcome participants to a community gathering centred on learning from the land and from one another.

“It’s a really amazing thing to be hearing and listening to teachings while you’re surrounded by birds chirping, the insects, the blue sky and the water,” said Yvonne Lai, director of community development for the New Canadians Centre (NCC).

Organized by NCC, Lessons from the Land has become the organization’s alternative to its former Multicultural Canada Day celebration, creating space for local First Nations members to share teachings while inviting newcomers and longtime residents alike to reflect on truth and reconciliation. 

“We’d always heard that July 1 was difficult for the Indigenous partners who would come and sing or perform on that day,” Lai said. “So we decided then to move to a two-week multicultural festival leading up to July 1, and then just to make this alternative space on July 1 that was just focused on reconciliation and learning from Indigenous elders.”

The morning began with songs, stories, and a smudging ceremony led by Curve Lake First Nation elder Janet McCue. She then shared teachings about Indigenous medicines and the significance of ode’imin, or the strawberry, translated from Anishinaabemowin as the heart berry. 

Children from diverse cultural backgrounds gathered around McCue to join in drumming and learn traditional songs honouring water, women, and all the creatures of creation. Participants then dispersed to workshops on Indigenous medicines, porcupine quill art, environmental stewardship, and guided voyageur canoe tours.

For many newcomers, paddling across Little Lake marked their first experience in a canoe or on a Canadian waterway. The canoe tour ended with an unexpected highlight as paddlers passed beneath the towering Little Lake fountain, disappearing into the cool mist together amid laughter and cheers.

After returning to shore for a community meal of Three Sisters soup, bannock bread, and strawberries, participants lingered to explore the museum and continue conversations that had begun throughout the morning.

As first-time attendee and new Canadian Mazoor Meerani put it, the event reinforced what he appreciates most about his adopted community: a shared belief in the value of cultural diversity. “People are coming from different parts of the world, and they bring their own culture, their language,” he said. “Diversity is actually a beauty of the universe.”

You can read my full story on the Peterborough Currents website for more on the teachings shared by Janet McCue, the voyageur canoe experience, and the voices of community members who took part in this year’s Lessons from the Land event. 

---

News in brief

by Gabe Pollock

Even with a heat wave and a national holiday in the middle of the week, it was still a busy week in Peterborough news. Here’s a catch-up, with the support of our partners in local media:

• An update to a story that Currents is following: after over six weeks on the picket line, the union representing support workers at Community Living Trent Highlands, OPSEU 358 went back to the bargaining table with their employer. As Peterborough Currents previously reported, the strike is part of a province-wide campaign, and some of the demands (including increased funding for social services) go beyond the local Community Living. However the employees are also looking for concessions from their employer, especially a 6.5% wage increase and a guarantee that won’t come at the cost of layoffs. 

• City council approved its new Community Planning and Permit System, a total overhaul of a 54-year-old system for planning and development in the city. Covering everything from parking spaces to building heights, the new process is intended to help building projects get off the ground faster by streamlining the approvals process, clarifying regulations, and setting out frameworks for ‘flexibility’ for developers – e.g. the ability to build beyond max building heights, in exchange for including affordable housing units.

• Peterborough County sounded the alarm that some residents may be missing from voter lists ahead of the October municipal election. The list is being handled for the first time by Elections Ontario, and North Kawartha Township mayor Carolyn Amyotte noticed a steep dropoff in the count. It appears this comes from under-counting of seasonal residents, like cottage owners, who don’t live in the county full time but are still eligible to vote. “Not to be dramatic,” said Municipality of Trent Lakes deputy mayor Carol Armstrong, “but it ends up being taxation without representation.”

• Lakelands Public Health disclosed a cybersecurity breach affecting 60,000 residents of the City and County of Peterborough. The incident occurred earlier this year, with hackers gaining access to records including people’s names, contact details, OHIP numbers, and medical information. Lakelands said the risk of identity theft or fraud from this incident is “considered low,” but they advised residents to remain vigilant by monitoring their personal accounts and reporting any suspicious activity. 

• Important public service announcement: after an extended closure for repairs, the Zoo Train is now open.

---

Announcement

Your weekly Peterborough Currents newsletter will soon be arriving to your email inbox on Thursdays, to allow for event listings every week. If you have an event you would like to share with our readers, please send info to news@peterboroughcurrents.ca.

---

Thanks for reading the Peterborough Currents email newsletter! Here’s where you can sign up to have these sent straight to your inbox.