The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and the Saskatchewan Research Council have announced plans to work on a more productive future for First Nations people.
Second vice-chief Guy Lonechild and council’s vice-president of agriculture and biotechnology Gerry Brown met at Whitecap First Nation Sept. 20 to sign a memorandum of understanding.
It signifies a co-operative relationship between the two groups that will encourage the development of projects and actions to improve the lives of First Nations people in the province.
“It’s a commitment to sit down and see where there is some common ground and how we can work together. It’s really just a commitment to the relationship,” said Brown.
Read Also
Alberta crop diversification centres receive funding
$5.2 million of provincial funding pumped into crop diversity research centres
He said one provincial project from that agreement looks at relating aboriginal knowledge of traditional native medicines, herbs and remedies to new nutraceutical type products.
“The nutraceuticals and functional foods, some of that can be science. Maybe we’ll be looking at active ingredients to help in products that way. The other could be new nutraceutical type crops.”
The council’s aboriginal business co-ordinator Gene Oulette, who also works with the FSIN on a contract basis, says the 74 First Nations represented by the federation will benefit from the science and technology of SRC while retaining and honouring traditional aboriginal knowledge.
“The way it benefits FSIN is that out in Indian country, we don’t have the people with PhDs in engineering and sciences, and we as aboriginal people have always professed that we have a connection with mother earth unlike any other culture in the world,” he said.
He added that some of that knowledge is not passed to the younger generation the way it should.
“With SRC and FSIN looking at some of these collaborations, the First Nations will kind of restore the life into our traditional aboriginal knowledge. It will bring it to the forefront by the assistance of SRC with western and contemporary scientific approach,” Oulette said.
“Each time we would collaborate on a project, we would allow the aboriginal traditional knowledge and the First Nation be the champion of the project, with hard science supporting it. And once we take that approach, we have the best of both worlds.”
