Last week Collective intern Ruth Duncan attended the Joint Aquatic Systems Meeting, the biggest international meeting about aquatic systems! Ruth presented The Bima'azh Project, and highlighted the importance of using the Two-Eyed Seeing approach with research, the incredible value that Indigenous Knowledge systems hold, and how community-based research can produce sound scientific data, as well as build community capacity and knowledge. Ruth highlighted how useful The Two-Eyed Seeing approach can be when doing community-based work, and how western science doesn't validate community knowledge, but instead gives us a better understanding, and adds to the story. Within the session, lots of different presentations spoke to how important community science is, and how people from all walks of life should be able to contribute to research projects because that is when the most knowledge is shared. There was a theme throughout the entire week of creating collective groups, sharing research and different approaches, and most importantly valuing different knowledge, perspectives, and rights, and using that to work together for more culturally appropriate and sustainable solutions. The week was filled with much fun and knowledge. Check out Collective Environmentals Instagram for more pictures from the conference!
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For more information about The Bima'azh Project, check out our past blog post! 
​http://www.collectiveenvironmental.ca/collective-environmental-news/bimaazh-project-video

This video showcases the collective of personalities working on the Bima'azh project, providing a closer look into the importance that this project holds.