Aboriginal traditional knowledge and the COSEWIC species assessment process: A study of northern Canada wolverines

The conservation of species is ultimately important to the survival of all life on Earth. Species assessment is one method of species conservation in Canada. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife (COSEWIC) is now required to use the "best available knowledge", which includes scientific, community, and Aboriginal traditional knowledge (ATK) when assessing wild Canadian species. A wolverine ATK study was conducted to demonstrate what kind of information ATK could contribute, and how it could be incorporated into the assessment process. The wolverine ATK study involved gathering ATK through interviews with thirty Aboriginal knowledge holders located in ten different communities across northern Canada. In combination with the wolverine ATK study, a traditional knowledge (TK) questionnaire was also administered to eighteen professionals and academics working in the fields of traditional knowledge and/or species assessment to evaluate the characteristics of ATK and the implications of using such information in the COSEWIC species assessment process. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...