Nancy Turner and the Work of Preserving Plant Knowledge

Erika Dyck

I had the pleasure of interviewing Professor Nancy Turner over zoom this March. A prolific author, a distinguished ethnobotanist, and recipient of the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada for her work with Indigenous peoples in the Pacific North West, Dr. Turner has had a major influence on how we think about plants and plant medicines. She is the recipient of many awards, honourary degrees and prizes, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She is worthy of all of this and more, in recognition of the decades she has worked with Indigenous elders and knowledge holders, biologists, linguists, students, and friends to catalogue, study, and promote the protection of people and plants. Now in retirement from her position at the University of Victoria, she has added to her “two-volume ethnobotanical tour-de-force” with her most recent (edited) book, Plants, People, and Places (2020)... continue reading.