Thank you for that question.
I think it is an indigenous knowledge system and a way of bringing knowledge to a situation. I think that western science offers one viewpoint, whereas indigenous knowledge actually makes it richer and makes it a better product at the end of the day as we align the two systems that we work in.
In my personal experience, I've found that it has really enhanced our thinking around the work we have in front of us.
In fact, I think of water, which is a very important system for indigenous people, and it is very important for the NWMO to protect it. We have worked very hard with indigenous people and with our western scientists to tell the story of the journey of water. We've taken it from an indigenous perspective and we've aligned that with our western way of understanding water and the knowledge that it holds. We've brought that together.
We had advice from our elders on how we could best incorporate those two ways of knowing. We've presented that to our communities and to our western scientists as a way of making sure that we're addressing water concerns the best way we can with the communities we're working with.