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Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Aotearoa New Zealand GMO Regs to be updated

Continuing the rush of legislative changes in Aotearoa, the Minister for Science released Cabinet papers on GMO regulations. 

Link here 

Māori consultation highlighted the role of wāhine Māori in protecting taonga species, and how the Nagoya Protocols would empower Māori in this space. 

Came to nought.

MBIE has released a vid explainer:



A single regulator is to be established, with technical advice and a Māori advisory committee (MAC). The decision-making process is seen as a technical and scientific process with socio-cultural concerns irrelevant.

The Pant Varieties Act 2022 is offered as a model for Māori engagement; Section 63 has is worth perusing:

Assessment where kaitiaki relationship asserted

In a case where an iwi, hapū, individual of Māori descent, or Māori entity asserts that they have a kaitiaki relationship with the plant species that is the subject of a PVR application, the Māori Plant Varieties Committee must also consider—

(a) whether that person, iwi, hapū, or other entity has demonstrated their kaitiaki relationship with the relevant plant variety and associated mātauranga Māori:

(b) if a kaitiaki relationship has been demonstrated,—

(i) the kaitiaki’s assessment of the effect of a grant of the PVR on their relationship; and

(ii) any agreement to mitigate adverse effects reached between the breeder and the kaitiaki; and  

(iii) whether there is any evidence that the parties have not acted in good faith during their engagement (if any).

Friday, July 12, 2024

Keep on Truckin'

 I'm what some call a 'qual', relying on qualitative methodologies, but I do love a good spreadsheet.

Here's the ANZ's 'Truckometer', a simply metric that basically counts trucks, heavt trucks in the graph below. Simple and instinctual no? 


What we see is traffice tracking down wehich is a lead indicator for GDP.

Heavy traffic data (mostly trucks) tends to provide a good steer on production GDP in real time, as it captures both goods production (including agriculture) and freight associated with both wholesale and retail trade. The heavy traffic index slumped markedly in June, with the 5.2% fall unprecedented outside of lockdowns.

Hard rain's gonna fall...


Thursday, June 08, 2023

Bioprotection Aotearoa

Bioprotection Aotearoa is one of those research centres in Aotearoa NZ reframing how it engages with Māori. The short clip below gives an outline of their pitch. What is important to note is that Māori are no longer willing to be used for decoration; the old 'dial a powhiri' approach is exactly that, old!

 



Saturday, May 20, 2023

Long time, no see

It's been rough and rocky travelin'But I'm finally standin' upright on the groundAfter takin' several readingsI'm surprised to find my mind's still fairly sound


So sung the great American philosopher, Mr. W. Nelson (born 1933) who according to many t-shirts said that if marijuana was a gateway drug, it better hurry up. 

Anyway, I'm catching up but start by assuming there's still lots going on with the Maori Economy, however one defines and understands that. Going to The Google, I see MFAT provides a short PDF that draws on a CHapman Tripp report valuing the, what, sector? at $50 billion. The research dates back to 2017 - another time in more ways than one - but will serve as shorthand:



Given the changes likely to come to forestry following the slash controversy  and although a recession may now be averted (ironically through extra spending on the Cyclone recovery), Maori employment is - as always - higher than Pakeha and predicted to edge up over th enext year. 

Watch this space...


 

Friday, November 05, 2021

Indigenous Identity Fraud: Too much weights reprise

The recent exposure of Dr. Carrie Bourassa as having Russian-Czech-Polish ancestry and not the Metis-Tlingit-Anishinaabe genealogy she has persistently claimed for two decades has thrown Indigenous academia into turmoil.


This latest case of identity fraud in academia comes close to home for me. The University of Saskatchewan has been my professional residence since 2017. Bourassa was much feted by the University, showered with awards and funding, and assumed a level of seniority, power and influence over significant federal investment in Indigenous health research. (Key in this is the $100m plus for the Network Environments for Indigenous Health Research; I am a Co-PI in the Saskatchewan NEIHR and executive director of the NEIHR National Coordinating Centre). 

There have been accusations of other fraudsters at other Canadian universities, notably Queens. But Bourassa's case has torched a fire of anger and grief that caught the institution flat footed. Fanned by social media - as is the modern way - people leapt to deride universities processes that have seen Indigenous positions given to non-Indigenous people. Many of these have simply applied for a position that did not specifically require an Indigenous appointment; others, like Bourassa, have fabricated genealogies and experiences that pass into cliché and perverse one upmanship of Indigenous trauma.

Dean of the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta. Professor Chris Anderson, has penned a thoughtful and insightful op-ed outlining the issues and ways forward. He identifies two characteristics to Indigenous identity claims in academia: 

"First, they are based primarily on self-identification that sits somewhere on a spectrum from complete dishonesty, to distant archival ancestors, to the family lore of a dark-skinned or high cheek-boned great/grandparent. Second, they involve no ongoing extended familial connection to an Indigenous community."      

The Bourassa Incident will reverberate through academia for some time yet. But the worse impacts will be on the very Indigenous communities, including Indigenous grad students, that Bourassa aped and in doing so, mocked. I met with Carrie several times, including pre-covid, when I could observe her up close and in vivo or should that be in vitro. The overwhelming impression was one of performance, an OTT display of "Indiginess". Draped in a Metis sash, big earrings, often tremulously holding an eagle feather, Carrie seemed as if she was play-acting, a life where everyday was Halloween. Dr. Tracy Bear eviscerates this dress-up as that of a "life-sucking vampire", dismissing accusations that it is a witch hunt as witches never enjoyed the power or wealth of Bourassa. 



There's a lot of healing to be done. I do expect efforts to "follow the money" and shine some sunshine on what are too often opaque processes of appointment and funding. And of course we must have a real engagement with Indigenous communities, in Saskatchewan, across the country called Canada, and indeed the international Indigenous world.

Some readings:
Tuck and Yang (2012): Decolonization is not a metaphor.

Also Albert Memmi on scientific racism. 
Simon Lambert

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