Traditional Knowledge
For millennia, our people survived by relying on traditional activities of harvesting and making use of the plants and animals around them: for food, clothing, housing, tools, and entertainment. Our Elders’ carry stories and knowledge gifted from earlier generations. Our stories demonstrate that our history and connection to the Hudson Bay coastal lowlands are a central part of our identity and culture. To this day, community members continue to travel to our coastal areas to carry out the traditional activities that embody our cultural knowledge.
This knowledge is what guides our work to protect our ancestral lands. We aim to build a governance structure for our protected area that is founded in Ininew traditional law and customs.
“The traditional teachings are laws: Laws in relationships (kinship) — how to look after animals, birds, plants, all life, and where they are; Laws with the lands, waters — harvesting properly. That’s how our ancestors ran their lives, and looked after the land and had knowledge of the land and resources.”
“Jurisdictional issues and traditional laws are important, as our ancestors had a plan of living, they were not just nomads. They were able to live off the land. Our laws have worked for thousands of years. We are educated, able to plan, and are moving forward.”
“We have so many social issues in our communities from not knowing who we are, from not being trained on the land (on our history, culture, and language). We have to go back to our sacred lands. We need Traditional Knowledge for our healing and survival. It is our land, we need to preserve it.”
Honouring & Acknowledging Our Knowledge Keepers
Our work is guided by Elders, our knowledge keepers, who keep the traditional knowledge of the Ininiwuk alive and continue to pass it to future generations, our youth. The knowledge of our Elders encompasses the values, beliefs, and customs guiding the social order of the people. Our Elders acknowledge their way of life is changing, and offer wisdom to steward our lands in the modern world.
Elders from our five Nations came together to write the Vision which will be our guide through this project. They continue to guide our work through an Elders and youth advisory circle that grounds our project in both the wisdom of our past, and the energy of our future.
“The Elders that are still alive today, that is where we get our stories from. Everything that they remember and know about. We have to gather those stories. We need all their information about the land, animals, and medicines.”
“It is important to protect our collective history, culture, and knowledge and reclaim sovereignty over our traditional territories.”
– Councillor Louisa Constant, YFFN
“Kanawaynichikewin — Keeping of the land, living with the lands and waters. The ceremony means honouring & acknowledging the Elders that lived before us. We have been in our territory for thousands of years. Individuals are kept by the people; people are kept by the land. We must be kind (kisewatisewin) to the land.”
“We have a powerful story and need to tell it internationally. We know how to survive. The world is hurting today. The world needs to hear our story of resilience and why we are still around. We need to educate all peoples on what happened to Indigenous peoples in Canada, many still do not understand our histories, even our own people.”
– Bishop Isaiah Larry Johnson Beardy, TCN
