Learning from the land: Indigenous perspectives shape a unique Haskayne experience

Ruth Trono expected a leadership course. 

She didn't expect to spend time walking barefoot through a forest.

Or sitting alone on the land in silence.

Yet those experiences became some of the most memorable lessons from the Haskayne Wilderness Retreat.

“I think there is something powerful about returning to the land and returning to those ways of learning,” says Trono, a fourth-year Bachelor of Commerce student. 

“Even the idea that we don't own the land, but instead belong to it, changes how we think about our relationship with the world around us.”

With National Indigenous Peoples Day coming up on June 21, the wilderness retreat provides a unique example of how Indigenous peoples’ views and land-based learning are being woven into business education.

Over its two decades, the program has encouraged students to step out of the classroom and explore leadership through the lens of nature, community and Indigenous ways of knowing.

The result is an experience many participants describe as transformative.

Learning beyond the classroom

Held in the foothills west of Calgary, the Haskayne retreat is offered annually to both undergraduate and graduate students. Participants spend several days living and learning together outdoors while learning topics such as leadership, systems thinking, community building and personal development.

For Julian Norris, associate professor and instructor for the graduate retreat, the value lies in the lessons learned through the land — lessons that simply cannot be replicated in a traditional classroom.

“The impact of the course really depends on the individual, but many students tell us that it was one of the most important courses that they took during their program,” he says.

“And for some, it's a course that helps to put all the other courses together.”

A recurring theme, Norris says, is the sense of community that develops among participants.

“It's one of the times where they really get to know one another and in a different way,” he says.

Indigenous knowledge at the centre

A cornerstone of the retreat is its longstanding relationship with local Indigenous communities, particularly the Stoney Nakoda Nation.

Sarah Brown, who oversees much of the undergraduate program, says it is often students’ first opportunity to engage directly with Indigenous knowledge keepers and hear personal stories that move beyond stereotypes and textbook narratives.

“To have a conversation with someone from that community, it just lands differently to know how that trauma landed with them,” she says.

The experience often leads students to a more nuanced understanding of Indigenous Peoples and cultures.

“I think what comes out of it is that through direct relationships, students face their own internalized stereotypes about Indigenous peoples and come to understand that Indigenous peoples are not defined by any single story such as trauma,” she says.

Brown has also observed another unexpected outcome. Learning about Nakoda traditions often inspires students from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds to reconnect with their own histories and family stories.

“Something that I've heard time and time again from Elders is that we're not going to get ourselves out of any of the messes we're in unless settlers reconnect with their roots and the origins of who they are,” she says.

For Trono, the Indigenous perspectives she was exposed to became defining aspects of her experience during retreat – notably, a different understanding of our relationship with the land.

“So many of the problems we face today are related to our disconnection from the land,” says Trono. “We probably wouldn't be facing many of the leadership challenges we see today if we had maintained that connection.”

She adds the Indigenous leadership model presented during the retreat — one that emphasizes community and collective well-being — provided a meaningful contrast to the competitive business frameworks she often encountered elsewhere in her studies.

Leadership lessons from the forest

For Chris Felber, a recent MBA graduate and corporate controller, some of the most memorable lessons similarly emerged from the natural environment itself.

He highlighted a water ceremony led by an Elder where students were taught to gather branches from multiple fir trees rather than taking too much from a single one.

The lesson was simple but profound: take only what is needed and maintain a healthy relationship with the environment.

Felber describes the overall experience from the retreat as learning to listen.

“It's less about managing the outcomes,” he says. “It's more about understanding the relationships within the forest and the land.”

That perspective carried directly into his understanding of leadership. For example, he found the systems thinking emphasized by Norris highly relevant to the modern business world – transitioning away from viewing organizations as "machines of industry" to viewing them as forests. 

Felber noted that like a forest, business today is full of hidden complexities and relationships that are constantly evolving due to AI, technology and globalization.

“It can definitely feel overwhelming, especially for emerging leaders,” he says.  “So, finding some peace within that, it can help you understand that complexity and just kind of slow down a little bit,” says Felber.

Learn more about the Haskayne Wilderness Retreat.