Ogwi'low'gwa Kim Recalma-Clutesi

Contributor to the special issue on Ethnobiology Through Song/
CEO Ninogaad Knowledge Keepers Foundation/
Board of Directors APTN
Culture and Heritage Manager

Matriarch, scholar, academic and cultural mentor, traditional knowledge-holder, teacher, writer, filmmaker, community leader, cross-cultural interpreter: these are the many roles of Ogwi’low’gwa Kim Recalma-Clutesi. As a member of Qualicum First Nation, of Kwakwaka’wakw and Coast Salish ancestry, she is deeply committed to helping share Indigenous Peoples’ values and perspectives to the non-Native world, and opening pathways to lasting social and ecological justice. She has devoted her life to upholding traditional Indigenous rights, knowledge, and values, addressing head-on one of the greatest global challenges of our time: loss of cultural diversity and closely related losses in ecological diversity. Working in collaboration with her late husband, Clan Chief Adam Dick (Kwaxsistalla) and other traditionally-trained Elders, Ogwi’low’gwa is ensuring that the rich body of Indigenous knowledge – especially knowledge relating to coastal environments and ecosystem health— remains strong and intact. She works tirelessly to document this knowledge, as well as to reclaim Indigenous peoples’ access to the lands, foods, and customs that have sustained them since the beginning of remembered time.