Our impact areas:

For natural asset management to reach its potential in a Turtle Island/Canadian context, it must evolve to acknowledge and integrate inherent Indigenous rights and responsibilities in its methodologies and, wherever appropriate and possible, Indigenous perspectives, knowledge, and biocultural indicators. 

NAM delivers core local services and supports healthy lands and waters — it also provides a platform to improve Indigenous and non-Indigenous community collaboration, leading to better decision-making for the health of our shared ecosystems.

NAI is committed to exploring and improving how natural asset management can uphold the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

PROJECTS

Originally, NAI’s inventory process was not specifically designed to include or align with Indigenous worldviews or perspectives. It’s in the spirit of collaboration and reconciliation that we take responsibility to uphold UNDRIP in our work and improve the practice of NAM as a whole.

In recent years, we’ve been able to begin this process through new initiatives, and expand partnerships with Indigenous Nations, organizations, and networks.

APPLYING A TWO-EYED SEEING AND ETHICAL SPACE APPROACH TO NATURAL ASSET MANAGEMENT

Etuaptmumk is the Mi’kmaw word for Two-Eyed Seeing — this concept was brought to the forefront of Integrative Science by Mi’kmaw Elder Albert Marshall. This approach is often described as a way of learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing, and from the other with the strengths of Western knowledge and ways of knowing, then using both eyes together for the benefit of all.

To apply a Two-Eyed Seeing approach, we must first be committed to creating an ethical space. Ethical space was coined by Willie Ermine, an Indigenous philosopher from the Sturgeon Lake First Nation. The ethical space of engagement is a framework that examines the diversity and positioning of Indigenous Peoples and Western society. 

The Indigenous Circle of Experts described ethical space as “a venue for collaboration and advice, sharing and cross-validation (where one side validated the other’s decisions)” (We Rise Together, 2018). The focus of ethical space is on creating a place for knowledge systems to interact with mutual respect, kindness, and generosity.

These principles guide NAI’s projects, initiatives, and partnerships to ensure our work and natural asset management upholds the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

This summary was authored by Kim Neale, previously Project Manager and Indigenous Affairs Associate at NAI. In her role, Kim led NAI’s work in developing a Two-Eyed Seeing methodology for natural asset inventories and considerations for ways that Indigenous worldviews, Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and cumulative effects could influence natural asset management.