鈥淢y people told me, 鈥楽herry, you鈥檙e never going to understand treaty rights until you go moose hunting,鈥� recalls Sherry Pictou, 网红黑料鈥檚 Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Governance.
So, she went. And after a few days of camping out and tracking the massive animals in Unama鈥檏i (Cape Breton), Nova Scotia, she witnessed the shooting of a moose. She describes the process of her cousin transforming the 鈥渨onderful being鈥� into food and the reverence and ceremony that attended the process.
鈥淎s he was doing that, he would say, 鈥榃ell, there's the neck that we use for mincemeat.鈥� And then he would say 鈥楾here's some ribs for so and so. There's a roast for so and so,鈥� and I realized he was talking about the gifting of food. The whole experience fundamentally changed my life. The amount of work that goes into that, the connectivity, the community. It鈥檚 amazing.鈥�
She says dividing and freely sharing the moose as food gave her a deeper understanding of her L鈥檚扫tkuk community鈥檚 treaty rights, and more so, how they were not always aligned with the perspectives of non-Indigenous governments, communities, and organizations.
Dr. Pictou, who is cross appointed to the Faculties of Law and Management, says it is this kind of experience that underlies her research and informs the foundation of the $24-million project that the Government of Canada announced Wednesday will receive support via its New Frontiers in Research Fund. Provided through the Transformation stream, the funding is designed to support large-scale, Canadian-led projects that address major challenges and promise real and lasting change.
Global scale, local impact
The project, titled聽膫rram膬t and led by Dr. Pictou, four co-principal investigators, and lead principal investigator Brenda Parlee, a professor at the University of Alberta, will involve more than 150 Indigenous organizations, universities, and other partners. Activities will occur in 70 ecosystems around the world that are spiritually, culturally, and economically important to Indigenous Peoples.
鈥淲e need to ask two questions,鈥� says Dr. Pictou. 鈥淲hat are Indigenous perspectives on the stewardship and management of natural resources 鈥� our relationship with Mother Earth? And, even more so, what are the perspectives of Indigenous women and gender diverse persons and how can they be considered in decision making processes that ultimately impact them?鈥�
The project will empower Indigenous Peoples in countries including Canada, India, Vietnam, Thailand,