CDSBEO Indigenous Student Success Mentor Allen Smoke was invited to present at the 2026 Indigenous Education Leads Gathering in Toronto. The annual three-day event brings Indigenous Education teams from across Ontario together to share programming, exchange promising practices, strengthen relationships and learn from one another.

Allen is a Wampum Belt Reader from the Mohawk Community of Akwesasne who shares his knowledge, lived experience and cultural teachings with students and educators across CDSBEO.

At the gathering, he presented on land-based learning through Wampum Belts, highlighting their role in teaching about relationships, responsibilities, agreements, history and connections to the land.

Through Allen’s work, CDSBEO has developed an extensive collection of Wampum Belt replicas, which Allen identifies as the largest collection held by a school board in Canada. The collection supports classroom presentations and professional learning, helping students and educators engage with Indigenous knowledge and perspectives.

Hosted by Troy Maracle, Indigenous Education Lead with the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board, this year’s gathering explored the theme “Strengthening the Circle: Sustaining Ourselves and Each Other.” The theme highlighted the importance of relationships, shared learning and supporting one another in Indigenous Education.

The gathering also featured keynote speaker Cadmus Delorme, a Cree and Saulteaux citizen and former Chief of Cowessess First Nation, who served from 2016 to 2023. His leadership focused on cultural rejuvenation, political sovereignty and economic self-sustainability, including work in governance, child welfare, renewable energy, agriculture and property management.

Allen’s invitation provided an opportunity to highlight the expertise of the CDSBEO Indigenous Education Team and contribute to the exchange of knowledge and promising practices among Indigenous Education teams across Ontario.