First Nations, Métis and Inuit Knowledges and Two-Eyed Seeing

Knowledge from thousands of years of watching

Imagine a family that has fished the same lake, followed the same caribou, and gathered plants in the same valley for hundreds of generations. Each generation teaches the next: when the ice is safe, which plants grow after a fire, how many fish to take so there will be fish next year, how the animals have changed.

First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities across Canada hold this kind of knowledge. Today, more and more scientists, governments and communities are learning that Indigenous knowledge and Western science together can help protect ecosystems better than either one alone.

Remember from earlier grades

In Grade 4 and Grade 6, you met the idea of Two-Eyed Seeing, the Seventh Generation principle of the Haudenosaunee, and the Three Sisters. In this lesson, you will look more closely at how diverse Indigenous practices support sustainability today, and analyse how Two-Eyed Seeing works in real projects.

Many peoples, many knowledges

There is no single "Indigenous view". First Nations, Métis and Inuit are distinct peoples. There are many First Nations (for example, Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Cree, Mi'kmaq, Dene and many more), each with their own languages, lands and teachings. Knowledge is tied to specific places: what a Cree community knows about the Hudson Bay Lowlands is different from what a Mi'kmaw community knows about the Atlantic coast.

Still, many Indigenous perspectives share some ideas about the environment:

• Relationships: people are part of nature, connected to the land, water, plants and animals as relatives, not separate from or above them.
• Responsibility and reciprocity: if you take from the land, you have a responsibility to care for it and give back.
• Thinking long-term: decisions should consider many generations into the future.
• Learning by careful observation over a long time, shared through language, stories, ceremonies and practice on the land.

Two-Eyed Seeing

Two-Eyed Seeing, or Etuaptmumk in the Mi'kmaw language, is an idea shared by Mi'kmaw Elder Albert Marshall of Unama'ki (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia), together with Elder Murdena Marshall and scientist Cheryl Bartlett.

• With one eye, see with the strengths of Indigenous ways of knowing.
• With the other eye, see with the strengths of Western (mainstream) science.
• Learn to use both eyes together, for the benefit of all.

Two-Eyed Seeing does not mean mixing the two into one, or using Indigenous knowledge only to "check" science. Each way of knowing is respected on its own terms, and people learn to move between them.

Practices that support sustainability

Inuit knowledge of sea ice and wildlife. Inuit hunters read sea ice, snow, wind and animal behaviour with great skill. Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (Inuit knowledge and values) is part of how Nunavut makes decisions. Wildlife in Nunavut is co-managed: Inuit organizations and governments share decisions, using both Inuit knowledge and scientific surveys. In some Inuit communities, a program called SmartICE combines Inuit knowledge of sea ice with sensors that measure ice thickness, to help people travel safely as the climate changes.

Indigenous Guardians. In many First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities across Canada, Guardians are community members who monitor the land and water: they track wildlife, test water quality, watch for pollution and invasive species, and teach young people on the land.

Fire stewardship. Many First Nations have used carefully planned fire for a very long time to renew berry patches, grasslands and forests. In southern Ontario, Walpole Island First Nation (Bkejwanong) cares for some of the province's largest remaining tallgrass prairie and oak savanna, which depend on fire, using planned burns.

Métis harvesting. Harvesting (hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering) is central to the Métis way of life. The Métis Nation of Ontario uses a system of Captains of the Hunt to help guide Métis harvesting in different regions of the province, following Métis traditions and conservation. Métis communities also share knowledge of the land through traditional knowledge and land use studies, for example when new mines or pipelines are proposed.

Protecting water. In many Anishinaabe teachings, women have a special responsibility for water. Josephine Mandamin, an Anishinaabe grandmother from Wiikwemkoong, began her Water Walks in 2003, walking around Lake Superior and, in later years, around all the Great Lakes, carrying a copper pail of water, to raise awareness about protecting water. Other Water Walkers continue this work.

Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas. Indigenous nations are leading the protection of large areas. For example, Thaidene Nëné in the Northwest Territories was established in 2019 through the leadership of the Łutsël K'é Dene First Nation, working with other governments. It protects a large area of lands and waters east of Great Slave Lake.