Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage

Dr. Marie Battiste is a Mi'kmaw educator and professor in the Indian and Northern Education Program at the University of Saskatchewan. Her historical research of Mi'kmaw literacy and education as a graduate student at Harvard University and later at Stanford University, where she received her doctorate degree in curriculum and teacher education, provided the foundation for her later writings in cognitive imperialism, linguistic and cultural integrity, and the decolonization of Aboriginal education. A recipient of two honorary degrees—from St. Mary's University, Halifax, and from the University of Maine at Farmington—she has worked actively with First Nations schools as an administrator, teacher, consultant, and curriculum developer, advancing Aboriginal epistemology, languages, pedagogy, and research. Her research interests are in initiating institutional changes to decolonize education, language, and social justice policy and power, and in devising educational approaches that recognize and affirm the political and cultural diversity of Canada. She is senior editor of First Nations Education in Canada: The Circle Unfolds (UBC Press, 1995), editor of Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision (UBC Press, 2000), and author of Decolonizing Education: Nourishing the Learning Spirit (Purich Publishing, 2013). She is a board member of the International Research Institute (IRI) for Maori and Indigenous Education in New Zealand and a member of the Board of Governors for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada. In 2008, Dr. Battiste received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation. She is currently Academic Director, Aboriginal Education Research Centre (AERC), College of Education, University of Saskatchewan. James (Sa'ke'j) Youngblood Henderson is Chickasaw, born to the Bear Clan of the Chickasaw Nation and Cheyenne Tribe in Oklahoma. Sa'ke'j is one of the leading tribal philosophers, advocates, and strategists for North American Indians. In 1974, he was one of the first American Indians to receive a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School. After graduation, he sought through scholarship and litigation to restore Indigenous culture, institutions, and rights. In Canada, he served as a leading constitutional advisor for the Assembly of First Nations and the Mi'kmaw Nation, and he is a noted human rights lawyer and member of the Advisory Board of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is currently a member of the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan, and the senior administrator and research director of the Native Law Centre. He is the author of Mi'kmaw Concordat (1997), co-author of The Road: Indian Tribes and Political Liberty (1980), co-author of Aboriginal Tenure in the Constitution of Canada (2000), and co-editor of Continuing Poundmaker and Riel's Quest (Purich Publishing, 1995). His achievements in international and national law have been recognized by being named Indigenous Peoples' Counsel (2005), and receiving the National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Law and Justice (2006) and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws, Carlton University (2007).

• Part I: The Lodge of Indigenous Knowledge in Modern Thought1. Eurocentrism and the European Ethnographic TraditionAssumptions About the Natural WorldAssumptions About Human NatureAssumptive QuandariesThe Ethnographic Tradition2. What is Indigenous Knowledge?Decolonizing the Eurocentric Need for DefinitionsEntering Uncharted TerritoryLocating Indigenous KnowledgeTraditional Ecological KnowledgeThe Transmission of Indigenous KnowledgePart II: Towards an Understanding of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to Their Knowledge and Heritage3. The Concept of Indigenous Heritage RightsInternational Definition of IndigenousIndigenous Knowledge and HeritageSacred Ecologies and Legal CorollariesInterconnected RightsIndigenous Knowledge as Intellectual PropertyIndigenous Legal Systems4. The Importance of Language for Indigenous KnowledgeIndigenous Languages and the Natural WorldThe Eurocentric Illusion of Benign TranslatabilityConsequences of the Eurocentric Illusion5. Decolonizing Cognitive Imperialism in EducationThe School SystemCognitive ClashesDecolonizing the SystemEducational Contexts6. Religious ParadoxesDivine Order and Secular LawCorrecting False TranslationsFreedom from MissionariesSacred Healing SitesTourism, Vandalism, and Problems of PrivacyRight to Harvest and Use Ceremonial Materials in Religious PracticesIndigenous Burial GroundsReturn and Reburial of Ancesters' Remains and Artifacts7. Paradigmatic Thought in Eurocentric ScienceMedical Research and "Biopiracy"Genetic Diversity in Agricultural Biotechnology8. Ethical Issues in ResearchEliminating the Eurocentric Bias in ResearchRCAP Ethical Guidelines for Research in CanadaCanadian Research Councils Policy Statement of Ethical Conduct on Research on Human SubjectsBreaches of Confidentiality of Sacred KnowledgeCommunity Control of ResearchProfessional Organizations and Ethics9. Indigenous Heritage and Eurocentric Intellectual and Cultural Property RightsCulture Versus NatureRecovery of Sacred and Ceremonial ObjectsAuthenticityCommunal Rights to Traditional Designs in Modern ArtworksCultural AppropriationExhibitionsIssues in the Performing ArtsAdvertising Use of Indigenous Peoples and ArtsPart III: Exising Legal Régimes and Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage10. The International Intellectual and Cultural Property RégimeUN Human Rights Conventions and CovenantsThe International Intellectual Property RégimeTechnology, "Know-how", and Trade SecretsInternational Trade and Aid MeasuresProtection of FolkloreSpecial International Instruments Concerned with Indigenous Peoples11. The Canadian Constitutional RégimeInterpreting the Constitution of CanadaIndigenous Knowledge and Heritage as an Aboriginal Right12. The Canadian Legislative RégimeFederal Cultural Property LawFederal Intellectual Property LawFederal Common LawProvincial LawPart IV: The Need for Legal and Policy Reforms to Protect Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage13. Rethinking Intellectual and Cultural PropertyMoral RightsPersonality or Publicity RightsPatents, Trademarks, and Passing OffThe Commodification of Culture14. Current International ReformsUnited Nations Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples (1995-2004)Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (1994)Protecting Traditional Ecological Knowledge15. Enhancing Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage in National LawNational Protection StrategiesFair and Equitable Sharing of BenefitsThe Importance of Indigenous Use and Management of EcosystemsPresent Status of Ecologically Related KnowledgeEffective Protection of Knowledge and Practices16. Canadian Policy ConsiderationsNational Protection StrategiesReport of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal PeoplesOperational PrinciplesCanadian ReformsInternational ReformsPart V: ConclusionAcronymsReferencesActs, Regulations, and GuidelinesLegal CasesIndex