Albert Marshall Joins Plenty Canada Board of Directors

We'd like to take a moment to welcome a new member to our Board of Directors, Elder Albert Marshall, from the Eskasoni First Nation in Unama’ki, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

And, in truly fortuitous timing, we'd also like to congratulate him for receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from Indspire, a national charity dedicated to Indigenous education!

Originally from the Moose Clan of the Mi'kmaw Nation, Albert was removed from his family at a young age and placed in the residential school system in mainland Nova Scotia. As a result of this tragic and unjust experience, Albert sought to reconnect with the culture from which he had been separated, leading to a lifetime of Indigenous learning and advocacy.

Along with decades of cross-cultural work (such as his creation of the Integrative Science Program at Cape Breton University in the 1990s), speaking tours throughout Canada and around the world, and local advocacy (his activities with the Bras d'Or Lake Biosphere Reserve Association), Albert is perhaps best known for being a co-creator of the concept of “Two-Eyed Seeing.”

You may already be familiar with this concept, given that Plenty Canada employs it quite often in its projects. In essence it refers to using a combination of Indigenous and Western knowledge systems in finding solutions to numerous societal, technical, and scientific issues.

​Needless to say, we're absolutely thrilled to have such an influential Indigenous advocate join our board—especially one whose thinking aligns so closely with Plenty Canada's mission statement. Welcome aboard Albert, and congratulations again on receiving such a prestigious award!