Researchers working with Indigenous partners are benefiting from traditional knowledge of the natural world. Investigating how an extract of the traditional medicinal plant, Sooyaiaiitsi, interacts with cancer cells helped Haley Shade to “walk in both worlds”, bridging her education within Canada’s system with her Indigenous identity. Shade, a Blackfoot woman from the Kainai First Nation […]
Indigenous
Chief Medical Officer Was Silenced in Canada’s Residential Schools
The discovery in recent months of more than 1,300 unmarked graves at the sites of former indigenous residential schools in Canada has brought an ugly chapter of the country’s history back into the spotlight. Residential school survivors are sharing their stories at events across the country as part of the first National Day for Truth […]
New Canadian law improves habitat protections and adds Indigenous consultation
All fish are created equal, or at least treated equally under Canada’s new fisheries law that came into effect last summer. Under the updated law, fish habitat has gained new protections in Canada. The new version of the law restores protections that were removed by the previous government in 2012 and brings in new requirements […]
To Conserve Species, Traditional Local Knowledge and Science Can Complement Each Other
Estimates of animal populations made by local residents and field scientists are similar. Thais Morcatty had a problem. The ecologist at the Mamiraua Institute in Brazil needed to gather estimates of the populations of a variety of animals living in the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon for her research. But getting that information proved difficult. “It […]
‘Rediscovered’ toad was known to Colombian locals for decades
A critically endangered harlequin toad, known as the starry night toad, has been documented by biologists for the first time since 1991 in the mountains of Colombia. But unlike other such stories of “rediscovered” species, this one was never really lost – the local Arhuaco people knew exactly where the toad, which they call “gouna”, […]
Tailoring cultural safety training in health care to local context of Indigenous communities
Cultural safety training for working with Indigenous people is becoming a common part of physician education. The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada has said all medical residency programs will be required to include cultural safety training. “We know that Indigenous people have a very different experience in the health care system, for […]
How one Canadian scientist is tapping into the knowledge of Indigenous communities
Jean Polfus found her research was strengthened by bringing more voices to the table. Jean Polfus, a postdoctoral fellow at Trent University in Peterborough, Canada, studies the distribution and spatial organization of caribou (or reindeer; Rangifer tarandus) populations in the Sahtú region of the Northwest Territories. She explains how she collaborates with members of the Dene […]
Virtual Reality Preserves Disappearing Land
Coastal communities are capturing their cultures and landscapes in virtual reality before sea level rise steals them for good. It’s a sunny day in southern Louisiana, and I’m sitting on a porch listening to 91-year-old Wenceslaus Billiot, the oldest member of the Isle de Jean Charles band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw, describe how the island has […]
Oysters to Fight Erosion and Help Preserve Southern Louisiana History
As erosion claims land, local scientists explore using oysters to preserve parts of the Mississippi delta. In southern Louisiana, the land is disappearing fast. The region loses 25,000 acres of coastal land every year — the equivalent of a football field every 15 minutes. The land loss is devastating for the people and economy of […]
Canada’s New Arctic Research Facility Prepares to Open
The Canadian High Arctic Research Station in Cambridge Bay will serve as a base for scientists studying everything from the region’s changing cryosphere to how to best deploy renewable energy projects in northern communities. THIS OCTOBER, AS winter begins to draw near in the Canadian Arctic, a new research facility will finally open its doors. The Canadian High […]