The connection between plant medi- cine and Indigenous futures, stresses Angus, is fundamental: "Everything that we are and everything that we will be is always land based — our food, our water, our language, our culture. Keeping connected to our plant medi- cines keeps us grounded in our culture." BOTANICAL KNOWLEDGE Leigh Joseph, whose ancestral name is Styawat, is an ethnobotanist, researcher, activist and founder of Sḵwálwen Botanicals, an Indigenous plant-based skincare line. A member of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) First Nation, Joseph’s approach to ances- tral botanical knowledge and busi- ness management is rooted in her Indigenous heritage and its focus on sustainable, responsible practices. “My ancestors have been learning from long-term observation and experimen- tation over thousands of years,” says Joseph. “Indigenous Peoples have always innovated new systems for travel, navigation, food gathering, plant management and increasing produc- tivity — all while maintaining sustainable practices that ensured abundance for future generations." For Joseph, innovation is about creating contemporary applications for ancestral ingredients while main- taining respectful and responsible busi- ness practices. That means ensuring sustainable and transparent supply chains, using environmentally friendly packaging, and refusing to exploit or share culturally sensitive plant information, as well as giving back to the land, Indigenous commu- nities and native plant populations. "Wellness is a rapidly growing industry, and it's important to remember that Indigenous Knowledge is not a trend or a resource to be taken — it is a living system rooted in relationships," Joseph says. "Indigenous plants are deeply connected to land, language, community and responsibility." In a wellness industry that often extracts Indigenous Knowledge without consent, Joseph has built clear boundaries around consent and governance."Indigenous Nations have the right to decide how, when and if their knowledge is shared,” she says. “This includes respecting that some knowledge is not meant to be commercialized and ensuring that Indigenous leader- ship and benefit-sharing are central to any wellness work that draws on these teachings." Joseph describes her work as picking up threads: "I envision the work that I am doing as picking up the threads of knowledge that my ancestors fought to carry forward and contributing to rebuilding and reconnecting with cultural plant knowledge in order to carry it forward for future generations." Ceremony and cultural protocol remind Joseph that business decisions need to be relational, not purely transac- tional. "In Indigenous cultures, cere- mony teaches us to slow down, to be intentional and to consider how our choices affect the land, our communi- ties and future generations," Joseph says. "That perspective influences how we approach everything from sourcing ingredients to the pace at which we grow…. We focus on ethical sourcing, transparency and community accountability. "Land-based practices, like working with culturally important plants, remind us that sustainable futures are not some- thing new — they are ways of living that Indigenous Peoples have practised and protected for generations." Joseph also believes that culturally important plants carry memory. They hold stories of resilience, adaptation and responsibility to future genera- tions: “When we return to land-based practices, we are not only imag- ining better futures — we are remem- bering relationships that have always sustained communities. In that remem- bering, sustainability becomes less about extraction or efficiency and more about reciprocity, care and long-term relationships with the land." SḴWÁLWEN BOTANICALS 48 A CCIB PUBLICATION Winter 2026 INDIGENOUS FUTURISM Photos courtesy of Kaili'i Smith (left) and Li'i Photo (right)
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