Back to their roots

A UVic graduate student helps First Nations schoolchildren reconnect with their natural world

by Lynda Hills

Cheryl Reece with a sample of "her" plant, salal.

"When gathering Ts'üga'aam, one must have a clear mind. When you are done, you can leave a gift of thanks. Never pick for fun and waste this precious plant."

Ts'üga'aam, or licorice root, is one of the native plants schoolchildren in a First Nations community on B.C.'s north coast are learning about, thanks to Judith (Edōsdi) Thompson, a master's student in UVic's school of environmental studies.

Through Thompson's Gitga'at plant project, students in Hartley Bay school's Grade 9 to 12 classes are connecting to the world around them, and reaffirming a tradition of passing on knowledge from one generation to the next. Hartley Bay is a community of about 200 people located 140 km southeast of Prince Rupert.

"The project retains and strengthens the transmission of traditional ecological knowledge," says Thompson. "It reconnects children to their elders and the land, something that hasn't been happening."

Thompson developed the project based on a curriculum she worked on with two Tsimshian teachers, Cameron and Eva-Ann Hill. The project pairs up 19 students to choose and research a plant native to Hartley Bay. The children interviewed elders, researched the Internet, and used botany books provided by UVic through the Coasts Under Stress research project.

Throughout the process, Thompson monitored the students' progress and provided support with such things as interview role-playing. She solicited feedback from teachers, elders and the students themselves. The project also involved field trips. Information gathered provided a framework for student reports and a variety of public presentations.

Students also contributed to a poster with details of each plant along with its uses as material, medicine and food. Thompson and the students are currently drafting a booklet called The Gitga'at Plant Project.
"The students learned skills that assisted them not only with their interviews, but in recording the knowledge they learned, and sharing this knowledge and wisdom with the community," says Thompson.

First Nations people are under-represented in science classrooms and in science-related careers, notes Thompson. "All students, aboriginal and non-aboriginal, need to know that modern science is not the only way to look at relationships with nature," she says.

"For First Nations students, seeing themselves and their people in school course work is vital," she adds. The Hartley Bay school has now incorporated Thompson's project into the curriculum.

"The project built a rapport and special bonding between our students and elders," says elder and school principal Ernie Hill. "The elders were thrilled to be part of it, and are gratified to know that this knowledge is going to stay."

For Thompson, one student in the project stands out in her mind. "When we first started the project this student went to Old Town, where the old village used to be, and started talking to the chief and his wife about his plant, devil's club."

On another day, many months later, Thompson and her thesis co- supervisor, UVic ethnobotanist Nancy Turner, asked the student about devil's club.

"He took us to where the plant grows and told us everything he knew—why it was important, and why he had to research things in a certain way because it was a medicine. He also explained the spiritual side of the plant," says Thompson. "It was amazing to see that he knew so much. Just from him alone, I felt the plant project was a success."