Meet 2 Innu women trailblazers in astrophysics and land guardianship | CBC News

Laurie Rousseau-Nepton says she needs to know the very giant and the very small, and that is why she grew to become the primary Indigenous girl in Canada to earn a PhD in astrophysics. 

Rousseau-Nepton acquired her PhD in 2017 from Université Laval in Quebec City. She mentioned that on the time she wasn’t conscious she was the primary Indigenous girl in Canada to do this.

But she mentioned she did understand that ancestral data from her neighborhood was lacking in the research of the celebs.

“I made it a quest to find it back, to retrieve that knowledge and reconnect it,” Rousseau-Nepton mentioned.

On that quest, she discovered a narrative that confirmed proof of her Innu ancestors observing photo voltaic eclipses.

“I started looking and found a beautiful story about eclipses and those stories really highlighted the fact that our ancestors really had a deep understanding of those phenomena, and to me it was like, eye-opening. I wanted to know more.” 

Rousseau-Nepton, who’s Innu and a member of Pekuakamiulnuatsh First Nation in Quebec, mentioned Indigenous ancestors had a ardour for studying and understanding bodily ideas of the world round them.

She mentioned this dedication to the pure world can contribute to new discoveries in science at present.

“Our identity in studying and learning has to be important … has to take a large space,” she mentioned.

Rousseau-Nepton is an assistant professor on the University of Toronto’s Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics. 

Winner of Shackleton Medal

Valérie Courtois, who can also be Innu from Mashteuiatsh in Quebec, grew to become the third individual to obtain the Shackleton Medal, and the primary Indigenous individual, when she was awarded the prize earlier this 12 months. 

The Shackleton outside clothes firm launched the medal and £10,000 prize in 2022, awarding it for “courage, determination, ingenuity and leadership” in defending the world’s polar areas.

Courtois mentioned she thinks there must be extra Indigenous leaders receiving these kinds of recognition.

“So many deserve this kind of recognition and so it was definitely a humbling experience,” Courtois mentioned.

She is the manager director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, a nationwide community for strengthening Indigenous management as a way to guard land and water.

When requested how successful the medal would impression her work, Courtois mentioned, “I’m hoping that that kind of attention will help galvanize public support for the work that we’re doing.”

Courtois mentioned she sees two pressing and ongoing environmental crises underway: biodiversity loss and local weather change, and one approach to handle them can be to incorporate extra Indigenous views. 

“The best avenue for that action is the empowerment and recognition of the nationhood of Indigenous peoples and the contributions that we can make in decision making and bringing in our values and knowledge systems,” she mentioned.