Erica's Story

Finishing my professional hockey career, I moved to Vancouver, British Columbia to study Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University and research loggerhead sea turtle movement behavior in Shark Bay, Australia. In Shark Bay, I spent time with Indigenous fishermen and tourism operators, interviewing them and documenting their knowledge about loggerhead turtles. This was an eye opening experience, as the Indigenous knowledge holders shared with me their ways of knowing and being. 

Upon graduating, I began working as a systems ecologist at ESSA Technologies, where most of my projects focused on supporting Indigenous stewardship and marine planning initiatives undertaken by Indigenous Nations with Provincial and/or Federal governments. I worked with Indigenous knowledge holders, and on projects that involved weaving Indigenous and western knowledges. I continue to support projects as an Associate at ESSA. 

My consulting experiences exposed me to ways that knowledge and information inform environmental decision-making. With a desire to further delve into how multiple knowledge systems inform marine planning, I returned to academia to pursue a PhD with Dr. Natalie Ban at the University of Victoria, becoming a member of the Marine Ethnoecology Research Group. I am currently a PhD candidate, and my dissertation is focused on understanding how multiple knolwedge systems inform marine planning processes [read more]. I live with my family on Nex̱wlélex̱wem (Bowen Island), where I strive to enjoy and be in service to this place I call home.