Read the Canadian Mountain Network’s (CMN) new Annual Report showcasing unique projects and initiatives led by both Indigenous Knowledge Holders and Western scientists working together for the benefit of mountain peoples and places.
This Annual Report for 2021-22 highlights some of our many successes and introduces our vision for the future as it is laid out in our new Strategic Plan that will guide our work from April 2022 until March 2024.
The projects and initiatives highlighted in this Annual Report are living examples of how CMN is uniquely executing its progressive research agenda and supporting Canada to fulfil its national and international commitments. Our approach is crucial at a time when reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples is a top national priority. Our work is also urgent at a time when Canada’s mountain systems are undergoing rapid and uncertain change due to climate change, land use changes, and biodiversity loss.
CMN’s impact over the past year goes far beyond our excellence in mountain ecosystems research, as the relevance of that work is increased through multiple ways of knowing, seeing and doing. As a result, we have significantly contributed to the process of reconciliation by enabling environmental science and knowledge to inform policy and decision-making that better reflects the diversity of knowledge systems in Canada.
Highlights from the report:
Reconciliation Through Research
CMN’s researchers, both Indigenous and Western, are finding the way to accomplish ‘Two-Eyed Seeing’ — the state of viewing the world through an Indigenous lens with one eye, and a Western science lens with the other. CMN has uniquely created a safe space for all its researchers to collaborate and braid their different knowledge systems.
CMN is committed to advancing and accelerating the process of reconciliation by braiding Western and Indigenous environmental science and knowledge to inform policy and decision-making that better reflects the diversity of knowledge systems in Canada.
Mountains and beyond
As our work has progressed in mountain systems, we have realized that the benefits and value of this work flows beyond mountain landscapes into the valleys, lowlands, and coasts to which mountains are meteorologically, hydrologically, biologically, and culturally connected. Since our launch three years ago, several organizations and agencies have adopted or endorsed our approach and methods. As a result, our impact has already spread to many regions outside of mountains.
Our research
Over the past year, CMN has funded 24 research initiatives across Canada, including seven innovative Knowledge Hubs and 17 traditional place-based research projects, bringing together a greater number and diversity of participants across a larger region.