A–B. Health and Safety; Technological Development, Impacts, and Careers · Technology Fundamentals, Safety and Connections

First Nations, Métis and Inuit Approaches to Technological Problem Solving

B1.4 A1.7About 70 minutes

Learning goals

I can describe ways First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities have applied their understandings, practices and experiences to technological problem solving.
I can explain how traditional and modern technologies from these communities solve real problems.
I can gather information respectfully from people with diverse perspectives for my own projects.

Words to know

Knowledge Keeper
A person recognized by their community as holding and sharing traditional knowledge.

Elder
A respected person recognized by their community for wisdom and knowledge; age alone does not make someone an Elder.

protocol
The respectful, expected way of doing something in a particular community.

Seventh Generation principle
A Haudenosaunee teaching that decisions should consider people seven generations into the future.

Two-Eyed Seeing (Etuaptmumk)
Using the strengths of Indigenous and Western knowledges together, as described by Mi'kmaw Elder Albert Marshall.

cultural appropriation
Using a community's sacred or cultural designs, symbols or knowledge without permission.

shaganappi
Rawhide strips used by the Métis, for example to bind Red River carts.

Hook: a boat you can carry and fix anywhere

Imagine you need a boat to travel hundreds of kilometres through lakes and rivers, carrying people and supplies. Between lakes, you have to carry the boat over land. If it gets damaged far from any town, you must repair it with whatever grows nearby.

For thousands of years, First Nations peoples solved this problem with the birchbark canoe: light enough to carry on a portage, strong enough to carry heavy loads, and repairable with bark, roots and tree gum found along the way. It is an example of a technological problem-solving approach rooted in deep knowledge of the land.

Diverse peoples, diverse approaches

First Nations, Métis and Inuit are distinct peoples, and within each there are many nations and communities with their own languages, histories and ways of knowing. There is no single "Indigenous approach." Still, many communities describe some shared strengths in how they have solved technological problems:

Close observation over many generations. Knowledge about snow, ice, water, plants, animals and seasons has been tested and refined for thousands of years.
Relationships and responsibility. Technology is connected to responsibilities to the land, water, animals and other people.
Local, renewable materials chosen with great skill, and a value of using what is harvested fully and wasting little.
Designs fitted to place and season, such as different snowshoe shapes for deep powder or thick bush.
Long-term thinking. The Haudenosaunee Seventh Generation principle teaches that decisions should consider their effects on people seven generations into the future.
Learning by doing and by listening, with knowledge shared through oral teachings, Elders, Knowledge Keepers and practice.

Technology	Community	Problem-solving approach
Birchbark canoe	many First Nations, including Anishinaabe nations	bark from paper birch over cedar ribs, sewn with spruce root and sealed with spruce or pine gum; light for portages and repairable with local materials
Qajaq (kayak) and iglu	Inuit	a qajaq frame of driftwood (or bone where wood was scarce) covered in sealskin and sized to the paddler's own body; an iglu built of snow blocks laid in a rising spiral, with snow's trapped air acting as insulation and a sleeping platform raised above the entrance so cold air stays low
Three Sisters planting	Haudenosaunee and other nations	corn, beans and squash grown together so each plant helps the others and the soil
Red River cart	Métis	made of wood and rawhide (shaganappi) with no metal parts, so it could be repaired on the trail with local materials; large wheels for prairie and mud
Snowshoes	many First Nations and Métis communities	bent-wood frames with rawhide webbing; shapes matched to snow and terrain, spreading the wearer's weight so they stay on top of the snow

Each technology solved a real problem with local materials and long experience of the land.

The Three Sisters work as a system: each plant helps the others. This is the kind of systems thinking you studied in the concepts lessons.

Knowledge systems working together today

First Nations, Métis and Inuit approaches are not only history. Communities continue to innovate:

SmartICE, a social enterprise working with Inuit communities in Nunatsiavut, Nunavut and other Inuit regions, combines Inuit knowledge of sea ice with sensors and satellite images to help people travel safely on the ice as the climate changes.
Many First Nations in Ontario own or co-own renewable energy projects such as solar, wind and hydroelectric generation, bringing jobs and revenue to their communities.
Indigenous engineers, architects, tradespeople and designers bring their communities' values into modern buildings, products and services.

Mi'kmaw Elder Albert Marshall describes Two-Eyed Seeing (Etuaptmumk): learning to see with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges through one eye and the strengths of Western knowledges through the other, and using both eyes together.

Two-Eyed Seeing brings together the strengths of different ways of knowing. Neither replaces the other.

Gathering knowledge respectfully (for your own projects)

When a project could benefit from First Nations, Métis or Inuit perspectives, or from any community with different experiences, gather information respectfully:

Learn first from public sources created by or with the community.
Find the right contact, such as your school board's Indigenous education team, a local First Nation's office, a Métis Nation of Ontario region, an Inuit organization or a Friendship Centre.
Ask permission and explain your purpose. Protocols differ between communities; ask what is appropriate. (In many First Nations communities, for example, offering tobacco when asking an Elder for knowledge is a protocol, but you should ask rather than assume.)
Listen more than you talk, and ask open questions.
Record only with permission, and credit people and communities the way they ask to be credited.
Give back: share your finished work with them.
Respect limits: some knowledge, designs and ceremonies are not for public use. Copying sacred or cultural designs without permission is cultural appropriation.

Worked example

Let's plan a respectful consultation

A Grade 9 class wants to plant a school garden and is interested in the Three Sisters. Plan how to include Indigenous perspectives respectfully.

Learn first: read about the Three Sisters from Haudenosaunee and other Indigenous sources, such as resources shared by Haudenosaunee communities or the school board's Indigenous education team.
Find the right contact: ask the school board's Indigenous education lead to suggest a Knowledge Keeper, a local First Nation or a Friendship Centre that may be willing to help.
Ask permission and protocol: explain the project and ask how the community would like to be involved and what protocols to follow.
Listen and record with permission: invite the guest to share; take notes only with permission.
Credit and give back: add a sign that credits the community's knowledge as they wish; invite them to see the garden; share the harvest or the class's learning.
Combine knowledge: use the guest's guidance on planting along with soil tests and measurements from science class (Two-Eyed Seeing).

A respectful plan learns first, asks permission, follows the community's protocols, credits and gives back.

Hands-on activity

Snowshoe science: spreading the load

You need: a shallow baking tray filled 3 to 4 cm deep with flour, sugar or fine sand (or fresh snow outdoors), a full can of soup, a square of stiff cardboard about 15 cm × 15 cm, a ruler.

Gently stand the can upright on the flour. Lift it straight up. Measure how deep the dent is in millimetres.
Smooth the flour. Put the cardboard square on the surface and stand the can in the middle of it. Lift both and measure the dent.
Explain your results: the same weight spread over a bigger area makes less pressure, so it sinks less (you met pressure in Grade 8 Fluids).
Connect it: how do snowshoe designers use this idea? Why might a round, wide snowshoe suit soft powder, while a long, narrow one suits open trails?
Write two sentences on what this shows about the knowledge built into traditional snowshoe design.

Clean up spilled flour right away so no one slips.

Your turn

Name three features many First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities describe in their approach to technological problem solving.

Why was the birchbark canoe well suited to travel through lakes and rivers?

Explain how each of the Three Sisters helps the others.

Why did the Métis Red River cart have no metal parts?

What is Two-Eyed Seeing, and who describes it?

Give two steps for gathering knowledge respectfully from a community.

More practice: warm-up

What does the Seventh Generation principle ask people to consider?

Which people developed the qajaq?

What was a qajaq frame often made of?

What does SmartICE combine?

Is there a single "Indigenous approach" to technology?

More practice: on your own

Explain the science of why snow blocks make a good shelter material.

How is the Three Sisters an example of systems thinking?

Why is it important to credit First Nations, Métis and Inuit knowledge used in a project?

What is cultural appropriation in design? Give a respectful alternative.

How do snowshoe shapes show design fitted to place?

Challenge

Choose one traditional technology from the table. Analyse it using at least four fundamental technological concepts (for example, function, material, structure, environmental sustainability).

Explain how Two-Eyed Seeing could improve a modern project, such as monitoring lake ice safety for winter travel.

Design a short respectful consultation plan for a project of your choice that would benefit from a community's perspective (Indigenous or another community). Include at least five steps.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which statement is most accurate?

In the Three Sisters, which plant adds nitrogen to the soil?

The Haudenosaunee Seventh Generation principle asks people to...

Why could a Métis Red River cart be repaired on the trail?

When asking an Elder or Knowledge Keeper to share knowledge for a project, you should...

Two-Eyed Seeing means...

For parents and teachers

This lesson presents First Nations, Métis and Inuit approaches respectfully and as living, continuing knowledge, not as history only. If your teen generalizes ("Indigenous people all..."), gently point out that there are many distinct nations and communities.

There is no joke block in this lesson by design: the focus is on respect for communities' knowledge. For the respectful-consultation skills, your school board's Indigenous education team is a good real-world contact. The snowshoe activity uses flour or sand: wipe up spills to prevent slips, and use a fresh snowbank outdoors if you have one.