It might surprise you, but I'm not a scientist. I got 48% in grade 10, and they told me to start another career, so I became a politician.
However, I was an organizer for the Algonquin nation and what I learned very quickly was that knowledge is power, because the only time they ever wanted indigenous information and traditional ecological knowledge, they said, “Here, we'll give you some money. Do some research and then bring it to the table and we'll negotiate.” Who were we negotiating with? We were negotiating with forestry companies, mining companies and hydro companies. The departments were never our friends, but knowledge in the communities was what gave them strength.
How do we ensure that the indigenous research that's being done...? There's the whole question of IP. In the nations, it's collective knowledge. How do you make sure that we are adequately funded, but that we also have provisions to ensure indigenous empowerment in how their research is handled and who benefits from it?