Meet Knowledge Keeper – Denise Douglas
Meet Knowledge Keeper – Denise Douglas Denise is a Stó:lō nation elder…
Knowledge Keepers
A NEW RELATIONSHIP
Nature from the Wisdom of the Knowledge Keepers
The relationship between Indigenous peoples and Nature spans centuries. Yet, this knowledge and wisdom rarely finds its way to popular awareness and culture. With Nature from the Wisdom of Knowledge Keepers, we aim to change that. Indigenous peoples know things about Nature that we don’t. They know about animal knowledge, the workings of Nature, and natural phenomena that even science discovers later, but undoubtedly, the combination of the two disciplines (Nature and science) can enhance and further learnings that were not evident before.
Since 2024 with the generous assistance of the Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia, Jack Gin Family Foundation, Daryl Duke Foundation, and Salal Foundation, Nature Agency partnered with First Nations to help amplify Indigenous knowledge and approaches to Nature that have served them for generations – and that we in BC and Canadian society can begin to learn from and embrace as part of our ongoing heritage, including knowledge inputs for the wellness and sustainability of the land.
We acknowledge that the knowledge shared throughout the stories you will read here, or via the videos produced through this project, Nature from the Wisdom of the Knowledge Keepers, originates from the traditional territories of the Stó:lō Nation, the Sts’ailes First Nation, the WSÁNEĆ Nation – home to Qentəl’ən – the Kitsumkalum Nation, and the Nisga’a Nation. This work and future works exist because Knowledge Keepers, past and present, have chosen to share teachings that belong first to their own Peoples, in their own languages, and on their own lands.
We acknowledge with respect, the knowledge systems that predate and will outlast this project, and for the protocols under which they were shared. We recognize that wisdom offered in generosity creates an obligation in kind, not a transaction concluded once the words are recorded. We acknowledge our responsibility to represent these teachings accurately, in context, and without extraction – carrying forward only what we have been given permission to carry. We ensure the knowledge is presented in service of the communities and ecosystems it describes, not repurposed to serve the project alone. And we maintain an ongoing practice of asking whether this work continues to honour the relationships it depends on, long after publication.
Our gratitude is not a formality. It is the ground on which the project stands.
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We acknowledge with respect, the knowledge systems that predate and will outlast this project, and for the protocols under which they were shared. We recognize that wisdom offered in generosity creates an obligation in kind, not a transaction concluded once the words are recorded.