The Good Life — interrabang

In this first article of a series that we’ll be publishing about understanding local sustainability, we had the fortune to speak with Jacquelyn and Hunter Cardinal. They are a brother and sister entrepreneur team who run Neheyawin, a YEG-based company specializing in Indigenous storytelling and education. Jacquelyn and Hunter sometimes speak about how in order to truly understand something, you have to see it from all sides, from many perspectives - so to begin this series about understanding something as nebulous as ‘sustainability,’ we knew they would be a great place to start.

!?: Jacquelyn and Hunter, thank you for taking time to speak with us. How would you like to introduce yourself?

We’re Jacquelyn and Hunter Cardinal, saāwithiniwak from the Sucker Creek Cree First Nation on Treaty 8, descendants of Jewish peoples with roots in Poland and France by way of Israel and New York.

Jacquelyn: I am an entrepreneur, technologist and storyteller.
Hunter: I am a storyteller and knowledge keeper.

!?: Could you tell us a bit more about Naheyawin?

It’s a storytelling and education social enterprise, which offers sustainable, practical, Indigenous-based solutions for the improvement of diversity and inclusion in businesses and organizations across Turtle Island. And we do this through a storytelling and education approach, informed by a treaty lens.

!?: How do you feel your work relates to sustainability?

Central to all Indigenous knowledge is our understanding of our relationality to land and place. So, from an Indigenous perspective, sustainability is simply a component of living “the good life,” which in nêhiyawêwin (or the Cree language) is miyo-pimâtisiwin. This includes not just our relationship with other peoples, but our non-human relations as well.

Our work, which on the surface may appear to speak more to human-to-human relations, is actually very much about helping people find their way back to this basic understanding that we are all connected to one another and to the land. This sense of connection helps people feel that their place on this land is important. It’s important to their identities and to their wellbeing. This is, in turn, important for the ongoing (and very hard) work of living in balance with each other and the land. This really is sustainability as a whole.

!?: With that in mind, does today’s concept of sustainability, which feels new for so many, come as a surprise to you?

It is definitely a sign of how disconnected we are from our Indigenous roots and these very old ideas of sustainability and balance. This isn’t a new idea. And it’s been around for a long time, for good reason. Connecting back to that concept today, is really important. That idea of connection, that we are the earth, protecting ourself.

!?: What do you think about some of the more well-known sustainability solutions like ‘circular economies’? Is this moving us in the right direction, or is it still missing the mark?

This idea of living in balance is exactly it. As contemporary Canadians, old ideas shouldn’t be discarded because they are old, for something new. Ideas like living in balance, within the boundaries of the natural systems of life, are as relevant today as they ever have been. Circular economies bring that idea back to life today in a way that’s relevant to the modern world.

!?: What’s the biggest challenge to sustainability gaining greater traction in Edmonton and Alberta? Complexity? Understanding?

We hinted at it in our previous answer, but we believe that the siloing of different components of our lives and ourselves from nature is a huge, huge problem. If we continue to see ourselves as fundamentally separate (and often, above) from the lands we lead our lives on, why would we challenge ourselves to do the hard work of seeking balance with the land?

James Clear says in Atomic Habits that, “Behavior that is incongruent with the self will not last.” - and we completely agree. In this way, we believe that people not “buying into” sustainability as a critical part of being a global citizen is a misdiagnosis of the problem. A current lack of truly long-term, generational thinking is another common misdiagnosis of the problem. Or that, at least, it is identifying a downstream symptom of a larger issue. We believe that we have a problem as contemporary peoples of understanding ourselves as a part of a longer story that connects us to our past and to our future. This is why, in our work, introducing new narratives that place ourselves in these greater stories of connection is so critical.

The story, the journey, of being treaty people is the story we strive to share in our work, such that people understand that we have inherited a wealth of knowledge, resources, and love from our ancestors and that we have enormous power and responsibility to make the world a better place for those who have yet to arrive. It’s a generational perspective. When we see ourselves as a part of this story, walking lightly on the earth, putting in effort to help heal the lands that our descendants will inherit, etc. - we are healing ourselves and all of it feels obvious and important. The key after this new narrative is introduced is the regular renewal (or remembering) of this story and our places within it.

!?: What’s the most exciting work being done in the sustainability space locally? Who or what should we be watching?

We’re very excited by work being done to remind people that the land is also right here in our city.

The Kihciy Askiy project is the first urban ceremonial site in Canada. It’s located in the river valley near the Fox Farms centre. Kihciy askiy (meaning “sacred earth” in nêhiyawêwin) will be the first urban-based Indigenous ceremonial site so it is very significant.

The indoor and outdoor space will be programmed, introducing or furthering the cultural learning of Indigenous and non-Indigenous visitors in a land-based environment. We also have a special personal connection to it because the project was initially started over 10 years ago by a group of Indigenous peoples living here in Edmonton, including our dad, Lewis Cardinal. Today, the project is being completed by Elders and the Indigenous Knowledge and Wisdom Centre.

Kihciy Askiy site near Fox Farm in Whitemud Creek Ravine

!?: What do you really hope to see from our community in sustainability moving forward?

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we hope there will be an opportunity for us to see that this crisis has simply revealed an underlying crises facing our communities, and the interconnected nature of our world. We don’t exist separate from each other, anymore than we exist separately from the land. We hope there is learning from this for all of us, and that we can gain strength from it for the hard work ahead.

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