How and why we use water — and how we see ourselves in relationship to water — is influenced by various factors, including geography, identity and experience. Our upcoming #CWNSYP webinar series will highlight how different cultures, sectors and users value water in different ways.

In the first episode, Indigenous scholar Joanne Nelson will discuss her PhD research at the University of British Columbia, where she is looking at relationships between urban Indigenous people and water, the transfer and use of traditional knowledge, and Indigenous contributions to water governance. Her upcoming research will seek to understand urban Indigenous people’s relationship to water using methodologies that centre Indigenous voices. Joanne’s field work will include the experience of participating in the annual Coast Salish Canoe Journey. She will discuss the importance of viewing data collection through a cultural lens and describe the mixed-media methods she intends to use. Joanne will also reflect on her own experiences as an Indigenous woman living in unceded Coast Salish territories.

About the speaker

Joanne Nelson is a Ts’msyen woman who grew up in northwestern British Columbia in the communities of Port Edward and Prince Rupert, where she gained a tremendous appreciation for nature and the ocean environment. She is from Lax Kw’alaams on her mother’s side and Kitsumkalum on her father’s side. Her passions include traditional Ts’msyen art forms, as well as the paddle sports of dragon boat and outrigger canoe. Joanne is a third year PhD student at the University of British Columbia with Dr. Leila Harris and Dr. Glen Coulthard, where she is conducting meaningful research with First Nations communities that favour Indigenous ways of knowing and traditional knowledge. Joanne has been an uninvited guest on the unceded land of the Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Skwxwu7mesh, and Tsleil-Waututh people on and off for over 30 years.