Why Reconciling Ways of Knowing?

This dialogue originally streamed live on July 27, 2020

Moderator Valérie Courtois facilitates a dialogue amongst Miles Richardson, O.C.; Dr. David Suzuki; Dr. Nancy Turner; and Elder Dr. Dave Courchene, Jr.; on the need for reconciliation between Indigenous and Western scientific ways of knowing.

In our first dialogue in this series, Why Do We Need to Reconcile Ways of Knowing? leaders working at the confluence of Indigenous and scientific knowledge and decision making discussed the events, issues and relationships that made it clear that a national-scale dialogue to facilitate just reconciliation between the ways of knowing and ways of being of Indigenous Peoples and Canadians, and their respective governments, is needed.

They spoke to how such reconciliation between these different life-ways is the essential precondition for addressing a series of growing stewardship challenges we are facing, including escalating climate change and biodiversity loss, and for setting ourselves on the right footing as we move forward through and after the impacts of COVID-19.

The project’s practical, change-oriented focus is explore: bringing together Indigenous knowledge keepers and public, private and non-governmental policy and decision-makers whose resource and environmental stewardship work calls on them to work with Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous knowledge keepers.

Speaker biographies

Valérie Courtois

 Valérie Courtois is the Director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, a position in which she has served since 2013. She is a member of the Innu Nation. She a registered professional forester, specializing in Indigenous issues, forest ecology and ecosystem-based management and planning. She holds a degree in forestry sciences from the Université de Moncton. Ms. Courtois has served as a forestry advisor for the Assembly of First Nations of Québec and Labrador, forestry planner for the Innu Nation, and as a consultant in Aboriginal forestry, including certification and spatial planning, and caribou planning. In 2007, she was awarded the James M. Kitz award from the Canadian Institute of Forestry for her early-career contributions to the forestry profession.

Elder Dr. Dave Courchene Jr. - Nii Gaani Aki Inini (Leading Earth Man)

Known to many as Nii Gaani Aki Inini (Leading Earth Man), Dave Courchene has touched many lives through his teachings. A respected Elder and knowledge keeper of the Anishinaabe Nation, he has devoted his life to creating a healthy environment for current and future generations, carrying messages of hope and peace around the globe, and learning the knowledge and traditions of Indigenous Peoples around the world. Serving as a member of the Wisdom Keepers of the United Nations since 1992, he has acted in an advisory capacity to the UN in areas of spirituality and sustainable environmental stewardship.

In his efforts to bring message of peace and hope to the world, Elder Courchene founded Turtle Lodge International Centre for Indigenous Education and Wellness, as a place of learning, healing and sharing for all people, in 2002. He has built alliances with institutions, academics, and policy makers across the country, and is known for his ability to inspire dialogue and cross-cultural understanding. His leadership is rooted in generosity, kindness, and a desire for peace and sustainability.

Elder Courchene’s work has been recognized with many prestigious honours, including the INDSPIRE National Aboriginal Achievement Award in Culture, Heritage, and Spirituality; the Volunteer Manitoba Award for Outstanding Community Leadership; the International Award of Excellence; the Aboriginal Circle of Educators Award; the International Indigenous Leadership Award; and most recently an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Winnipeg.

Miles Richardson, O.C.

Miles G. Richardson, O.C., is a citizen of the Haida Nation and an Officer of the Order of Canada. Early in his career, while serving as Administrator for the Skidegate Band Council, he directed the establishment of the Haida Gwaii Watchmen program. Then, while serving as the youngest President of the Council of the Haida Nation (1984-1996), he led the drafting of the Constitution of the Haida Nation; development of the first comprehensive Haida Nation land and marine use plan, enacted under Haida law; and negotiation of the Gwaii Haanas Agreement, the first Nation-to-Nation agreement between the Haida Nation and Canada, which protected the Gwaii Haanas area of his people’s homeland, Haida Gwaii. He was a member of the BC Claims Task Force recommending negotiations to build a new relationship. He served as a delegate of the First Nations Summit Task Group (1991-1993) and was subsequently nominated by the Summit and appointed as a Commissioner to the BC Treaty Commission for two terms. He served as Chief Commissioner of the BC Treaty Commission (1998-2004).

Mr. Richardson serves and has served on the boards of directors or advisory boards of several influential Indigenous organizations and non-governmental organizations, including the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, David Suzuki Foundation, New Relationship Trust, HaiCo, Gwaii Trust, Bill Reid Foundation, Institute on Governance, and BC Indigenous Clean Energy Initiative, amongst others. He currently serves as Director of the National Consortium on Indigenous Economic Development, a joint initiative of the Gustavson School of Business and Faculty of Law, at the University of Victoria.

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.

Dr. Suzuki is Professor Emeritus in Zoology at the University of British Columbia, after serving on faculty for 32 years. He has authored and co-authored more than 50 books, nearly 20 of which have been written for children. He has received several Gemini Awards for his work in Canadian television, the Order of British Columbia and Order of Canada, as well as numerous honorary degrees. He received a lifetime achievement award from the University of British Columbia in 2000 and the Right Livelihood Award (known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize”) in 2009.

Dr. Nancy Turner

Dr. Nancy Turner is an ethnobotanist whose research integrates the fields of botany and ecology with anthropology, geography and linguistics, amongst others. She is interested in the traditional knowledge systems and traditional land and resource management systems of Indigenous Peoples, particularly in western Canada. She has worked with Indigenous Elders and cultural specialists in northwestern North America for over 40 years, collaborating with Indigenous communities to help document, retain and promote their traditional knowledge of plants and habitats, including Indigenous foods, materials and medicines, as well as language and vocabulary relating to plants and environments. Her interests also include the roles of plants and animals in narratives, ceremonies, language and belief systems. 

Emeritus Professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria, Dr. Turner was awarded a Pierre Elliot Trudeau Fellowship in 2015, in support of discussion amongst multiple informed groups on the roles of ethnobotany and ethnoecology in policy, planning and decision-making in the legal and governance arenas around Indigenous Peoples’ land rights and title. She Turner  has authored, co-authored or co-edited over 20 books and over 150 book chapters and peer-reviewed papers, and numerous other publications, both popular and academic.