In 2006, Dolores LeVangie arrived on Prince Edward Island to start her cross cultural journey as an "Indigenous Economic Development" intern. The Canadian partnernship between the Institute of Island Studies and the Mi'kmaq Confederacy of PEI housed Dolores for the first part of the internship, while the Chilean partner organizations were the Bosque Modelo Chiloe and the Williche Council of Chiefs.
Issues of inclusion and empowerment are critical to the economic development and cultural survival of aboriginal peoples. Reclaiming and protecting indigenous ecological knowledge is an important exercise to provide the basis for a community’s social and economic development. This project explored the traditional uses of seaweed by the Mi’kmaq of PEI and the Williche of Chiloe, Chile. The aims of this research were, to contribute to the programs of two social economy organizations whose goals include economic diversification, and cultural survival of marginalized indigenous communities on PEI and Chile. The means are through 1) documenting community development opportunities based on cataloguing knowledge on indigenous knowledge of marine plants 2) increasing understanding between Mi’kmaq and Williche peoples, as a first stage in development of further projects.
Institute of Island Studies