Hancock, Bronwyn

"The complex and diverse relationships humans maintain with nature are an ongoing and sustained multi-scalar conversation with roots in Indigenous perspectives around the world. The UN’s Harmony with Nature forum is one example of an international forum for this discussion, while there are national-level examples of nature gaining rights status equivalent to humans and animals from New Zealand, Brazil, and India. Canada saw limited progress in this regard lead up to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), who released their Calls to Action in 2015. The TRC specifically identified the post-secondary academy as a site for reconciliation and consideration of Indigenous worldviews (Call to Action #62 and #65), creating an arena and an impetus for the discussion of society’s relationship with nature in the context of post-secondary research, Indigenous worldviews and reconciliation. Research ethics reviews in post-secondary institutions are designed to protect research subjects, specifically humans and animals. However, research ethics is also a potential site of reconciliation, if the research ethics review process expanded to consider the land and the water alongside humans and animals. This holistic consideration of ethics would align with broad Indigenous principals and promote a better understanding of Indigenous worldviews in the context of academic research."--from Summary