Focus on Fellows: Mary-Kate Craig

From your experience, how do Western science and Indigenous ways of knowing complement one another – what does that look like in your work?

MKC: I come from a very pure science background - environmental science and chemistry, followed by a Master’s in immunotoxicology. When I entered this work, there was a lot of unlearning that had to happen. The two-eyed seeing approach, which brings together Western and Indigenous ways of knowing, has guided my work, but it required me to open my heart and spirit in ways that are not typical in Western science.

A big part of this work has been about reciprocity, openness, and generosity. It’s also about stretching into spirit and being willing to bring the language of spirit into the work that we’re doing. These are things that Western science doesn’t always recognize or value, but they are essential to moving forward in a meaningful way.

We recently convened a vision gathering for the RAD Network, and it was unlike any gathering I would have organized on my own. There were no PowerPoint presentations. Instead, with the guidance of local Elders, we danced, offered tobacco, sang, and sat in circles. These are practices that people trained in Western science might not know how to approach, but they are crucial to creating meaningful connections and understanding the heart space, not just the headspace. It’s about letting go of the edge of the shore and paddling into the mist, trusting the process even when you can’t see the destination clearly.

At one point in this PhD journey, I wondered if I even would get a PhD out of this, but I’ve come to realize that the process is the result. The gathering, the conversations, the weaving together of people and ideas - that’s the real outcome. It’s about the spirit of the work and honouring that.

What would success look like for you in the future of your work?

MKC: I never imagined at the start that we would create an Indigenous-led network like the RAD Network. But now that it exists, I see how powerful it is. One of the major barriers to Indigenous-led nature-based solutions has been the lack of a network to facilitate learning and sharing across communities. So for me, success would be securing the funding to hire the right people to support the network - elders, project managers, network weavers, and operational staff.

I have a gift for seeing possibilities where others don’t, but I’m not an operations person. What I love is finding core funds and bringing Indigenous people into the network in ways that make sense for them. We’ve done so much with very little, and that’s where support like the fellowship funds come in - it allows people to go on a journey and weave together the threads of something much larger.

How can academic institutions better integrate Indigenous-led approaches into their processes?

MKC: There’s a whole process that’s starting to happen, but academic institutions were formed as part of a capitalist, colonial construct. Their purpose was to create knowledge that supports that system, so we must push the boundaries of what academic processes look like from within.

For example, when embarking on decolonizing research, institutions often ask for a proposal upfront. This doesn’t make sense if you haven’t built relationships with the people or communities you intend to work with. The process needs to be questioned because asking for a proposal before you’ve actually talked to people about what’s needed is counterproductive.

Doing this kind of research in a participatory action framework takes much more time than the typical PhD program allows. Relationships take time. Research needs to benefit the people involved. There are organizations already embodying this - for example, the support I received from WCS Canada through the Weston Fellowship shows how funding opportunities can till the soil of reciprocity and relationships, rather than only funding pre-determined outcomes decided in silos.

I often hear the phrase, "You can’t change the world by doing a PhD." To me, that should be the only reason anyone does a PhD - if we’re not trying to transform the world, then what are we doing? The privilege of being able to inquire deeply into something should be used to push the envelope and cause transformation.

Do you feel hopeful that things are moving in the right direction?

MKC: When I started this in 2017, we were in a very different world. There were no Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) declared back then. We hadn’t formed the Conservation Through Reconciliation Partnership, which allowed for years of conversation to bring something forward. Now, we have over 100 IPCAs, and we have core government funding going towards them.

There are still places where provincial governments don’t support or recognize IPCAs as a pathway, but it’s becoming less and less possible to ignore. Legal systems are strengthening to ensure that Indigenous leadership is what moves forward.

I am working every day with the most incredible group of people who are doing amazing things. Hope isn’t even a strong enough word for what I feel. I’m confident that whatever forces are trying to stop some of these things from happening won’t be able to do so anymore. I feel like there’s a gradual collapse of capitalism and a gradual decolonization happening. It’s going to get loud, and it’s going to fight on its way out, but there’s also this feeling of support coming into this new space. We don’t know what it looks like yet, but we’re uncovering that path, and that feels really exciting to me.

Final Reflections

There are many takeaways and points for further reflection that emerged from our conversation with Mary-Kate: the importance of reciprocity, relationships, and honouring the process of a learning journey, as well as questioning our motivations, perceptions of success, and processes to conduct meaningful and appropriate research.

To address this, Mary-Kate points to shifting our priorities away from research being results-driven to process-oriented. This means pushing the boundaries of what our academic institutional processes look like, forming long-term reciprocal relationships, openness, generosity, and a willingness to bring the language of spirit into the work that we’re doing. -Kate's work is a bright spot example of researchers doing the complex work to implement participatory action decolonizing methodologies, to begin addressing Wong et al (2020) Calls to Action for Natural Scientists.

At WCS Canada, we share Mary-Kate’s hope for an approach to conservation based on partnership and trust, with outcomes that serve both the environment and the needs of the communities we work with.