This book is an appeal to First Nations leaders in Canada to promote educational integration--a mixing of ideas in which non-Aboriginal people are taught those elements of Native culture and philosophy that support a reverence for the Earth and all living things. The benefits of such an undertaking cannot be overemphasized since the very existence of the planet may be at stake. This book describes the history of First Nations education in Canada, leading up to this moment, when Aboriginal peoples are attempting to maintain and revitalize their own cultures while borrowing useful elements from the "other" Canadian culture. Chapters discuss: (1) the need for culturally integrated education; (2) current challenges related to the teaching milieu, language maintenance, differences in learning styles, culturally relevant curriculum, and incorporating Indigenous knowledge; (3) traditional Aboriginal philosophy and world view (holistic perspective, appreciation for life and family, caring and sharing society, spiritual sense of community); (4) traditional Aboriginal pedagogy (dimensions and structure of oral tradition, emergence of written forms, legends); (5) Canadian Aboriginal education (history, 20th-century developments, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Affairs and First Nations responses); (6) the residential school phenomena (origins of the system, life in residential schools); (7) Metis education; and (8) 21st-century challenges (Aboriginal self-government, land claims, residential school litigations, urban transitions). (Contains 236 references and an index) (SV)