Dene, Pauquachin, Choctaw and Diné traditional leaders featured in NOVA documentary

Dene, Pauquachin, Choctaw and Diné traditional leaders featured in NOVA documentary

New PBS documentary explores Indigenous knowledge held by culture keepers sharing insight with Western science

The PBS NOVA documentary “Knowledge Keepers” features traditional land-based practices by Indigenous people from First Nations in Canada and tribal nations from the Pacific Northwest, Great Plains and Southwest.

Filmmakers conducted interviews in deeply rural Indigenous communities including the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, the Pauquachin First Nation, Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Navajo Nation.

“My ancestors learned how to live in one of the most extreme places on Earth; the cold north. And if you want to live in this kind of condition here, you have to learn about the environment,” Yellowknives Dene Chief Fred Sangris told NOVA. “You have to learn it, otherwise you won’t survive.”

The documentary is available to watch now online. It premiered on PBS Sept. 23.

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