Thank you very much, Mr. Chair
I welcome the witnesses joining us today for this important study. My first questions will be for the chief Indigenous science adviser, Dr. Ballard.
Dr. Ballard, thank you for joining us today.
I know that some people might mistrust Indigenous knowledge since it's not always scientifically verified. However, I'm open-minded and I'm pleased that we're conducting this important study today in an attempt to demystify a number of things.
I'd like you to comment on information released by the Quebec government, in particular by Patrick Beauchesne when he was deputy minister of the environment and the fight against climate change. He had sent a missive to the federal government regarding Bill C‑69, which sought to replace the National Energy Board Act with the Canadian Energy Board Act, among other things.
Mr. Beauchesne wrote that systematically placing Indigenous knowledge on equal footing with scientific data could prove problematic where Indigenous knowledge and science were found to be in contradiction.
If Indigenous knowledge contradicts science, how will it be possible to work around that and make decisions?