Article content continued

Burelli said in an interview Tuesday that the Feb. 6 letter from Quebec deputy minister Patrick Beauchesne reflects a “racism of intelligence. It is saying we think there is a form of intelligence that is superior, that of science. They are methods developed by the West and so they must take precedence over Indigenous knowledge.”

Traditional indigenous knowledge is already a recognized fact

The same day Radio-Canada first reported on the Beauchesne letter, Quebec environment minister Isabelle Melançon and Native affairs minister Geoffrey Kelley wrote to apologize to Ghislain Picard, Quebec regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations. They said they were “aware and sorry” that Beauchesne’s letter had “raised, as written, many questions among the Aboriginal population.”

The ministers stressed that “Quebec recognizes Aboriginal traditional knowledge” and invited Picard to meet to discuss collaboration on “new ways of doing things.”

The same day, federal environment minister Catherine McKenna declared her intention to push ahead with the legislative changes. “We will advance our commitment to reconciliation, and get to better project decisions by recognizing Indigenous rights, and working in partnership from the start,” she tweeted. “We will make it mandatory to consider Indigenous traditional knowledge alongside science and other evidence.”

Quebec’s Innu chiefs accused Quebec of making “insulting remarks on the value and relevance of First Nations’ traditional knowledge” and of seeking “to limit the role of First Nations in projects.” In an interview this week, Picard rejected the provincial ministers’ offer of a meeting and said their apology was not enough to assuage Indigenous anger.