Honouring the Example of Dr. David Schindler in Respecting Indigenous Knowledge
This conversation to honour the memory and example of Dr. David Schindler was recorded on Tuesday, June 8 at 10:00 am Pacific / 12:00 pm Central / 2:00 pm Atlantic.
In our past plans to hold an in-person forum, before moving to an online format in response to COVID-19, Reconciling Ways of Knowing: Indigenous Knowledge and Science (RWoK) had planned to have Dr. David Schindler, known as ‘Canada’s leading ecologist’, provide an opening plenary address, to help frame out the principles and practices for how Indigenous knowledge and science can work together, drawing on his experience sounding the alarm on acid rain and contamination from the oil sands.
We were saddened to learn of Dr. Schindler’s passing in March of this year — this dialogue is in tribute to his memory and the example he provided as a prominent scientist who showed respect for and worked with Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous knowledge holders.
Moderated by Shaunna Morgan Siegers (Indigenous Leadership Initiative), this dialogue brought together Dr. David Suzuki (RWoK Convenor, geneticist, and longtime friend and colleague of Dr. Schindler), Melody Lepine (Director, Government & Industry Relations, Mikisew Cree First Nation), Lisa Tssessaze (Director, Dene Lands & Resource Management, Athabaska Chipewyan First Nation), and Dr. Erin Kelly (former Ph.D. student of & co-researcher with Dr. Schindler) to discuss the principles and practices Dr. Schindler modelled in his relationships and work with Indigenous Peoples, and the pressing need for such respectful work across ways of knowing to continue across the country today.
Tributes to Dr. David Schindler
Bath, Sumeep., “IISD Experimental Lakes Area Celebrates the Life of One of its Founding Scientists,” Experimental Lakes Area. 2021.
2. Brown, Michael., “Celebrating the life of David Schindler,” University of Alberta. 2021.
https://www.ualberta.ca/folio/2021/03/celebrating-the-life-of-david-schindler.html
3. Kidd, Karen A., et. al., “David W. Schindler (1940–2021): Trailblazing scientist and advocate for the environment,” PNAS. 2021.
https://www.pnas.org/content/118/21/e2106365118
4. Kidd, Karen A., Leavitt, Peter R., Vinebrooke, Rolf D., and Xenopoulos, Marguerite A., “David W. Schindler – Icon and Iconoclast,” ASLO. 2021.
https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/lob.10440
5. Kylie, Aaron., “Celebrating the life of renowned Canadian-American scientist David Schindler,” Canadian Geographic. 2021.
6. Nikiforuk, Andrew. “David Schindler, the Scientific Giant Who Defended Fresh Water - Among the world’s greatest ecologists, his boreal research has touched all of our lives,” The Tyee. 2021.
https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/03/09/David-Schindler-Scientific-Giant-Fresh-Water-Defender/
7. Omstead, Jordan., “‘Canada’s leading ecologist’: David Schindler dead at 80,” CBC News. 2021.
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5938189?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar&__twitter_impression=true&s=03
8. Peters, Diane., “‘Guerrilla ecologist’ David Schindler was a powerful defender of lakes and streams,” The Globe and Mail. 2021.
9. Short, Dylan., “Dr. David Schindler, world renowned environmental conservationist, dead at 8-0,” Edmonton Journal. 2021.
10. St. Louis, Vincent., and colleagues., “A Tribute to the Career of Dr. David William Schindler (1940-2021),” University of Alberta – Biological Sciences. 2021.
https://www.ualberta.ca/biological-sciences/media-library/profs/schindler-tribute.pdf
11. University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Remembering David Schindler and His Lasting Legacy in Limnology,” Water Blogged. 2021.
12. Weber, Bob., “‘He delighted in being challenged’: Renowned ecologist David Schindler remembered,” Canadian Press. 2021.
https://globalnews.ca/news/7684443/ecologist-environment-scientist-david-schindler-edmonton/
Watch more:
Watch the full video, shared by Melody Lepine in Dialogue 10, that was part of a petition from the Mikisew Cree to UNESCO on the dangers of industrial impacts on the Peace-Athabasca Delta and surrounding areas:
"In Danger - A Call to Save Wood Buffalo National Park"
Melody Lepine spoke of Dr. Schindler being front and center as an expert panelist on many regulatory interventions on the downstream impacts of oil sand extraction. Dr. Schindler confirmed that there were contaminants in the river that could make their way into the population through the traditional foods that they were consuming.
Read more:
On Athabasca River Use and Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Candler, Craig., Olson, Rachel., DeRoy, Steven., and the Freight Group Research Cooperative with the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and the Mikisew Cree First Nation, “As Long as the River Flow – Athabasca River Knowledge, Use and Change,” Parkland Institute. 2010.
https://www.parklandinstitute.ca/as_long_as_the_rivers_flow
On the health impacts of industry
After Schindler had published his study, without any movement on the baseline health study, the two First Nation communities of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and Mikisew Cree First Nation took matters into their own hands. They pooled their resources to begin funding research that the communities could be confident in. With some additional funding from Health Canada, a three-year, $1-million study got off the ground.
Lawrynuik, Sara. “Downstream of oilsands, death by cancer comes too often,” Canada’s National Observer. 2019.
Here’s another example: High rates of cancer have been an issue broached numerous times by the First Nation as well as several doctors, including Dr. John O’Connor, who publicized his concerns as it related to cancer in his patients who lived downstream from tar sands development. O’Connor was sanctioned by Health Canada in 2007. O’Connor’s concerns have also been voiced by University of Alberta scientist Dr. David Schindler. Poitras said council will meet with these doctors and a handful of other “key people” who are familiar with the health concerns in Fort Chipewyan for preliminary discussions to determine next steps.
Narine, Shari. “Two health studies could run simultaneously in Fort Chip area,” Alberta Sweetgrass. 2013.
Another example of Dr. Schindler’s (& Dr. Kelly’s) work affirming the concerns identified by Indigenous knowledge holders of what was happening in their territory:
A September 2010 peer-reviewed study found oil sands development pollutes the Athabasca River, countering government claims water pollution in the river is exclusively from natural substances. A recent study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found elevated levels of pollution that are strongly linked to oil sands development both through airborne emissions and land use. Elevated pollutants include lead and mercury. The study contends that industry and government-sponsored research suggesting pollution levels are due to natural erosion of oil sands is inaccurate. “I really think it's time to cut down the [oil sands] expansion until some of those problems and how to reduce them are solved.” — Dr. David Schindler, University of Alberta water scientist.
Droitsch, Danielle, and Simieritsch, Terra. “Canadian Aboriginal Concerns with Oil Sands,” Briefing Note, the Pembina Institute. 2010.
https://www.pembina.org/reports/briefingnoteosfntoursep10.pdf
Speaker biographies
Shaunna Morgan Siegers, MSC.
Shaunna Morgan Siegers resides in rural Manitoba. She is a member of the Crees of Waskaganish [WAA-skagan-ish] First Nation situated on the southern shores of James Bay in Eeyou Istchee [EE-you IST-chee] and has a long history of living and working with First Nations and tribes across Turtle Island. Shaunna holds a master’s degree in botany and has more than 20 years of ethnobiological experience. She is the Operations Manager for the Indigenous Leadership Initiative and has been involved in the Reconciling Ways of Knowing: Indigenous Knowledge and Science project since 2017.
Dr. David Suzuki
Dr. David Suzuki is a father, grandfather, environmental activist, and an award-winning geneticist and broadcaster, known particularly for his roles in the CBC Radio show Quirks and Quarks and CBC Television’s The Nature of Things. He is widely recognized as a world leader in sustainable ecology and has received numerous awards for his work, including a UNESCO prize for science and a United Nations Environment Program medal. Along with his partner, Tara Cullis, Miles Richardson, and others, he helped co-found the David Suzuki Foundation in 1990. For his support of Canada’s Indigenous peoples, Suzuki has been honoured with eight names and formal adoption by two First Nations.
Melody Lepine
Melody Lepine is a member of the Mikisew Cree First Nation (MCFN) from Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. Her traditional teachings in environmental stewardship at a young age motivated her to advance studies in environmental conservation sciences at the University of Alberta and Royal Road University. This balance of teachings in both traditional environmental knowledge and western science has become Melody’s key strength in her professional career. As the Director of the MCFN Government and Industry Relations (GIR), she is responsible for overseeing all government and industry consultation pertaining to resource development within the Mikisew Cree territory. For the past 16 years, she has been managing hundreds of government and industry consultation files, many of which include oil sands environmental impact assessments, regulatory interventions at hearings, and part of the development of consultation protocols, indigenous knowledge studies, cultural impact assessments, negotiating impact benefit agreements and developing a community based environmental monitoring program in her community.
Lisa Tssessaze
As a member of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) and ACFN Director of Dene Lands and Resource Management Department since 2009, Lisa has significant experience in energy and natural resource development, deep ties to the community, and a passionate, grounded vision for sustaining her people. As Director, she has led ACFN strategic engagement with major projects such as the Jackpine Mine Expansion, TECK Frontier mine, and MLX Syncrude, from consultation and environmental assessment to regulatory hearings to litigation, and has directed ACFN’s involvement as intervenors and provided evidence in numerous court cases. As Director, she guides the strategic relationship between resource developers, government agencies, and the community, while upholding her mandate to protect ACFN’s Treaty and Aboriginal rights to Land, Water, Air, and Livelihood. She works with Elders, Chief and Council and membership to understand key concerns and determine consultation processes, and directs the collection of Indigenous knowledge and studies of impacts to the traditional lands.
DR. ERIN KELLY
Deputy Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Dr. Kelly played a key leadership role for the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) in establishing the Thaidene Nëné National Park Reserve, bringing to a successful conclusion more than 40 years of discussions and negotiations with the Government of Canada and Łutsël K’e Dene First Nation. Named one of Canada’s top 100 most powerful women by the Women’s Executive Network in 2017, Dr. Kelly has also been responsible for leading the implementation of the Climate Change Strategic Framework, NWT Water Stewardship Strategy, Waste Resource Management Strategy and Knowledge Agenda. She has been the GNWT lead on the Giant Mine Remediation Project and played a leadership role in negotiations on behalf of the GNWT of several agreements related to transboundary water and caribou management. Dr. Kelly was also a PhD student of and co-researcher with Dr. Schindler on groundbreaking research revealing contamination of the Athabaska River watershed from the oilsands, with impacts to Indigenous Peoples downstream and within the watershed.
ABOUT DR. DAVID SCHINDLER
(August 3, 1940 – March 4, 2021) was an American/Canadian limnologist, ecologist, and environmentalist. He held the Killam Memorial Chair and was Professor of Ecology in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. His innovative ecosystem-scale experiments on entire lakes at the Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario proved that phosphorus controls the eutrophication (excessive algal blooms) in temperate lakes, with his findings and advocacy leading to the North America-wide banning of phosphates in detergents. Schindler went on to research the effects of acid rain and climate change on the health and biodiversity of the environment. In 1989, he moved to Edmonton to continue his research at the University of Alberta, with studies into freshwater shortages and the effects of climate disruption on alpine and northern boreal ecosystems in Canada. He later studied the effects of climate change on boreal lake ecosystems and the effect the oilsands had on the Athabasca River, revealing flaws in oilsands water quality monitoring programs and the impacts of contamination on Indigenous Peoples downstream and treaty rights. As Deputy Minister of Environment and Natural Resources for the Government of the Northwest Territories and Dr. Schindler’s former PhD student and co-researcher Dr. Erin Kelly has emphasized, “Dave was doing knowledge co-production before there was the terminology for it,” listening to and learning from Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge of their territories.
Schindler's research earned him numerous national and international awards, including the Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal, the First Stockholm Water Prize, the Volvo Environment Prize, the Order of Canada, Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, and the Alberta Order of Excellence. In 2020, Schindler was named one of the 90 greatest Canadian explorers of all time by Canadian Geographic. As a mentor for the generations of students he trained, Schindler emphasized the importance of thinking about the broader social, political, and economic contexts of environmental studies:
“It will be up to your generation to enhance this knowledge and use what you learn to protect the planet on which we and other species depend. We have done our best to educate you well for this … I am confident that you are up to the task.”