A Connected Minds Seed Grant is bringing new possibilities to the Moccasin Identifier Project, exploring how augmented reality can bring Indigenous histories and teachings to life along a pathway of engraved moccasins, connecting visitors with the land and the communities whose histories it carries.
The shoes we wear can tell us something about where we've been. But they can also teach us about the land we're standing on, its history, and the people who have called it home for generations.
Through the Moccasin Identifier Project, something as simple as a footprint becomes an opportunity to learn about the land and the Treaty relationships that have shaped it. Developed by Carolyn King from the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, the initiative uses traditional moccasin stencils to make Indigenous histories visible and encourage people to reflect on their relationship with the land. Originally designed by Elder Philip Cote, a Knowledge Keeper and artist from Moose Deer Point First Nation, the stencils remind us that the places we walk through every day carry histories and responsibilities worth understanding.
Recently, members of the 91ÑÇÉ« and Connected Minds communities gathered at 91ÑÇÉ«'s Markham Campus to celebrate a new chapter in the project. Supported by a Connected Minds Seed Grant led by Dr. Rebecca Caines, the initiative has expanded to explore how augmented reality (AR) can build on its educational foundations, bringing together Indigenous knowledge, artistic practice, and emerging technologies.
Learning Begins with Relationships
The gathering included reflections from Elder Philip Cote, who spoke about the importance of smudging, connection, and the responsibilities that come with seeking knowledge. He reminded those in attendance that learning from an Elder requires more than a single conversation. It takes time, listening, and relationships built over years.
His reflections spoke to the foundation of the Moccasin Identifier Project itself. Developed through years of dedication by Carolyn King, the initiative is rooted in education, relationships, and the responsibility to share knowledge about Treaties and Indigenous histories in meaningful ways.
These same principles have helped shape the project's collaboration with Connected Minds, where the goal is not simply to introduce new technologies, but to consider how they can support existing teachings while respecting the knowledge and communities behind them.
Bringing Different Ways of Knowing Together
The collaboration grew out of relationships established through Listening Paths, the AMPD Creative Technologies Indigenous Advisory Circle, which advises on AMPD activities at 91ÑÇɫ’s Markham Campus, including research, curriculum, and recruitment. Through these connections, Rebecca and her collaborators began exploring how different disciplines and communities might learn from one another.
At the centre of their Connected Minds Seed Grant is the concept of transfer learning. In machine learning, this refers to applying knowledge from one domain to another. The research team took this idea further, exploring how artists, scientists, engineers, educators, and Indigenous communities might exchange knowledge and approaches to address shared challenges.
For Rebecca, the Moccasin Identifier Project offered a compelling example of this process already taking place.
"The spark for this project came from watching this moccasin identifier project where
they were transferring knowledge of the land by giving you shoes to stencil so this was a
unique idea to learn about the land."
Through the Seed Grant, the team worked with community partners to explore how AR could build on the Moccasin Identifier Project's educational approach, while remaining attentive to the responsibilities involved in sharing knowledge across different contexts.
The pathway features 20 engraved moccasin stencils, each representing an opportunity to learn about a different Indigenous community. With the new AR experience, visitors can scna each engraving using their smartphones to access visuals and sounds that share information about the community it represents. The experience also incorporates imagery of the Rouge River, a waterway of particular significance to the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation that stretches from their reserve toward the area surrounding 91ÑÇÉ«'s Markham Campus.
Andrew McConnell, a Connected Minds member from 91ÑÇÉ«'s Faculty of Education and a member of Listening Paths, contributed to the AR development alongside Carolyn King and Rebecca Caines. During his remarks, he drew on the Two Row Wampum, describing two boats travelling alongside one another, each maintaining its own path while moving forward together.
It was a meaningful way to describe a collaboration in which different perspectives and knowledge systems are respected, rather than expected to become the same.
Seeing Beyond Our Own PerspectivesÌý
For Dr. Gunnar Blohm, Vice Director of Connected Minds at Queen's University and a collaborator on the Seed Grant, the experience also changed how he thought about his own work as a computational neuroscientist.
Gunnar reflected on how working within a single discipline can limit what researchers see and understand. As an immigrant to Canada, he also spoke about how the project deepened his understanding of Indigenous histories and ways of knowing.
Drawing on the principle of Two-Eyed Seeing, which recognizes the strengths of both Indigenous and Western knowledge systems, he shared:ÌýÌý
"As a western trained scientist, I have spent most of my time looking with one eye and
this project has helped me to start opening the other eye."
His reflection captures an important part of what this research makes possible. Working across disciplines is not simply about combining expertise. It also means recognizing the limits of our own perspectives, learning from others, and being willing to approach familiar questions differently.
In this project, transfer learning happens not only through technology, but through storytelling, art, shared experiences, and the relationships that make learning possible.
Building on What We LearnÌýÌý
The Moccasin Identifier Project demonstrates how emerging technologies can create new opportunities for education when they are developed in collaboration with the communities whose knowledge and experiences inform them.
For Connected Minds, this collaboration also offers lessons that extend beyond a single project. It challenges researchers to think more carefully about whose knowledge shapes innovation, how different perspectives can inform research, and what it means to develop technology responsibly.
The AR experience is one part of a broader effort to explore how knowledge can move across disciplines and communities without losing sight of the relationships and responsibilities that give it meaning.
The Moccasin Identifier Project began with an invitation to look down and recognize the land beneath our feet. Through this collaboration, it also encourages us to look beyond the boundaries of what we already know.
And perhaps that is where the greatest opportunity lies. Not simply in what we can create with new technologies, but in what becomes possible when we are willing to learn from one another, challenge our own perspectives, and carry that understanding into the work we do next.