I was born at Emish [Voisey’s Bay] close to the salt water in Labrador. I was just a little boy when we moved to Upatik [Okpatik Island area]. I spent most of my life with my parents in Upatik, and I still go back to there. Sometimes I visit my father’s campsite, but it’s hard to see it because it’s all covered with grass and moss.

Once, in the summer, we didn’t have anything to eat. One night my father started to sing his traditional song. I didn’t know why he sang it in the night. The next morning it was a very nice day, and the lake where we camped was calm.

Western science and Indigenous worldviews are often seen as incompatible, with the Indigenous view usually being far less valued by society at large. But an inside look at Indigenous ways of knowing shows that they offer unique and dependable insights, in precisely the areas where Western science is often weakest.