Professor Treena Wasonti:io Delormier to chair expert panel on Indigenous science and food sovereignty

The Canadian Council of Academics (CCA) has formed an expert panel to examine how Indigenous science can be supported to advance policy and governance in a way that achieves reciprocal benefits for all people in Canada. Using food sovereignty as a case study, the panel will develop a framework that can be applied across a range of policy issues.

Treena Wasonti:io Delormier, Associate Professor at McGill University's School of Human Nutrition, will serve as chair of the expert panel. Delormier is also Director of the Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment and Scientific Director of the Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Program.

“Indigenous and western science are distinct ways of knowing, but their meeting space can create new perspectives and understandings that could help us to address many of the pressing issues facing us today,” said Delormier. “I’m honoured to lead the panel as we work to answer the vital question entrusted to us.”

As chair, Delormier will lead a diverse, multidisciplinary group of panel members to answer the following question:

How can policy and governance support Indigenous science in a way that advances Indigenous priorities and achieves reciprocal benefits for Canada’s social, environmental, and economic goals?

“We’re delighted Prof. Delormier and the other members of the panel have agreed to take on this critical work,” said Tijs Creutzberg, President and CEO of the CCA. “We look forward to the insights from this report as to how western and Indigenous science can work in conjunction for the betterment of everyone in Canada.”