Climate Action Figures

Season 3, Episode 5: Brett

• John Whidden

Share episode

In this final part of the Climate Action Figures series, John Whidden introduces Brett Weighill, a school administrator at Piikani Nation Secondary School. The episode highlights First Nations wisdom in sustainable practices, specifically focusing on a student-led greenhouse project involving traditional plants like sweetgrass. Brett shares his journey from aspiring ethnobotanist to facilitating this initiative, emphasizing the importance of cultural context in environmental research. The episode also features the involvement of Piikani students such as Gracie and MJ, highlighting the significance of integrating cultural education within scientific pursuits.

00:00 Introduction to Climate Action Figures
00:37 QuickFix: Be Food Smart
01:11 Meet Brett Weighill
02:14 Brett's Journey to Piikani Nation
05:35 Developing the Sweetgrass Program
10:39 Challenges and Successes
15:00 First Nations Perspectives on Environmentalism
26:52 The Role of Youth in Climate Action
29:49 Conclusion and Call to Action

https://thenarwhal.ca/piikani-nation-sweetgrass/
https://www.goodplanetproject.com/profiles/resilienceinstitute, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCw7XOesKDM
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1384204/full https://www.facebook.com/people/PBOES/61565067209886/?_rdr, https://piikani.ca/ https://clean50.com/media-release-canadas-top-sustainability-award-releases-list-of-top-25-sustainability-projects-completed-across-canada-over-the-past-2-years/

climateactionfigures@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/climateactionfigures
https://www.instagram.com/climateactionfigures/
https://www.youtube.com/@ClimateActionFigures

Brett:

Hello, I'm Brett Weighill and this is Climate Action Figures.

John:

Hello, and welcome to the final edition of our five part series that explores first Nations wisdom and voices on Climate Action Figures. My name as always is John Whidden, and this week on the show you get to meet Brett, the one who connected us with all of our last four guests.​But first, this week's QuickFix. For this week's QuickFix, we are going back to last season when Twila sent us in this"I love my planet" boxed set of cards. Thanks very much, Twila. And today we're looking at one that says, be food smart. says, did you know that one in five bags that we take home from the grocery store ends up in a landfill? To see how much food you waste and to find ways to avoid it, keep a diary for a week and record all the food wasted in your house. Sounds like a good idea. Thanks for that, Twila, and welcome, Brett.

Brett:

Hello. How's it going, John?

John:

I'm great. Thanks. What do you think about that

Brett:

Uh, I think that is very topical for, uh, some of the stuff that we're gonna talk about today.'cause, uh, you know, part of our whole greenhouse project here at Piikani Nation Secondary School is all about being food smart from, uh, you know, the, the seed to the compost. So the entire cycle of, of food and, uh, the entire cycle of nutrition with our bodies and, and how, you know, we, we take from the land to empower ourselves and then we give back to the land. And, uh, you know, here at the school, we, we really want students to be involved in all processes of the, the food cycle. From growing their own food to processing their own food, storing their own food, and composting, uh, any waste that's left over.

John:

The whole big picture

Brett:

Exactly.

John:

And uh, then we also get into that First Nations, uh, way of looking at things in terms of using everything and being thankful for every part and not wasting, so we let, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Brett, you're a school administrator at Piikani Nation Secondary School, but not a First Nations member yourself. So how did you get connected with the people there?

Brett:

I originally wanted to be an ethnobotanist and, study, you know, traditional plants and medicines, uh, maybe down in the Amazon rainforest. And during my undergrad, I actually had a chance to go spend a, a month down the Amazon. And, um, you know, actually during that. Time I, I got to participate in a, a ceremony with a, a shaman. And, you know, during that, that process I, I kind of received some wisdom that I, you know, didn't really know how to put into my life at the moment. The vision was that, hey, wanting to learn about plants and medicines and protect the environment and everything is all good, but why are you flying all the way down here to, to Ecuador to do that? And, uh, the, the wisdom that I received, um. Was was that I was gonna go come home to Canada and I would be doing ethno botany work here. And in helping you know the people back in Canada, in, in my neck of the woods, I would by proxy, I. Be reconnecting back to, to South America and helping, you know, the people of the Amazon Rainforest and, and Ecuador. Um, and, and so, uh, I finished up my undergrad degree

John:

Just before you go into that, I have to ask if you connected with First Nations people in South America as well.

Brett:

Yeah, I did. So yeah, we were working with, uh, local tribes there. Uh, building. Bath houses washing houses out, out on their traditional territory and then doing an exchange of knowledge. So they were teaching us about their land, uh, their language, their culture, and, and then we were helping teach students English and, and providing, you know, some, uh. Infrastructure for their community to stay, you know, healthy, uh, and safe, uh, in their relationship with water and, and waste. So it was, it was a excellent month. Yeah.

John:

it sounds like quite an experience. Okay, so back to your education

Brett:

Connect to the First Nation people.

John:

People here.

Brett:

So, uh, my professional inquiry project that I did was. Completely based on kind of breaking down the walls of the classroom, breaking down the tyranny of the clock and, and, and really re-imagining, you know, how we view modern education. A big focus on getting out on the land and learning not only from the land's Occupants, the, the animals, the plants, the people that use that land, but also learning from the, the land's timescale, really broadening the, the education, the sense of education beyond the 45 minute class block. And as I gave that presentation, there were some people from Piikani in the room who were, uh, doing some recruiting and said, Hey, we really loved your presentation. We think you'd be a good fit out in Piikani, and we, and we need a science teacher and you're a science teacher, and, I had a choice to make between, you know, going to CCH big Catholic High School teaching science there, which was, you know, kind of my childhood experience or taking. The opportunity, the, the privilege to, to go somewhere new go somewhere unfamiliar and, and put myself into position where I'm gonna get to learn every single day and I'm, I'm gonna get to continue my lifelong educational journey. So, so that's what I went with. I, I decided to go with Piikani.

John:

two weeks ago we spoke with Gracie and heard her story about telling you about collecting Sweetgrass. Why was that important in the in the genesis of this whole Sweetgrass program?

Brett:

So when I first started out Piikani the lands Department head and one of our board of Trustee Elders kind of pulled me aside and said, okay, hey, Mr. New science guy we have a task for you. We want a science program that, you know, allows Piikani students to participate in all the highest levels of scientific research. science fairs, science competitions, research, conferences, workshops, publishing really taking a high level approach to science without departing from Piikani language and culture. So, what what they really tasked me was how can, what do science in a Blackfoot way, how can we do science in specifically a Piikani way? How can we use science in order to protect our language and culture? And we had an abandoned greenhouse that hadn't been used, so It was, let's, let's get this greenhouse going as a space where we can intersect and weave science and Piikani any traditional knowledge. And my first thought, you know, is like, okay, let's plant some rows of vegetables. Let's get some food going for our food program. This'll be easy. Uh, but as the, the project progressed, I realized that I was, you know, kind of falling back onto a European way of looking at the problem and a European way of, of solving the problem. And as I started listening to the elders, and specifically our students too, Gracie, who is very involved culturally her and her family go out and harvest sweet grass for ceremonies and, and braid it and bless it. And, you know, hearing from them. That the traditional medicines are, are becoming harder and harder to find here in the community. And that that is the most important cultural element for them when they're going on the land is, is these specific culturally important plants rather than just any plant. Rather than just finding the, the best carbon sequestering tree in planting it it was what is the the most important plant? And so our project shifted to focusing on sweet grass, mint, tobacco, all of these traditional plants that, uh, were harvested in the area but are becoming increasingly hard to find. through talking with Gracie and her, her telling me her stories about her family and how important Sweetgrass was to her, you know, we, we decided as a team to, to focus on Sweetgrass first in the greenhouse because if we can do it with sweet grass, then we can do it with any other plant down the road. But we're gonna have community buy-in, we're gonna have that cultural buy-in, and our, and our students are actually gonna care about the plants that are growing in the greenhouse because it's important to their, their daily life.

John:

So you're starting with sweet grass, you're gonna move on to tobacco, mint, other, other things. But you're also looking at the carbon sequestration value of each of these. Is that right?

Brett:

One of the, the goals of the project was to produce scientific research and, and actually get a publication that Piikani Nation had authorship and, and copyright of. So, so really it's also pushing the envelope on that nation to nation collaboration, uh, when it comes to environmental research. Rather than having external researchers come in with a plan that was developed off reserve, uh, with goals that are developed off reserve and coming and trying to make it fit in this ecosystem. Our goal was to do a science research collaboration led by the nation from the ground up. we kind of have a economic approach to our environmental issues. So, so we create a, a market for carbon and and you know, the goal is to use monetary incentives to lead people to environmental action or, or initiatives.

John:

I'm just gonna stop you there. That's a really important point I think because the only time we come up with great solutions to the environmental issues we face these days is when they have economic benefit to us. How is that different than the First Nations way of viewing things?

Brett:

Well, so the name of our project which was granted to us by Elder William, big Bull k̇īyǎa•s. And so k̇īyǎa•s means transferring back to the earth in a spirit of reciprocity. And it's kind of the, the Piikani traditional view of, of planting. Or laying seeds into the ground. a lot of people talk that, traditionally Blackfoot people didn't garden or, or didn't farm or didn't do agriculture and that kind of neglects a lot of the, uh, traditional medicine harvesting that was very central to the Piikani people. There, there is a relationship with the plants of the land. It wasn't just the, the bison. But also, you know, there is a long history of of neighboring tribes sharing information around seeds, around cultivation of important plants, as a way to not only build inter-community relations, but also just survive when, when times get very hard.

John:

Now Thomas has told us about how humble and small the program was at the beginning. Mike has spoken a bit about where it's sitting at now, and when you look back at the program, where it's come from, where it is now, where it's going to, what are the great successes in your view?

Brett:

the biggest success and, and you know, I, I've heard Thomas Express this is just that the project has been sustainable and ongoing year, over year, over year. Uh, so, you know, it originally came as an idea in 2019, 2020, we started, you know. Our plans of getting the greenhouse going. Then we were planting the sweet grass in 2021, 2022. We did the research harvest with Agriculture AgriFood Canada. Our, our paper was recently published this year. Last year we expanded from sweet grass into mint and tobacco, which we now have in the garden. Plus we're also growing tomatoes, peas, just lots of, uh, nice pickable vegetables that when the kids are out there interacting with the plants, they can have a quick and easy little snack and learn exactly where our food comes from. But the fact that the program's just going year over year is probably one of the biggest successes. And, you know, Thomas, when we first started, he was, oh, okay, yeah, we're gonna grow sweet sweetgrass whoopty do. I know this projects never last long. And somebody will get bored or this project will fail. And just getting to see him over five years from grade seven to grade 12 involved in the project. It's succeeding. We're going to conferences and other schools are wanting to hear from our students. Different, you know, media and podcasts like yourself are, are wanting to talk to our students and hear about their experience and, and the students start to realize that, okay, maybe there is something valuable here about my culture'cause they're in it every day. They, they live on the reserve. They're smudges every day. To them it's, it's, it's regular. So they're like, why would anybody care? That we are growing sweetgrass or like sweetgrass can help the environment. Why would anybody off reserve even care about that? And as we got to take our kids to these different environmental conferences put on by Inside Education or CPAWS or the Canadian Rockies Youth Network, the kids started to see that they could be leaders in this industry; that people wanted to hear their voice, that people wanted to see their solutions, that you know them planting sweet grass wasn't just some whoopy do little thing, it was actually an an inspiring, innovative solution that other people could replicate. We received the Clean 50 Top Sustainability project of the year beating out projects all across Canada for that same reason, because it was something that's inspiring, innovative, but most important, it's repeatable. We can replicate this in, in different places. Any school, you know, can put into, practice a traditional medicines gardening program, any sort of cultural planting program. You know, to me the real big thing is, environmental solutions that go through culture first. We're not just, putting that culture or the First Nations perspective as a tag on onto our initiatives, but that we're actually developing them through a First Nations involvement in the First Nations land from the ground level. That, that the communities are, are taking a leadership role in these initiatives on their lands and on their traditional territories that extend beyond the reserve right now.

John:

Right. It's not just a checkbox that we lay over top to say, we've done this.

Brett:

Yeah.

John:

congratulations on all those successes and especially on your publication of, of the research. That's a pretty important milestone to reach.

Brett:

you guys can find it in frontiers in microbiology. If you search Sweetgrass Frontiers in microbiology, you'll, you'll see our paper, which gives the carbon profile of sweet grass and the carbon interactions between the soil, the atmosphere and, and the different components of the plant's anatomy. So, very cool.

John:

we will try to put that in the show notes. I'm also going to include in the show notes an article a great article from the narwhal on, on what's going on there. Another one from Resilience Institute. Several. Global stories and there's a YouTube video that I really recommend people watch that gives you a good sense of, of what the program's about. We'll put all those in the show notes so you can, uh, so you can peruse those at, at your leisure. When we talked with MJ last week, in the last few minutes, he said that he's concerned about Blackfoot culture loss, soil degradation, extinction of species. I was just thinking this young man is wise beyond his years. Can you tell us a little bit more about him and his involvement?

Brett:

Yeah, certainly. So, so MJ is, is one of the youngest members of our, uh, outdoor land-based greenhouse team. Uh, so he, he's in grade eight right now Thomas started the program when he was in grade seven, graduated, he's now in university. Gracie is kind of in the middle, uh, coming up and, and she's really engaged in the cultural aspects of things and, and really connecting us to, to that, you know, feminine relation with Sweetgrass. And then MJ is just a young man that has so much experience of living off the land and learning from his elders learning from his aunts and uncles. You know, he, he, he goes out hunting with his family. Uh, we recently had a, a buffalo harvest here at the school, and MJ was the leader leading all of the junior high and high school students through it and, and, you know, tagging right beside his, his grandma and his aunt, as they were explaining how each part of the buffalo was used and, and he was just absorbing it all. Because I think he, he deeply, deeply cares about a relationship with the land. Um, and, and that was another one of the successes with the school is, is providing another avenue for students to have success academically. Kids like MJ learn through, through these hands-on experiences and these stories and these narratives and, working on the Sweetgrass project, watching your plants grow, harvest, return to the land year over year, over year. Someone like MJ. Really extracts the, the wisdom from those kind of long periods. And, and, and he, he really buys in, that this land here, it is gonna be his responsibility one day. And, and that's something that we, we try and impart on our students by, by giving them the responsibility of that entire food cycle, the entire cycle of the medicine growth and harvesting and, and revitalizing and returning it back to the traditional harvest sites. I think he gets that long-term view. And, and it's because he has a relationship with the land that was fostered by. His parents who are connected to the culture and, and you know, environmentalism isn't just about creating a habitat that's healthy and free of humans. It's about creating the habitats and landscapes that allow humans and their culture and their language to thrive.

John:

When we think about all the damage done by residential schools, 60's scoop, et cetera, et cetera, it's wonderful to see some of this healing taking place and reconnection with the land, with, with young people, isn't it?

Brett:

Yeah. And, and you know, we're at a, an interesting state with curriculum and, and the inclusion of First Nations perspectives, first Nations knowledge. And I think it's just really critical that we don't just, plug First Nation languages and words and ideas into Google Translate to make them fit into the Alberta curriculum. I think it's, it's a more difficult task, but it's a more important task for us to, to take concepts of the Alberta curriculum and have them infused through Piikani language and culture through First Nations language and culture, rather than us stuffing their culture into the Western academic system. It's what value from the Western academic system does the language and culture want to take, right? And, and how can they use those tools and strategies under their own priorities, under their own leadership and guidance to solve the problems that are important to them, not necessarily important to the entire world.

John:

I'm reminded of something you said before we started the formal interview and it really struck me, you said and I'll just set this up by saying someone asked me the other day about the term"settler", so I'll define that in case anybody is not totally clear. A settler, meaning someone who's not First Nations, arrived in North America at some point as a settler from Europe, typically. Would you agree with that definition?

Brett:

Uh, Yeah,

John:

You said Indigenous ways are a mirror to help us see the settler bias in us. Tell us a little more about that statement.

Brett:

Well, I would say right now in like modern times, it's, it's almost as if, you know, the political access is situated as settler ways of knowing and Indigenous ways of knowing. And if you are a settler you know, that wants to be an ally and work on these things, a lot of times we, we just say, oh, if I'm opposed to settler ideology, well there, therefore I must be aligned with Indigenous philosophy. But you know. As a settler. There, there are settlers who are across all stripes of the political spectrum. You know, settlers can be progressive, they can be liberal, they can be conservative, they can be anarchist, communist, socialist. I think that when we actually authentically confront Indigenous ways of knowing and, and we try to engage with them authentically and, and earnestly. What happens is the settler biases that we maybe think that we are clear of could just say, oh, I'm, I'm liberal. I'm on this side of the fence. So obviously I don't have any of those conservative colonial biases. Right. Or, well, I'm conservative, so I don't have any of those liberal state centralized authority biases. To me, the First Nations perspective, allows us to reflect on our own stereotypes and prejudices that, that we may have consciously tried to pause, but are still deeply embedded in the way that we think. And, and you know, you mentioned earlier about. Economic solutions to environmental problems to me, I think trying to do this project led through Piikani, revealed to me that the bias towards economic yield and economic profit and, and margins and everything being monetized that exists on both the left wing and the right wing of, of settler ideology. I think that's something that a lot of people are blind to that, the solution can't just be, oh, we're just gonna put up a bunch of windmills and, and, and solar panels on the reserve, and that's gonna solve all the problems. There are settler biases still contained within the environmental movement that a lot of, I think, environmentalists are, are kind of blind to in themselves. And, and that that's something that was revealed to me through my own, you know, approaches to this project thinking, oh yeah, let's just slap some solar panels up and grow some vegetables and because we're making cheaper energy. There's gonna be an energy yield, plus we've got a produce yield and we're, we're gonna be able to start stacking profit into the future. But by thinking that way, we were starting our project off completely on the wrong foot, heading down the wrong direction. So it, we had to completely rewind. Back those, those, environmental solution biases and, and look at the project through a completely different lens. Which is what led us to the, you know, traditional medicines like Sweetgrass.

John:

Biases are so difficult for us to perceive. Figure out, untangle, disentangle

Brett:

and in the western view, especially the scientific view is we have a belief that you can pause them, that you, that you can, you know, separate out and, and then. Just be objective.

John:

Right. I'm clear of that now.

Brett:

Yeah, and, and I, and I don't think that's necessarily possible. I, I think you should contend with your biases and they need to be brought forward, but you don't put them on pause to ignore them. You put them on pause to, to examine them and to, to really contend with them and how they're matching up with the reality you see on the ground.

John:

Recognize them and wrestle with

Brett:

Yes.

John:

right. As best we can.

Brett:

Yeah.

John:

How can settlers, in your view best learn about First Nations culture and traditions and gain some wisdom from their way of seeing the world?

Brett:

I definitely avoid, you know, pan-indigeneity assumptions. So the, the idea, you know, like, oh, I learned something from this tribe over here, therefore I can apply it to these tribes here. Or, or, oh, I, you know, I did some work with this tribe over here, so obviously, you know, this will be accepted with this other clan over here. Every single community and every single individual within every community is unique and individual and has their own perspective and their own value. And, and the best way to gain knowledge is to enter into an authentic relationship of of reciprocity, of, of, friendship, kinship responsibility, showing up. It, to me, it's not something that you can just fly in and extract information. so you really need to just commit part of your, part of your lifestyle and, and part of your perspective to this avenue of Canadian living. We need to see that, you know, we are all treaty people even though we weren't there to sign that treaty, we are still bound by the obligations that were laid out on because it was signed on our behalf by, by the Queen. We're not bystanders, being an ally it's not a badge that you wear. you did this one thing, so now you're an ally for good, right? It's something that you decide and enact and have to do every day, and it's something you're gonna fail at, you're gonna make mistakes. But I think really having the, the confidence to make those mistakes and keep moving forward is. In, in an authentic relationship, it is key. You, you gotta embrace the discomfort. You gotta embrace, you know, being wrong or, or being mistaken. And, and, you know, over many years you'll, you'll get a glimpse into it, a different perspective. Um, but.

John:

And if, and if folks out there are looking for ways to connect, we've had in previous seasons talked with people about First Nations friendship centers. There are always events going on, around communities. Often you can connect into those through your, your local First Nations friendship center or society. I'll just give a little plug to an annual event that you have attended. I just attended for the first time this year. I'm wearing my shirt for it to remind me to plug it. That's the Kainai Ecosphere Protection.

Brett:

Association.

John:

Association. Thank

Brett:

Yeah.

John:

They put on a summit every year in June and it was a wonderful event in terms of experiencing First Nations wisdom and, getting to just be there and, and continue the voyage trying to get a little closer to understanding and, and meshing our, our worldviews

Brett:

Yeah I think a lot of settlers are a bit insecure. They, they, they're worried and nervous, you know, that they won't be welcomed. But in my experience, you know, uh, if you're coming with an earnest desire to learn and, and enter into a relationship, the the communities are, are incredibly welcoming to the point that you start to feel like family.

John:

I'll definitely agree with that because I felt very welcome there and I can't imagine a settler not being welcome there if they have some kind of an open mind as they, as they come in. So another possibility for you, you can look that up next in, next June. We could talk all day. This has been so fascinating and enlightening, but we need to wrap things up. And before we do that, tell us what your climate action is that you chose for us today, Brett.

Brett:

Oh, my climate action planting seeds. That, that's it. try and plant thousands of plants every year. You know, whether that's at my own home garden, whether that's here out on the reserve in our tree planting, initiatives, uh, whether it's just just gorilla wildflower seeding in random places. To me it's, it, the, the adage planting a tree from whose shade you'll never enjoy, you know, it is the one true thing that we can do for environmental action. So it, it, to me, it's all about looking forward and, and, you know, kind of the, the slogan that that revealed itself to me throughout this whole project is that youth are the number one renewable resource and, and focusing on their education and their schooling is, is the, the key to us having a, a climate future. We gotta plant those seeds, whether those are figurative or literal, just planting seeds.

John:

Final question for you, Brett: what gives you hope?

Brett:

It's gonna be a similar answer. The youth. Getting to see all of these different students at these environmental conferences, hearing their passion, seeing the, the eco action projects that they're coming up on their own, leading within their schools and not waiting for the adults of the room to give them permission. That, that gives me hope. And, and you know, even seeing them that they're aware, they're wrestling with climate anxiety. They're wrestling with the, the feeling like this is all on them. Why even try, climate nihilism but they're going to battle with it. and they're accepting the torch. And, the youth of the world give me optimism'cause I get to get to see them and hang out with them every day here in the school. And there's a lot of potential and promise coming up in the world. I'm just glad I get to help be a part of it and, and see it grow.

John:

Well, and we've heard those voices from the youngest MJ all the way up to the teacher to whom you have trusted this program, that must have been difficult for you to hand that baby off to Mike, but you say he is doing a great

Brett:

Mike's doing a great job and, and I'm so excited to hand it off and you know, to me that's part of being real about it being Piikani led and Indigenous led. You know, if I protected it and held that project that as if it was mine I would be betraying what we set out to do in the beginning. So Mike has done a great job taking that project on, doing the composting program with the students, growing our sweetgrass, growing our mint, growing our tobacco, connecting the students with elders so that they can get the ceremonial protocols to properly do this. Yeah, it, it's, it's been wonderful. I can't say enough how grateful I am to have Mike and to have our, our students here in Piikani

John:

And to hear those voices also, of course, Thomas and Gracie. Thank you so much for connecting us with those young people in this Piikani series.

Brett:

I can't wait to see them.

John:

And thank you so much for joining us, taking time out. Someone's knocking on the door, we've heard, so you need to get going. But thanks so much for taking time to join us.

Brett:

Thank you.

John:

Thank you devoted audience member, and I'm gonna challenge you in the name of reconciliation to think of someone you think would enjoy and or benefit from this First Nations wisdom that we've been hearing for the last four and now five weeks. Send them a link to one or all of these episodes and maybe they can get some good out of this as well. we will be back again next week same time, same place to hear from another climate action figure. Until then,

Brett:

Go figures!