A traditional knowledge keeper and a biology professor have joined forces to teach two different ways of learning and knowing science at Vancouver Island University’s Cowichan campus.

Exploring plants and the environment from both Indigenous and Western viewpoints will be the focus of Dr. Suzie Nilson and Stella Johnny from Cowichan Tribes in the new course that started in January.

Johnny has a Bachelor of Arts in First Nations studies from VIU and is currently working on her Masters of Education in Leadership. She said that she is excited to share her traditional plant medicine knowledge with students and the protocols that surround the harvesting of local plants, as well as continuing to learn herself.

“We share knowledge through stories that explain why the plant medicine does what it does, and those stories help us remember,” she says. “Protocol is very important. When you’re harvesting, you need to think about where and what time you’re harvesting, why you’re doing it, and make sure that’s stated clearly before you begin.”