C21 Canada Podcast | AI + Land-Based Learning: Empowering Students & Educators, Rainy River DSB

I’m Robert Martellacci, Co-founder and CEO of C21 Canada, and I’m delighted to highlight one of the most compelling and community-grounded AI innovations in Canadian education.
Today, we are joined by two leaders from the Rainy River District School Board, a district that has been nationally recognized for its work in land-based learning, Indigenous partnerships, and now AI-enabled capacity building.
First, Heather Campbell, Director of Education, C21 Canada CEO Academy Member, who has championed this initiative from a strategic and cultural perspective.
And second, Shannon Westover, the board’s Technology Enabled Learning and Teaching Contact and Secondary Curriculum Coordinator — and the technical and instructional lead behind the AI deployment.
Together, they launched their AI use case last year as part of the C21 Canada × Dell Technologies project. Today, we explore how it has evolved, what surprised them, and how educators and students are responding.
Heather and Shannon, welcome to the podcast.

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