Indigenous Science at TELUS Spark | Explore Knowledge and Traditions

Reconciliation at Spark

Reconciliation is in the North to represent the mind, and responsible for actionable processes of change through ways of doing. All of whom are within the organization are responsible for looking outwards in all directions, for guidance and openness. 

Honoraria Process

This process brings together the requirements of the CRA with oral teachings, treaty intentions, trust, and relationality.

Indigenous people that are gifting knowledge, art, music, time, ect., should be paid through this reciprocal process.

It is easy to not question standard processes of payment, but communities with histories of distrust, and  weaponizing signatures, it is important to try to find a way to collaborate processes.

Working alongside the Spark Finance Team and the Advisory Circle, we have create a process that supports protocols from many worlds. 

Indigenous languages are verb-based languages which reflects a land-based worldview describing everything as alive. A noun-based language classifies the world as person/place/thing/object, where verb-based languages embrace how all is in flux, in motion, and with a past, present, and future.

Welcoming Words in Local Indigenous Languages

At the front entryway, guests are welcomed in local Indigenous languages, part of an initiative to make communities feel seen and respected.

This installation responds to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action #14, which supports the revitalization of Indigenous languages.

The greetings include:

Oki – Blackfoot

Dādanast’ādā – Dene

Okâch – Îethka Nakoda

Tawâw – Michif

Tân’si (ᑖᓂᓯ) – Cree

These verb-based languages reflect a worldview where everything is alive and in motion—contrasting with noun-based languages like English or French. More than words, they are a way of seeing and being in the world.

  • Kori Czuy
  • ᒥᐦᑯᐱᐦᐁᓯᐤ

Manager, Indigenous Science Connections

Dr. Kori Czuy is Métis/Polish, born in Treaty 8 with Ancestral ties to the Jobin Family of Big Prairie. She has been working in education for over 20 years and in Indigenous Science pedagogy and methodologies for over a decade.

As the Manager of Indigenous Science at Spark she is on an ongoing journey to reconnect with and learn from the knowings of the Land, Cosmos, and Spirit and their origins within science.

  • Alex Flett
  • ᐊᓬᐁx fᓬᐁᐟᐟ

Specialist, Indigenous Science Connections

He is Swampy Cree from Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation in Manitoba.
He comes from a long line of trappers, hunters and fishers. From a young age, he learned to appreciate through living with, and learning from the Land. Inspired to share his knowledge and continue his growth, Alex’s path has led him to bridge Indigenous and Western/Global science perspectives.
His focus now is on ways to connect people with Indigenous science, culture and reconciliation.

  • Brendon Many Bears

Specialist, Indigenous Science Education

Brendon Many Bears is a Blackfoot artist from the Siksika Nation, currently residing in Moh’kinstsis. He finds inspiration through traditional Blackfoot stories, cultural symbols, and history to educate, engage, and bring together communities. He also works to decolonize archaeology, weaving culture, ceremony, and community into a previously extractive process.

Indigenous Science

Experience and learn from the Science of the Land

Land Acknowledgement