Transdisciplinary Pedagogical Approaches to Regulatory Oversight in the Canadian Context: Advancing Multiple Epistemologies in an Age of Reconciliation

• In Event: Indigenous Stories of Place/Land/Water: Relations in Education

Abstract

In the context of accelerating climate change, growing controversy over federal approval of crude oil pipelines, and a desire on the part of many Canadians to act on the spirit of reconciliation, now is the right time to transform how it is that we engage pedagogically as it concerns ameliorating the risk of ‘old’ (built) industrial infrastructure on Indigenous lands. A transdisciplinary pedagogical approach that has as a premise Indigenous knowledges holds significant promise for enhancing the understanding of scientists and government officials regarding risks associated with active industrial infrastructure on traditional lands, thereby leading to substantive improvements in regulatory oversight.

Regulatory activities in Canada have tended to rely upon scientific disciplinary and Indigenous theories of knowledge, mentioned often in relation to protecting the environment, have historically not been a part of the regulatory oversight discourse (Peters, 2003). Yet, such knowledge is important to understanding how best to mitigate environmental risks on Indigenous lands and waters.

A transdisciplinary pedagogical approach to regulatory oversight at this moment of national reflection affords Indigenous communities, with their long histories of resource management, opportunities to access scientific knowledge in a way that enhances their understanding of the risks associated with ‘old’ industrial infrastructure and motivates local action in support of the important stewardship role inherent to their cultures. Achieving this promise of co-learning though will require that power be vested in not only regulatory bodies, but also in Indigenous communities.

Advancing a transdisciplinary pedagogical approach in regulatory oversight requires a genuine sharing of knowledge, rather than adding (after the fact) Indigenous understandings to scientific frameworks. Efforts to bring together Indigenous knowledges and Western sciences in research, application and outreach have been advanced in select contexts. For example, “Two-Eyed Seeing” (Bartlett, Marshall & Marshall, 2012) is a transdisciplinary approach that engages postsecondary students in the integration of Indigenous and scientific knowledge as it relates to Mik’maq communities. Barnhardt & Kawagley (1998) describe a transdisciplinary approach to pedagogy, the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative, that seeks to integrate Indigenous knowledges and Western science in the Alaska K-12 system.

Notwithstanding these important initiatives, integrating epistemologies has many challenges. As described by Gadgil, Berkes & Folke (1993), such integration is reliant on revitalized Indigenous cultures and the right of Indigenous communities to be, at minimum, co-managers in conservation. Agrawal (1995) further describes the dangers, specifically the tendency to ascribe to Indigenous knowledges a series of practices that serve to convert them into a form that fits development contexts but fails to honour the epistemological foundations from which such knowledge derives. Thus, attending to the issue of power in transdisciplinary pedagogical approaches is paramount.

Indigenous knowledges have much to contribute to understanding and developing sustainable relationships with the natural world. Improving regulatory oversight of old infrastructure will require re-thinking the uneven power relations that typically shape Indigenous inclusion. This paper will elucidate the unfolding story of how such a shift is now occurring in the Canadian context.

Author

• Tracy L. Friedel, The University of British Columbia