Plants, People, and Places

The Roles of Ethnobotany and Ethnoecology in Indigenous Peoples' Land Rights in Canada and Beyond

Nancy J. Turner

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN:
  9780228027485
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Index: Social Sciences

For millennia, plants and their habitats have been fundamental to the lives of Indigenous Peoples - as sources of food and nutrition, medicines, and technological materials - and central to ceremonial traditions, spiritual beliefs, narratives, and language. While the First Peoples of Canada and other parts of the world have developed deep cultural understandings of plants and their environments, this knowledge is often underrecognized in debates about land rights and title, reconciliation, treaty negotiations, and traditional territories.

Plants, People, and Places argues that the time is long past due to recognize and accommodate Indigenous Peoples' relationships with plants and their ecosystems. Essays in this volume, by leading voices in philosophy, Indigenous law, and environmental sustainability, consider the critical importance of botanical and ecological knowledge to land rights and related legal and government policy, planning, and decision making in Canada, the United States, Sweden, and New Zealand. Analyzing specific cases in which Indigenous Peoples' inherent rights to the environment have been denied or restricted, this collection promotes future prosperity through more effective and just recognition of the historical use of and care for plants in Indigenous cultures.

A timely book featuring Indigenous perspectives on reconciliation, environmental sustainability, and pathways toward ethnoecological restoration, Plants, People, and Places reveals how much there is to learn from the history of human relationships with nature.

Contributors include Arthur Adolph (St'at'imc First Nation), Chelsey Geralda Armstrong (Smithsonian Institution), Jeannette Armstrong (Sylix First Nation; UBC Okanagan), E. Richard Atleo (Ahousaht First Nation; UVic), Marlene Atleo (Ahousaht First Nation; U Manitoba), Janelle Baker (Athabasca U), Kelly Bannister (UVic), Michael Bendle (Woodward & Co. Lawyers, Victoria), Ingele Bergman (Sweden), Linda Black Elk (Catawba Nation, USA), Malin Brännström (Sweden), Véronique Bussières (Concordia U), Jeff Corntassel (Cherokee Nation; UVic), Alain Cuerrier (U Montréal; Montreal Botanical Garden), Deborah Curran (UVic), Douglas Deur (Portland State U, USA), Spencer Greening (Gitga'ata First Nation; P.E. Trudeau Scholar; SFU), Marianne Ignace (Secwepemc First Nation; SFU), Chief Ronald Ignace (Secwepemc First Nation; SFU), Justine James (Quinault Nation, USA), Leigh Joseph (Squamish First Nation; UVic), Dana Lepofsky (SFU), John S. Lutz (UVic), Darcy Mathews (UVic), Letitia M. McCune (BotanyDoc LLC, Tucson), Aaron Mills (Couchiching First Nation [Anishinaabe], Treaty #3 Territory, and North Bay, Robinson-Huron Treaty Territory; P.E. Trudeau Scholar; McGill), Monica Montgomery (U Hawaii), Monica Mulrennan (Concordia U), Val Napoleon (Saulteau First Nation - Treaty 8; House of Luuxhon, Ganada, Gitanyow; UVic), Lars Östlund (Sweden), Kim Recalma-Clutesi (Qualicum First Nation), David Robbins (Woodward & Co. Lawyers, Victoria), Jacinta Ruru (Maori; New Zealand), Stuart Rush (BC Law Society), Camilla Sandström (Sweden), Pamela Spalding (UVic), John Ralston Saul, CC, OOnt (Toronto), James Tully, FRSC (UVic), Mehana Vaughan (U Hawaii), and William White (Snuneymuxw First Nation).

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• McGill-Queen’s Indigenous and Northern Studies
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Tables and Figures
• Benediction: The Teachings of Chief Kwaxsistalla Adam Dick and the Atla’gimma (“Spirits of the Forest”) Dance
• Preface and Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction: Making a Place for Indigenous Botanical Knowledge and Environmental Values in Land-Use Planning and Decision Making
• Section one – Indigenous Peoples’ Relationships to Plants and Territory in Canada
• Section two – Historical Perspectives on Plant-People Relationships in Canada
• Section three – Ethnoecology and the Law in the International Arena
• Section four – Ethnoecology, Law, and Policy in the Current Context
• Section five – Drawing Strength and Inspiration from People, Plants, and Lands through Justice, Equity, Education, and Partnerships
• Epilogue: Native Plants, Indigenous Societies, and the Land in Canada’s Future
• Contributors
• Index