Tia de Groot

Tia De Groot, a proud Anishinaabe woman from Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, brings a strong commitment to environmental education grounded in Indigenous perspectives. A recent graduate of UBC’s Indigenous Teacher Education Program (NITEP), she has carried her personal journey of reclaiming knowledge into her teaching practice. During her Vancouver School Board Grade 2 practicum, Tia integrated land-based learning that reflects Indigenous teachings throughout her teaching, ensuring her students grew up connected to the land and the knowledge it holds.

Tia is a Co-Grand Prize Winner of the 2025 David Suzuki Fellowship. 

Tia grew up with limited opportunities to connect with environmental and land-based learning. Her mother was a Sixties Scoop survivor, leaving a gap in cultural and environmental knowledge within her family. This inspired Tia to reclaim Indigenous knowledge, with a focus on traditional environmental teachings, so that she could share it with others.

Tia is deeply committed to decolonial education and Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Her teaching practice is grounded in cultural safety, trauma-informed care and land-based learning. In the classroom, she focuses on inclusive, experiential education that centres community and relationship. Tia believes all children should learn about the environment and the world around them, and finds that children are most engaged when learning outdoors and directly connecting with the land. She also considers the integration of Indigenous perspectives as mandatory in a classroom, and her practice is guided by the First Peoples Principles of Learning and her own Anishinaabe teachings. 

In the past, Tia has worked as a research and office assistant alongside rural and remote Indigenous communities on projects led by local priorities. These experiences give her a unique perspective on how education can honour traditional knowledge while responding to colonization’s ongoing impacts. She incorporates this knowledge into the classroom by fostering culturally responsive, strengths-based and empowering learning environments. She has also supported Indigenous organizations through initiatives rooted in self-determination and trauma-informed care. 

During her practicum, Tia created multiple land-based learning experiences for her students. She created a food as medicine unit, where students planted a garden of native species. They learned the Indigenous names and cultural significance of the plants, and explored connections between land, wellness and identity. She also created a Coast-Salish-focused unit, where she introduced students to the local Indigenous history and teachings, helping them understand whose land they were situated on. Through these units, students gained important knowledge about Indigenous cultural practices and worldviews, such as how land shapes culture, art and community connection. 

During her practicum, Tia created multiple land-based learning experiences for her students. She created a food as medicine unit, where students planted a garden of native species. They learned the Indigenous names and cultural significance of the plants, and explored connections between land, wellness and identity. She also created a Coast-Salish-focused unit, where she introduced students to the local Indigenous history and teachings, helping them understand whose land they were situated on. Through these units, students gained important knowledge about Indigenous cultural practices and worldviews, such as how land shapes culture, art and community connection. 

For Tia, teaching is both a practice of personal reclamation and a way to support students in becoming grounded, curious and compassionate learners. Going forward, she wants to continue bringing Indigenous perspectives, land stewardship and environmental education into her career. She is dedicated to uplifting Indigenous voices in schools, nurturing respectful relationships with land and community, and empowering marginalized students. 

By Andreas Gross, Natural Curiosity Program Assistant