Tsa'walk and T'aaq-Wiihak Ha'wiih: Surfacing Embedded Epistemological and Ontological Presuppositions in Representations of Indigenous Knowledge Systems

In 2009 five Nuu-chah-nulth communities’ fishing rights were affirmed in a provincial Supreme Court case. T’aaq-wiihak nations are mandated to implement Nuu-chah-nulth fishing rights using a management principle “Aquatic resources are managed on an ecosystem basis consistent with the principles of Hishukish Tsa’walk (everything is connected, everything is one) and Iisaak(respect).”   

Hishukish Tsa'walk moves beyond western distinctions between epistemology, ontology and axiology speaking to the practices and techniques of Nuu-chah-nulth identity and subject formation.

Hishukish Tsa’walk insists that everything is connected, the non-physical preceding the physical; this is a practical ontological claim informing identity and subject formation. It challenges the idea of space as a stage, or place as landscape for events, emphasizing practices that traverse between the physical and non-physical. This brings a new set of complex axiological relations into focus when the noun and verb portion of  ‘to fish as formerly’ or to fish for food social and ceremonial purposes, is discussed within the context of consultation and accommodation. 

We propose that few practical improvements in consultation and accommodation can occur if these processes continue to operate without challenging operative western distinctions between epistemology, ontology and axiology and illustrate indigenous alternatives.