Elders fill in the gaps for scientists on climate change

A new exhibit at the Telus World of Science in Edmonton is recognizing traditional knowledge as more than stories. By including “Elders as Scientists” as a permanent feature in the Syncrude Environment Gallery, the observations of three Lutsël K’e Dene First Nation residents about the changes in their landscape is being viewed on par with data gathered by western scientists.

“Often Elders and their stories are dismissed as anecdotes and they’re not given the kind of credibility that experts, scientists are given,” said Brenda Parlee, a Canada Research Chair based in the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Native Studies and the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences.

“The way the Elders convey their perspective is not done in a technical way…  but if you delve deeply … there is systemic data gathering that is very similar to what scientists gather.”

Parlee worked with the Telus World of Science to develop the “Elders as Scientists” portion of the gallery, which examines weather and climate. Also part of the collaboration was the U of A’s Canadian Circumpolar Institute.

 “We wanted to incorporate the oral history concept of knowledge. Obviously Aboriginal people have been around for quite some time and collecting data,” said Jennifer Bawden, science director at the centre. “While we are grounded in science there are alternate ways of gathering information that are important to let people know about.”

The observations of Elders Madeline Catholique, Madeline Drybones and Joseph Catholique are recorded in Chipewyan and translated into English. Their stories include the changing patterns of caribou, the shift in vegetation through the treeline and tundra, and the impact of mining activity.

Parlee, who is not Aboriginal, has a long standing relationship with the Elders and the community of Lutsël K’e Dene First Nation. She and U of A graduate student Kelsey Dokis-Jansen traveled to the region in the fall of 2012 and recorded the stories of the Elders taken during a traditional knowledge and science camp held in the Northwest Territories.

Dokis-Jansen, who is non-status from Dokis First Nation, holds that there is “a lot of overlap” between what traditional users of the land experience and what scientists observe.

“The people who are out on the land have the benefit of seeing the long-term changes whereas scientists come in, do a research project, they visit places for a limited amount of time, so they sometimes only get a little bit of the picture,” she said. “The traditional knowledge of the Elders and hunters can come in and fill in those knowledge gaps.”

Bawden said the gallery looks at what people know about the environment and how they get that information. Along with the weather and climate section, the gallery includes geology, water and ice and ecosystems.

Personally for Dokis-Janis it is rewarding to see the Aboriginal viewpoint given credence in this manner.

“Often Aboriginal knowledge, perspective and culture has been left out of the story in terms of how people in Canada talk about and see all realms of our world. So to bring that in and to showcase that perspective is a really good way to open the broader public’s eyes to the value and to the fact that Aboriginal people are still on the land,” she said.

Parlee would like to see the Elders as Scientists exhibit developed further, expanded so that the Aboriginal voice is included on two or three key issues of environmental change in Alberta.

The inclusion of Elders as Scientists is unique to other science centres in the country, although the Ontario Science Centre includes international Aboriginal beliefs in its exhibit A Question of Truth, says Bawden.

“Aboriginal knowledge just adds another level to the (Telus Environment) gallery that makes it a bit more culturally rich,” she said.

Photo caption: Photos of Elders and their recorded messages impart traditional knowledge and their views on climate change.