HAY RIVER - Environment and Natural Resources Minister Michael McLeod wants to see more traditional knowledge used by industry and government.

"Traditional knowledge is very valid," McLeod said March 23 at a conference hosted by the Dene Cultural Institute on the Hay River Reserve.

Environment and Natural Resources Minister Michael McLeod, left, chats with elder Daniel Sonfrere at a conference on integrating traditional knowledge into environmental assessments and regulatory processes in the NWT. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

The conference discussed how traditional knowledge should fit into environmental assessments and regulatory processes in the NWT.

"I would say traditional knowledge is on par with scientific knowledge," McLeod said, although he noted some people don't consider the two forms of knowledge to be equal. "That's got to change."

The minister said traditional knowledge sometimes goes back much further in time than scientific knowledge. For example, scientific knowledge on some caribou herds in the NWT only goes back as far as the 1980s, while traditional knowledge goes back decades more.

For decades aboriginal people have relied on the land and have an intrinsic connection to the environment, relying on herd migration and seasonal weather patterns for survival.

"The use of traditional knowledge in environmental assessments and regulatory processes that are happening more and more today is very important," McLeod said.

The March 21 to 23 conference brought together governments, industry and regulatory agencies, along with elders, from around the NWT.

Some speakers expressed concern about whether government and industry are giving proper value to traditional knowledge.

Roy Fabian, a former chief of K'atlodeeche First Nation, said elders should be compensated more for their unique knowledge.

For example, he noted a mining company objected to a $25,000 budget for a traditional knowledge study as part of a proposed test mine east of Hay River.

"Somehow it is of less value to industry and government," Fabian said of traditional knowledge.

Another conference participant said traditional knowledge belongs to the Dene people. "It just can't be used for free."

McLeod also said there is an issue of information ownership and how that information should be paid for.

Elders at the conference appeared to view it as a good start in incorporating traditional knowledge into environmental assessments and regulatory processes.

K'atlodeeche elder Daniel Sonfrere said there were a lot of good things discussed at the gathering.

"Everyone is going to suffer the consequences if our land is damaged," Sonfrere said.

Elder Mary Heron of Fort Smith said more such conferences are needed.

"You don't learn everything from one meeting," she said. "You've got to have a lot of meetings to learn traditional knowledge."