Nancy Turner

Nancy J. Turner, PhD, CM, OBC, FLS, FRSC

Nancy Turner is an ethnobotanist and Distinguished Professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. She is also a Research Associate with the Royal British Columbia Museum. Her research area intersects the fields of botany and ecology and anthropology, geography and linguistics, among others. She is interested in the traditional ecological knowledge systems and traditional land and resource management systems of indigenous peoples, particularly in western Canada. She has worked with and learned from First Nations elders and cultural specialists in northwestern North America for nearly 40 years, with a strong record of collaboration with Indigenous communities to help retain and promote their traditional knowledge of plants and habitats, including traditional foods, materials and medicines, as well as language and vocabulary relating to plants and environment.

She has authored or co-authored over 20 books (most recently, The North American Guide to Common Poisonous Plants and Mushrooms - co-authored with Patrick Von Aderkas; Resetting the Kitchen Table - co-edited with Christopher Parrish and Shirley Solberg; Plants of Haida Gwaii, The Earth’s Blanket, and “Keeping It Living” - this last co-edited with Douglas Deur; and Plants of the Gitga’at People - co-edited with Judith Thompson), over 40 book chapters, and numerous other publications, both popular and academic, in the area of ethnobotany, ethnoecology, traditional ecological knowledge and sustainable resource use in Canada and British Columbia.

She has received a number of awards for her work, including: Richard Evans Schultes Award in Ethnobotany from the Healing Forest Conservancy, Washington DC (1997); Order of British Columbia, and elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (both 1999); Slow Food Award in Biodiversity, Bologna, Italy (2001); Canadian Botanical Association’s Lawson Medal for lifetime contributions to Canadian Botany (2002); UVic’s Alumni Association Legacy Distinguished Alumna award (2003); Lieutenant Governor’s medal for best BC Historical non-fiction of the year (Plants of Haida Gwaii, 2005); Craigdarroch Gold Medal, University of Victoria (2006); William L. Brown Award for Excellence in Genetic Resource Conservation, Missouri Botanical Garden (2008); and Member of the Order of Canada (2009).

Events featuring Nancy Turner:

1. 1.Solo Session 3:15 - 4:15 p.m. Saturday, July 17 at the Back Hall.
   

2. 2.Main Stage Event (Raincoast Culture: Plants, Trees, Myths & Languages, with host Bill Richardson, also featuring Richard Mackie, Robert Bringhurst and Philip Kevin Paul) 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. Friday, July 16 at the Community Hall.