Perspectives on Biodiversity – Sturgeon Harpoon Knowledge Web

Beaty Biodiversity Museum and Musqueam First Nation, Vancouver, located on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam People, British Columbia

Perspectives on Biodiversity – Sturgeon Harpoon Knowledge Web truly brings history alive. The innovative exhibit explores the complex and sophisticated web of knowledge and relationships that surround any one species or belonging, presenting and preserving a significant part of British Columbia's history and cultural heritage.

According to the Musqueam First Nation, “to Musqueam, a sturgeon is more than simply a sturgeon. It’s an entry point to aspects of language, territory, health, technology, and our society, and the respect and responsibilities that accompany them. It is part of a larger web of mutually dependent knowledge. When a link in this web is broken, it’s a loss to the whole web of knowledge and to our relationships.”

“This exhibition is a living resource and repository for knowledge that can be held and transferred to future generations. As a true living exhibition, sharings from Musqueam knowledge holders will continue to be added to this site, extending this web of knowledge and deepening its impact,” explains Yukiko Stranger-Galey from the Beaty Biodiversity Museum.

Innovation, integrity, impact and inspiration exemplify the ways in which the Beaty Biodiversity Museum and the Musqueam First Nation worked closely together, ensuring that an authentic understanding of the present-day of this way of knowing places it steadfastly in the future.