Bneshiinyik

Bneshiinyik is how Anishinaabe people know birds. On this episode that marks National Truth and Reconciliation Day, we talk with Joseph Pitawanakwat a young knowledge keeper in search of medicine, names and stories. He talks about how birds are named in Ojibwe and some of the teachings and gifts they share with us. What you will discover in this episode is that language is a key to the knowledge of an organism and how it fulfills its duties and functions on the land.  This knowledge brings you to a good life on the land.

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Joseph Pitawanakwat is an Ojibwe knowledge keeper for ancestral knowledge of plants, medicine and language. He is from Wiikwemikoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island and he is the founder and director of Creator’s Garden, an Indigenous outdoor, and now online, education-based business focused on plant identification, beyond-sustainable harvesting, and teaching every one of their linguistic, historical, cultural, edible, ecological and medicinal significance through experiences. He has delivered presentations and intensive programming to over 100 first nations communities, 20 Universities and 12 colleges, and dozens of various institutions throughout Canada, the United States and beyond. He is uniquely blending and reinforcing that Indigenous knowledge with an array of western sciences.  @creators.garden on Instagram and Twitter. 

Andrea Gress studied Renewable Resource Management at the University of Saskatchewan. She pivoted towards birds, after an internship in South Africa. Upon returning, she worked with Piping Plovers in Saskatchewan and now coordinates the Ontario Piping Plover Conservation Program for Birds Canada. Follow her work at @ontarioplovers

Andrés Jiménez is a Costa Rican wildlife biologist with a keen interest in snakes, frogs, birds and how human relationships are interconnected with the living world. He studied Tropical Biology in Costa Rica and has a Masters in Environmental Problem Solving from York University. He is Birds Canada's Urban Program Coordinator and you can follow him at @andresjimo

Special thank you to Rob Porter from Songbirding podcast for the amazing recording of the Northern Watertursh (Parkesia noveboracensis) and to Jeff Dyck recorder of the American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) uploaded to the fantastic open sound library www.xeno-canto.org