How Indigenous traditional knowledge is improving our understanding of aurora borealis; CBC Radio, December 22, 2024

Adam Killick , CBC Radio; How Indigenous traditional knowledge is improving our understanding of aurora borealis

"While modern science explains the mechanism of the aurora borealis, members of First Nation, Inuit and Métis communities say that their traditional knowledge, which goes back thousands of years, can help explain its meaning — in mythology, legend and even weather forecasting. 

The two ways of knowing can be complementary, said Jennifer Howse, an education specialist at the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory, just north of Calgary. Howse is also a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta."

Canada moves to protect coral reef that scientists say ‘shouldn’t exist’; The Guardian, March 15, 2024

Leyland Cecco, The Guardian; Canada moves to protect coral reef that scientists say ‘shouldn’t exist’

"For generations, members of the Kitasoo Xai’xais and Heiltsuk First Nations, two communities off the Central Coast region of British Columbia, had noticed large groups of rockfish congregating in a fjord system.

In 2021, researchers and the First Nations, in collaboration with the Canadian government, deployed a remote-controlled submersible to probe the depths of the Finlayson Channel, about 300 miles north-west of Vancouver.

On the last of nearly 20 dives, the team made a startling discovery – one that has only recently been made public...

The discovery marks the latest in a string of instances in which Indigenous knowledge has directed researchers to areas of scientific or historic importance. More than a decade ago, Inuk oral historian Louie Kamookak compared Inuit stories with explorers’ logbooks and journals to help locate Sir John Franklin’s lost ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. In 2014, divers located the wreck of the Erebus in a spot Kamookak suggested they search, and using his directions found the Terror two years later."