**5. Discussion and Conclusions**

Through our decolonial journey, we learned that, as environmental educators and conservation biologists not Indigenous to the communities where we reside and work, engaging with decolonization factors in EE programs is central. Four factors were evident in our course: centering programs in Indigenous philosophies of education, privileging Indigenous voices and involving Elders as experts, promoting Etuaptmumk/two-eyed seeing, and employing Indigenous ways of teaching and learning. These are some of the factors Indigenous scholars identified as foundational in the decolonization process in

education [2–14,20,21,27,28,37]. The four factors are highlighted in Table 2 and in Section 4 of the paper. Our story adds to the scholarly work on decolonization practices in education.

Another common theme was centered around feelings of discomfort. All of us struggled at one point or another. For instance, realizing the depth of the impacts of colonialism on Indigenous peoples caused grief and guilt (Emma, Sal, Jennie, Nicolette, Sara). The idea of teaching IKS when one is not Indigenous in a place caused fear of appropriation (Jean). What we found helpful was the application of Indigenous ways of teaching and learning, such as storytelling (e.g., Sal, Nicolette) and reflecting (e.g., Jennie). In this way, we were able to focus on both content and process. Another strategy that worked for us was framing the course with the understanding that decolonization is a process instead of a destination; as such, we are on a learning journey that is a spiral process that involves "learning, unlearning, and re-learning." Realizing that "we are always becoming" (Maxine Green) takes the pressure off to aim for perfectionism (Emma, Nicolette, Jean). The co-learner model, classroom environment and the relationship between participants were highlighted as factors that contributed to positive learning outcomes (e.g., Nicolette, Jennie, Emma). As scholars argued, incorporating Indigenous teaching and learning pedagogies has positive outcomes [31–33].

We applied these decolonization factors as a first step acknowledging that we could have done more and that decolonization is an ongoing process. Yes, we had Elders as guest speakers; however, it is recommended that Elders need to be engaged on a continuous basis rather than as guest speakers here and there [11]. The course was taught on Zoom and would have been more impactful with the opportunity to learn from the land in concrete and meaningful ways. The limitations we highlight should be considered next time the course is taught.

By sharing our stories, we join the conversation on the call to decolonize the environmental education field, particularly decolonial educators who are seeking respectful and ethical ways to engage with Indigenous knowledge systems.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, J.K.; project administration, J.K.; supervision, J.K.; validation, S.L., N.G., J.H., S.H., E.M. and E.S.; writing—original draft, J.K., S.L, N.G., J.H., S.H., E.M. and E.S.; writing—review and editing, J.K., S.L., N.G., J.H., S.H., E.M. and E.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
