Science and Research committee  I'll start with the project we had up in the Sahtu region of the Northwest Territories and looking at a way of.... What they did was create a plan for research monitoring and then land protection that looked at the Dene way of life and incorporating it, including the Dene language, which is very important when we talk about how much language incorporates into culture, and then further on into management, and then Dene law in coexistence with caribou.

Science and Research committee  I'll start, and then I can pass it over to Dr. Dubé. When you look at the development of policy surrounding indigenous culture and how you make that real, I think you'll see that we're all trying ways of doing that and ways of integrating it into our approach. When people put those measures through in Australia and the U.S. and New Zealand, that was their approach to their dilemma in their region.

Science and Research committee  I think providing that forum is the key. The key is to provide the opportunity for indigenous...a lens into what we consider western science and what we consider being on the land. We're seeing now a lot more of that on the land with indigenous-protected areas. We're getting a lot more capacity there.

Science and Research committee  Thank you. Again, I think it's an opportunity to think of the governance and management of species in a different way. When we look at it from a western scientific approach, it's very black and white. It's developed that way, having gone through the system. In our government approach, we're trying to satisfy the interests and needs of everybody around the table.

Science and Research committee  That's in the West Moberly and Saulteau First Nations. I want the committee to think about something. As we look at a western-style approach. Having been a deputy minister of environment and natural resources for the Northwest Territories government, I know that at times we got into very western-style conversations about caribou.

Science and Research committee  I'll start and then I'll pass it over. It's on purpose, the braiding. It was mentioned earlier that it makes it stronger. However, if you look at the braid, and you're holding it, you can see that there are very distinct pieces of yarn that make up that braid. I hear “blend” lots of times.

Science and Research committee  Thank you for the question. When you look at the opportunity to do this in a collaborative and inclusive space, when you're bringing in academia, when you're bringing in indigenous organizations and groups that want to be a part of these types of initiatives, I can tell you that the relationship the government has had with indigenous people has not been great.

Science and Research committee  It's a really good question. As an indigenous scientist, I had a hard time actually.... This idea of publishing is very hard in the indigenous culture, because everything changes. Once you put it on paper, then it becomes real, just like that, but in our culture, we experience it all of the time—such as the effects of climate change.

Science and Research committee  I'll start, and then Monique.... I think one of the important lessons learned in this initiative that we've done is that you can't make indigenous science so that it's right across Canada. You have to look at the communities that are asking for the science and are being involved in it.

Science and Research committee  I was thinking about this. Having gone through the western academic system to get a Ph.D. studying caribou, I had to prove that I had the credentials to be in that type of government position as a wildlife biologist. From an indigenous perspective, I think when I first got that proof....

Science and Research committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. [Member spoke in the Denesuline language and provided the following translation:] Hello. My name is Joseph Ignace David Dragon. I live in the Northwest Territories. We call our land Denendeh. I am Dene, a descendent of the Denesuline, the people of the land.