Episode Details

In this episode, Jenny Yeremiy speaks with Harley Bastien, an environmental consultant and advocate for indigenous wisdom and environmental restoration. Harley shares his deep connection to the land, his experiences growing up with traditional Blackfoot teachings, and his journey through various sectors, including the oil and gas industry, which he left due to its detrimental impacts on the environment. He emphasizes the importance of protecting headwaters, restoring natural landscapes, and integrating indigenous knowledge with western science to create sustainable solutions. Harley also critiques the current education system for perpetuating historical inaccuracies and calls for a shift towards teaching the truth about history and our relationship with the environment. This conversation highlights the urgent need for a paradigm shift in how we view and interact with the natural world, advocating for a holistic approach that respects all of creation and considers the well-being of future generations.

Welcome and Introduction to Harley Bastien

Jenny:

Welcome to The Gravity Well, where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle. Our simple mission is to set aside differences and collaborate through conversation and process. Together we can face our dilemmas and make this world a better place for all. In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge we are in Blackfoot Treaty seven Territory and Metis District five and six lands. We take reconciliation by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life and community. A healthy living relationship with our homeland and each other is our guide. I am down in Piikani Reserve..

Harley:

That’s correct.

Jenny:

…in Southern Alberta with Harley Bastion. Harley and I met back in March at the Beaver Creek Watershed Council meeting, and I was impressed by Harley’s questions in the room.

By the way, Dixon says “hello”. He wasn’t able to join us today. Dixon did a good job in my view of having the right people in the room. He had Indigenous representation, the Hutterite community, all the local residents, experts, and even council members in the room. To me, everybody who should have been there. Check that box. The next thing was the questions. The conversation and the presentations were all that we needed to be talking about. He was talking about all the data that he’s gathered with the community over the last 20 years and how he’s been dedicated, not just him, he makes a point of saying everyone involved in the Beaver Creek Watershed Group, to have important conversations and to make sure that the decisions are being made by the landowners, not by somebody else.

One of the things that Harley said while we were in this meeting is “We can do everything we can, but if our headwaters aren’t protected, this area will suffer.” That is because they had done all this work over the last 20 years to look after their river system and ensure it was healthy, but that isn’t looking after the whole headwaters. I was telling Harley in advance that having these conversations is one thing, but what we’re trying to do in the real world is get to that logic of looking after our headwaters. We want to start restoring the Eastern Slopes as we’ve known since the 1870s, or longer. I’m sure that area is not a place to be developed. It’s a place to be preserved, honoured, and looked after. I look at [the Eastern Slopes] as the taps, this is our water source.

Every time we log, we’re shutting off the water. Every time we put a coal mine in, we’re polluting that water. Every time we put a road in, we are adding sediment to our rivers. All of those are adding to the issues we want to reverse. In the world of assumptions, I’m here to speak with someone with a lot of knowledge in this area and where we should be headed. In what ways we can repair the landscape? This is an open-ended dis