Dialogue 2 - Enacting Ethical Space in Knowledge Sharing
Panelists:
Elder Dr. Dave Courchene, Jr. - Nii Gaani Aki Innini
Elder Ira Provost
Elder Elmer Ghostkeeper
Indigenous scholar Dr. Vicki Kelly
Dr. Kelly Bannister
Dr. Gleb Raygorodetsky
Karin Smith-Fargey
Ira Provost
Moderated by Danika Littlechild
Joined by Reconciling Ways of Knowing project convenors:
Miles Richardson, O.C.
Dr. Nancy Turner
Dr. David Suzuki
This Indigenous dialogue offered an enactment of ethical space that honoured and shared different ethical understandings on the role of Indigenous ethics and Indigenous knowledges in facilitating knowledge sharing. Traditional protocols and ceremony offered by Elders and Knowledge holders were caringly adapted to enable the dialogue to take place within the virtual online setting. Prayer through song and words brought everyone into the sacred space of dialogue to share with one another with good hearts and open minds, and to take responsibility to respect and protect what was shared by listening and witnessing, but not taking.
The dialogue brought together Indigenous knowledge holders, scholars and practitioners including: Indigenous lawyer Danika Littlechild (moderator), Elder Dr. Dave Courchene Jr., Elder Ira Provost, Elder Elmer Ghostkeeper, and Indigenous scholar Dr. Vicki Kelly. As part of the conversation circle, reflective echoes were invited from biocultural ethicist Dr. Kelly Bannister, knowledge coproduction facilitator Karin Smith-Fargey and biocultural heritage expert Dr. Gleb Raygorodetsky who participated in the conversation circle as deep listeners and witnesses to what was shared. The conversation was also supported by the founding conveners of the Reconciling Ways of Knowing Forum, Dr. David Suzuki, Miles Richardson, and Dr. Nancy Turner. The circle was then opened to questions from participants who were witnessing the dialogue, to inspire further conversation among the knowledge holders. Some of the offerings shared in the Indigenous dialogue are summarized below:
Danika Littlechild (Ermineskin Cree Nation and Department of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University) briefly shared her understanding of ethical space before convening the Indigenous dialogue. Ethical space arose from scholarship originally offered by Cree scholar and educator Willie Ermine, and continues to be developed by others across many fields of inquiry. Ethical space provides a place for different knowledge systems to interact with mutual respect, from a place of values and principles, recognizing that these knowledge systems are equal, that no one system has more weight or legitimacy than the other. Ethical space is an approach that takes emerging standards of collaboration and relationship-building and creates a process that allows for these standards and capacities to become real and to be exercised in a way that honours the systems of Indigenous peoples. With ethical space we are elevating oral systems of Indigenous peoples to a position of equity with non-Indigenous systems, to allow those Indigenous systems to function as they should and as they must. Some of these standards include the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which is the framework for reconciliation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, Indigenous laws, Indigenous legal orders, and Canadian constitutional law and jurisprudence that help us understand how to think about implementation of treaties, agreements, and other constructive arrangements with Indigenous peoples. Ethical space is about how this rubric of standards can frame a new method of ethical engagement. There is no formula for ethical space - part of the beauty of co-creating and collaborating in ethical space is that it requires that the Indigenous peoples who are being engaged bring their own systems forward.
Elder Ira Provost (Piikani First Nation) offered words from his Blackfoot perspective. He understands, works with, and is bound by his Blackfoot ways of knowing and Blackfoot sacred and natural law. He explained he would not speak about sacred parts of his Blackfoot culture, but he would share his understanding of what it means to work with that knowledge. Blackfoot are communal people; knowledge is collectively (not individually) owned, accessed and governed by Blackfoot people. There is integrity and complexity to the knowledges. Learning is extensive, through many progressions and stages, with deep responsibilities to carry the knowledge in a good way. This is an ongoing process, a way of life for Blackfoot people. When we talk about ethical space with Indigenous people and Indigenous Nations, we need to recognize it takes time to build long lasting relationships and truly understand what these cultural processes and understandings mean to the Indigenous people and to the culture itself. We have responsibilities to protect those knowledges and to ensure outsiders treat the knowledge with respect when it is shared, to prevent detriment to the community. There are many of examples of missteps or absence of steps that occur. Most people say they hear and understand, but their actions don’t play out that way. It’s important to understand that knowledge and culture are distinct to their own region. Each Blackfoot community has a highly distinctive approach to relationship building and understanding that need to be understood and respected, there is no pan-Indigenous approach.
Elder Elmer Ghostkeeper (Buffalo Lake Métis Settlement) shared greetings in Bushland Cree, one of his languages. He highlighted the importance of language and sound, especially how images evoked from the Indigenous languages and sounds of the land are part of a way of knowing from his culture and worldview. He spoke of ethical space as a sacred space and how the pipe and tobacco ceremony and sacred sounds of the prayers were offered today to prepare the space so this webinar could happen in a good way. He also spoke of the interconnectedness of all beings through the air we breathe, which is a gift of Mother Earth, and the inseparability of Indigenous knowledge and wisdom from the land from which it comes, understanding the land as a living being. Attempting to talk about different ways of knowing, and conciling those different ways, is a tremendous challenge for him. Meaning is embedded in the sounds we make. If he speaks English to someone who understands English, there can be a shared understanding. But if he speaks Bushland Cree to those who do not understand the sounds, the meaning is not conveyed. Therefore, it is near impossible to completely reconcile different ways of knowing if we are communicating in English, even though we have created the ethical and sacred space to discuss this. He thanked the organizers of the webinar for beginning a dialogue in this age of reconciliation, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic that we are all experiencing. He pointed out that we are undergoing complex change. How we were before the pandemic first appeared in Canada, will not be how we are when we come through it. There will be tremendous change in every level and aspect of our society. We cannot predict the future. We can only breathe one breath at a time in this moment. But we can pray and we can hope for and request a better future than what we were experiencing before. He offered his observation that science tries to measure the physicalness of things. What it can’t measure, it ignores ‒ spirit, emotion, consciousness. Indigenous knowledge is based on relationships ‒ how we’re related to Mother Earth and to one another. This is a fundamental difference. One of the challenges of reconciliation for Western scientific knowledge thinkers is to not be so occupied with measuring.
Indigenous scholar Dr. Vicki Kelly (Anishinaabe/Métis; Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University) described how ethical space is created through the enactment of four principles or protocols: Respect, the Honouring of Relationships, Reciprocity and Responsibility. Ethical space invites the development of these capacities in specific ways. First, we are invited to be respectful of the tacit infrastructures inherent within various knowledge systems and their respective ways of knowing. This encourages us to be inclusive of the circle of knowledges within Indigenous worldviews and also the diversity of other knowledge traditions. Next, we are invited to be ethically relational in our relationship with these knowledges and ways of knowing such that we develop the capacity to reciprocally recognize the diversity of these knowledge systems and the worldviews they arise from. Lastly, we all have a responsibility to respectfully acknowledge their place within the circle of knowledges, and the inherent rights of peoples to live within these worldviews and to enact their unique ways of knowing. All peoples have a place in this circle and if we widen that circle, all forms of life have a place in that circle. This is the ethical space for understanding our knowledges. Within Indigenous contexts these knowledges and their ways of knowing are in natural symmetry with the environmental and spiritual ecologies in which they traditionally exist. Indigenously, the way knowledge is held – the ethic of holding – matters. It is a great misunderstanding to disrespect the cultural ecologies from which knowledges emerge. Knowledge Holders are those whose knowledge is resonant with the ecologies that gave rise to them through the enactment of knowledge practices and ceremonies. One’s responsibility as a holder of knowledge is to hold and accommodate that knowledge as it was given by Creation. Through “reconciling ways of knowing” the acknowledgement of these knowledges also comes with a collective responsibility to honour them. Their teachings are ultimately for the wellbeing of All Our Relations and for the Next Generations. This is also the capacity that allows us to go from one-eyed seeing to two-eyed seeing to many-eyed seeing. We raise our hands to the work of Elder Albert Marshall who spoke about two-eyed seeing as seeing the world with the strengths of the contemporary eye and with the strengths of the Indigenous eye, to see more fully and more comprehensively. Why is the capacity of many-eyed seeing, the capacity of holding multiple hermeneutics or worldviews so important? To extend what we understand about being human and All our Relations, and to sit honourably within the circle of knowledges. This is the invitation of enacting ethical space.
Elder Dr. Dave Courchene Jr. - Nii Gaani Aki Inini (Leading Earth Man) (Anishinaabe Nation) shared his understanding of ethical space, which began to be created this morning prior to the webinar, through words of gratitude invoked in ceremony, through the Pipe ceremony and the protocols of other Nations. The opening for this webinar was an extension of the gratitude offered this morning, with the invitation to the Spirit to lead the process and create a ceremonial environment and context for our group’s work. This underscores the paramount importance of Elders and Knowledge Holders to be an instrument of the vision and guidance received from the Spirit, and to be involved in providing that guidance to the People. As we talk about ethical space, it must be understood that the Original People continue to find themselves in a position of marginalization, which is hardly an ethical starting point. There are ongoing challenges because of colonization, marginalization and legislation that place the Original Peoples on small land bases, suffering higher rates of poverty, homelessness and malnutrition, with lower socio-economic well-being and lower levels of access to health services, which are often culturally unsafe and can be traumatic. At the same time, the Original People have been blessed to evolve with an invaluable knowledge, history, identity, role and responsibility as the free and independent Original Peoples, and the true leaders of their homelands. Continued domination and assimilation is detrimental to Original Peoples and to all who seek to learn their original knowledge, which can be added to the knowledge of humanity, to help us survive as human beings living in these critical times. But to expect that invaluable knowledge to be shared while at the same time facing the continued forces of assimilation is not fair. The problem of systemic racism, which keeps a People disconnected from their identity, urgently needs to be resolved. We are challenged to find peaceful ways of correcting the wrongs that are still being done, which is not restricted only to apologies. Creating ethical space means positioning the Elders and Knowledge Holders who are rooted in their ceremonies, languages and traditions in a position of influence in the stewardship and management of our lands and territories, together with the united efforts of the scientists. Our well-being as all Peoples is determined by returning to the source – to the living knowledge of the land. We need to step outside the systems and create new relationships with each other that are grounded upon our relationship with the land. The priority must be to support the Knowledge Holders and put them in their rightful place of leadership, calling upon them to offer a new vision for this country, to provide a knowledge that can help give us greater understanding of our human identity, original instructions, duties and responsibilities. We are in need of a vision that can unite us in our efforts to take better care of the Earth. The vision of Indigenous Peoples carries the memory of the original instructions of how we should live and act as human beings, connected with the land and behaving in accordance with the laws of nature. It is Elder Courchene’s hope that our engagement and coming together in this dialogue will truly manifest in a much more caring world. We are evolving as human beings, and it will take time and commitment to create a better and more peaceful world. This is a legacy we must leave for our children.
After a round of brief reflections by Listeners, the session was brought to a good close with words by Elder Dr. Dave Courchene, Jr. and a prayer song offered by Dr. Vicki Kelly.
Thank you to Danika Littlechild, Elder Ira Provost, Elder Elmer Ghostkeeper, Indigenous scholar Dr. Vicki Kelly, Elder Dr. Dave Courchene Jr., Dr. Kelly Bannister, Dr. Gleb Raygorodetsky and Karin Smith-Fargey for your contributions to the dialogue and this summary.