Towards Reconciliation: 10 Calls to Action to Natural Scientists Working in Canada

In 2015, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission released 94 Calls to Action to redress the intergenerational legacy of, and the systemic racism behind, our country’s treatment of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit people.

In 2020, a group of Canadian scientists and Indigenous elders and scholars wrote “Towards Reconciliation: 10 Calls to Action to Natural Scientists Working in Canada”. The calls were developed to facilitate and enable reconciliation, rebalance relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians, to tell this part of Canadian history, and to create a path forward based on mutual respect.

The authors focused on natural scientists because a common connection to the land should tie them more closely to Indigenous communities than currently exists. They also focused on natural sciences because of the underrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in this field.

DOWNLOAD THE PAPER (EN)
Download the Paper (FR)

By Carmen Wong, Kate Ballegooyen, Lawrence Ignace, Gùdia (Mary Jane) Johnson, and Heidi Swanson. (FACETS | 2020 | 5: 769-783.)

The Authors

  • Gùdia (Mary Jane) Johnson

    Lhu'ààn Mân Ku Dań

    Kluane First Nation Elder

  • Heidi Swanson

    Associate Professor of Biology, Wilfrid Laurier University

    Adjunct Professor, University of Waterloo

  • Carmen Wong

    Ecologist

    Kluane National Park and Reserve, Parks Canada

  • Lawrence Ignace

    Nezaadiikaang (Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation)

    PhD Candidate, Environmental Studies, University of Victoria

  • Kate Ballegooyen

    Resource Manager

    Kluane First Nation

Other Voices

*featured in the Signal Fire film

  • Kyle Bobiwash

    Anishinaabe-Ojibwe

    Assistant Professor, University of Manitoba, Department of Entomology

  • Shandin Pete

    Seliš-Diné

    Assistant Professor, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia

  • Dawn Martin-Hill

    Mohawk

    Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, McMaster University

  • Lisa Loseto

    Research Scientist

    Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Government of Canada

  • Amy Cardinal Christenson

    Métis

    Fire Research Scientist, Canadian Forestry Service/Parks Canada

  • William Alger

    Dehcho Guardian

    Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation

  • Murray Humphries

    Professor of Wildlife Biology, McGill University

Signal Fire Film

Signal Fire is a 30-minute documentary that takes the themes and ideas included in the original paper and reframes them into a story to help illuminate why and how the relationship between research and Indigenous communities must change.

Using imagery and interviews across Canada including Indigenous communities, research sites and universities, Signal Fire features the perspectives of the authors and their colleagues — Indigenous and non-Indigenous — who are igniting change and lighting the way for others looking to make a difference.

Learn more about the filmmakers

Photo: Yukon Archives, Elmer Harp Jr. fonds, 2006/2, #228

Kwäk’än | Signal Fire | The story behind this image…

The title of the Signal Fire film comes from this photo of a kwäk’än which is Dan Kwánje (Southern Tutchone) for signal fire

In the past, kwäk’än were used as a call for help. In this 1948 photo, Gǎ lhêla - Moose Johnson is signalling on behalf of the Andover-Harvard Archaeological Expedition that he is guiding, for a boat pickup across Kluane Lake.

None of the First Nation guides were acknowledged for their knowledge and contributions that led to the expedition’s archaeological "finds".

This photo also speaks to a different relationship with fire than the one current society often fears. At the time, the archaeologist’s viewpoint was that “the Indians were careless with fire”. In reality, the First Nation guides were comfortable with fire and their intimate knowledge of its potential behaviour that made kwäk’än a commonly understood and effective SOS tool.

The failure to cite the aid of Indigenous Knowledge in such an expedition, along with the disparaging treatment of Indigenous Knowledge of fire, is just one of many similar examples in Canada.

In our documentary project, we use kwäk’än to represent a call for help for reconciliation in science – for institutions and individuals.