Science and Research committee  I think it's important to note that there are conflicts among scientists, and taking lessons on how we deal with those conflicts is important. Knowledge is political, as well as rooted in evidence and data. It's taking note and making those socio-political values transparent in terms of where the knowledge is coming from and whose knowledge matters.

Science and Research committee  Thank you. To be brief, so that there is an opportunity to hear from others as well, I think a fundamental question is how indigenous knowledge is similar to and different from science. There are many similarities in terms of what your question asks. For example, if my colleague Joseph Catholique, who is a caribou hunter, goes out on the land, he sees 10 caribou.

Science and Research committee  My comment earlier was that there's a long-term monitoring program that involves or is led by the Inuvialuit communities. Over 40 years of data has been collected about mercury, among other things. That program began or was designed around answering key questions that were important to communities.

Science and Research committee  Thank you. The indigenous guardians program is an incredible network of indigenous communities supported by different sources of funding, but led through the hard work of numerous people in the Indigenous Leadership Initiative. When you think about the term “guardians”, it's about monitoring in some parts, and doing ongoing evidence-based research to collect data about issues that matter in communities.

Science and Research committee  There are commitments from the federal government already to the indigenous guardians program, but these are drops in the bucket when you think about the need and the extensive opportunity there to learn from indigenous people.

Science and Research committee  Exactly.

Science and Research committee  Thank you very much for the question. I think I noted a couple of key points in my presentation, notably recognition of the value of indigenous knowledge systems and respect between scientists and indigenous knowledge-holders. I think that at the root of a lot of the conflicts we see, or the lack of strong and healthy relationships between scientists and indigenous knowledge-holders, there are the issues of land and resource rights that are often an undercurrent.

Science and Research committee  Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you today. I'd like to begin by acknowledging that we are gathering on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin nation. I'm a non-indigenous scholar at the University of Alberta, which is located in Treaty 6 and Métis territory.