Indigenous Early
Years Kinship
For our People, For our Rights, and For our Children
What We Do
The Indigenous Early Years Kinship is dedicated to the development of leadership capacities and good processes in the cultural continuance and revitalization of early childhood education with Indigenous children, families, cultures and communities, on Indigenous terms.
A Unified Indigenous Leadership Network
An empowered collective of Indigenous early years leaders from many Nations in diverse roles and responsibilities with various capacities within Indigenous and non-indigenous urban and rural settings.
Guided by Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being
Our work is shaped by the conversations, inspirations, and shared experiences that guide us to respectfully incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing and being.
Co-creating Dreams and Pathways
Our varied backgrounds enable us to collaboratively build leadership capacities and resources in early learning and childcare, fostering cultural autonomy and wellness for Indigenous communities.
IEYK: Ancestral Pathways of Kinship
This course supports ECEs and the communities they are engaged with to enhance leadership capacities and nurture good processes for the cultural continuance and revitalization of early childhood education on Indigenous terms.
Air
The element of Air speaks of the mystery that is all around us; unseen, immense, and embracing of all things.
Fire
Fire: bringer of life and death. Our more-than-human kin, fire joins us with the world of Spirit, carrying messages to the ancestors as smoke rises from its glowing heart.
Water
Water is the womb of the Earth, the source of all life.
Earth
In this element we lift our hands in honour of the kinship with our most ancient and wise Ancestors.
Within
Once we have nurtured a relationship with all four elements, we recognize that they form a holistic part of all things, including ourselves.
Above&Below
The directions of Above and Below are how we speak of leadership and represent the one-ness of all things.
Origins
For our People, for our Rights, and for our Children
This is not an institutional story. Though we all come from distinct Nations across vast distances, our creation and relations can be traced back to the time of our ancestors. Since time immemorial, our Indigenous ancestors created thriving economies of reciprocal trade, marriage, and alliances. Today we are restoring and revitalizing these practices, as well as our common threads of understanding of the Earth and all our relations. The Indigenous Early Years Kinship is one place where we do this work together.
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© 2024 Indigenous Early Year Kinship. All Rights Reserved.
The Indigenous Early Years Kinship is dedicated to the development of leadership capacities and good processes in the cultural continuance and revitalization of early childhood education with Indigenous children, families, cultures and communities, on Indigenous terms.
