‘Both things are true:’ Science, Indigenous wisdom seek common ground
The berries tasted different. The blueberries and cranberries didn’t look the same either.
When elders from Fort McKay near Alberta’s oilsands went to their traditional picking areas, things just didn’t feel right. They knew something was off. But what?
The First Nation’s questions eventually grew into a collaboration with university-based researchers that brought botanists out on traditional berry-picking trips in an attempt to use western science to investigate community concerns.
Sure enough, the elders were right. Berries closer to the oilsands were different.