How Indigenous Philosophies Can Improve The Way Canadians Treat Animals

The Indigenous perspective views the relationship between humans and animals as very different from that of modern Western society. Canadians' overlapping attitudes towards animals can greatly benefit animal welfare in a number of areas, including farming, research, and keeping animals as pets.

Teaching these perspectives could also transform undergraduate programs, particularly in animal science and biomedical programs, as well as activism related to climate change and resilience as we pursue reconciliation.

The Campbell Center for Animal Welfare Studies (CCSAW) is a group of faculty, students, and staff at the University of Guelph that works to advance animal welfare through research, education, and outreach.

CCSAW hosted a series of speakers last spring with Canadian senators, academics and Indigenous thought leaders to discuss Indigenous perspectives on animal use in Canada. In particular, he discusses how animal species are seen as close human relationships that deserve respect, kindness, and gratitude from birth to death.

Wild animals that have been hunted

How does viewing animals as intimate relationships affect the actual use of animals in Canada? One way the Senate is considering is to improve the lives of captive wildlife.

First introduced in 2020 by Senator Murray Sinclair (member of Anishinaabe, Peguis First Nation) and reinstated by Senator Marty Klein (Cree Metis) in March 2022, the Jane Goodall Law hopes to provide stronger wildlife protection legislation in the Armenian language. Globalism

The bill, backed by coastal First Nations, aims to provide new legal protections for captured big cats, bears, wolves, seals, sea lions, seals, some monkeys and reptiles. These protections include banning the commercial trade, breeding and purchase of this species.

It will also work to end elephant captivity and roadside zoos in Canada.

The driving force behind these laws are traditional considerations and the recognition that animals, humans, and the environment around us are interdependent.

Now in its second reading with the Senate, this long-awaited bill can take major steps to protect wildlife by safeguarding their welfare through the lens of mutual respect.

"all my relationships"

Where do these values come from?

At the CCSAW event, Jessie Pope, Chief of Indigenous Canadian Environmental Sciences for the Unrestricted Territory of Wikoimkong, explained the concept of "All My Relationships." This indigenous, cross-cultural philosophy is based on respect for all living beings and the responsibilities and obligations inherent in coexistence and all forms of recognition.

In modern settler societies, there is a disconnect between the top-down hierarchical relationship between man and animal and the indigenous perspective that embraces the holistic and circular relationships between humans, animals, and the environment.

This view of humans as separate from nature clashed with Pope's desire to work with animals, leading him to incorporate Indigenous perspectives into Western ways of advancing environmental science and ecology, animal conservation, sustainability, and the movement of the natural sciences toward reconciliation. .

Maintaining an "all my relationships" perspective, many indigenous cultures have strong familial ties to animals. For Elder Wendy Phillips, members of the Bald Eagle, Potawatomi, Ojibwa Clans and Wasaxing First Nations, celebration and generation-to-generation transmission of knowledge are at the heart of her practice.

In group systems, animal bonds assign roles to members of the community. For the Bald Eagle Group, this is a leadership and teaching role. Through the generations, these principles allowed ritual practices to continue through covenants and stable associations.

Mutual respect and reciprocity

But is that far enough? In the case of animals raised for agriculture, the original philosophies of respect, responsibility, and reciprocity are absent from modern practices.

Farm animals are not free to live normal lives, are forced to live in an abnormal social group, and often do not have the ability to turn, fly, or run. They also suffer during transport between farms and slaughterhouses and have a shorter shelf life.

During her CCSAW lecture, Margaret Robinson, Canadian Chair in Reconciliation, Gender and Identity, a First Nations Mi'kmaq from Lenox Island, explained how modern intensive farming practices conflict with Mi'kmaq's core values.

The Mi'kmaq value of laissez-faire directly contrasts with modern agriculture by not respecting animal autonomy. The animals are forced to stay in cages and have their bodies modified.

Mi'kmaq values of respecting the mother as a mother and community leader are also violated in many forms of farming, where the pregnancy is usually forced and the mother is separated from her young child, often soon after birth.

Interaction with animals

Robinson also talks about the connection between the food we buy at the grocery store and the Mi'kmaq tradition of giving thanks at the end of an animal's life. Incorporating these values into current animal husbandry practices can better protect the animal's autonomy through respect and responsibility.

Ethnobotanist Robin Wall Kemmer also discusses this disconnect in our diet in his book Braiding Sweetgrass. he wrote:

"Something broke when the food arrived in styrofoam trays wrapped in slippery plastic, dead animals whose only chance of survival was in cramped cages. This is not a gift of life, this is robbery."

Indigenous perspectives and ways of knowing how to store, use and kill animals should be applied to educate future generations about the use and care of animals, particularly in the livestock sector. Animal welfare researchers are on the right track as they seek to understand the impact and treatment of the animals we use and live with.

Instead of separating ourselves from the world around us, we should remind ourselves that we are related to animals, so we should show them respect and responsibility. As Kimerer says, "Put your supporters first and the world will go on forever."

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Excerpt : How Indigenous Philosophies Can Improve Canadians' Treatment of Animals (2022, December 15), Retrieved December 17, 2022, from https://phys.org/news/2022-12-indigenous-philosophies-canadians-animals.html

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