She started off playing with her chemistry set in grade four and now she teaches chemistry to students. Dawn Pratt grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, and she’s from a community called Muscowpetung Nation, her father’s first nation. Her mother is from a community called George Gordon First Nation. She now lives in Saskatoon where she works as an independent educational science consultant. She has a Masters of Science in chemistry.

Pratt’s main contract right now is with George Gordon First Nation. They asked her to take the science lead for their company called Maskwa Environmental so she’s been doing environmental work. She also works with an environmental engineer doing educational workshops with elementary and high school students in the school in their nation.

When she was in grade four, she played with chemicals in her chemistry set, practicing the scientific method on her own. In high school and university, she focused on math and sciences, especially chemistry. “I found them fun and interesting to learn, and I was so curious about the science world, understanding science concepts in the world, how things happened, or why they happened,” she recalls. She particularly loved learning about chemicals, reading labels with curiosity.

She found herself being pulled towards working with First Nation youth and science camps, going to their communities, doing workshops and education, working with youth, and creating activities.

When she did her masters, her supervisor was Metis from Manitoba, Dr Lee Wilson. When she was done, she got a job doing nuclear waste management policy engagement across Canada. She loved working with, and meeting people, going to communities, and especially working with Indigenous people. Later, she worked with the tribal council with an elder mentor. “After I listened to his teachings, and then the more I worked with schools and teachers and students and looking at the curriculum, and I was working with the elder, and I started to question, ‘Why aren't our elders in our science textbooks?’” she shares.

She saw so many gaps in the curriculum and so much that elders had to offer with their wisdom and their teachings from Indigenous knowledge like the aerodynamics of the tipi, Indigenous star knowledge and teachings related to bison. Those gaps are why she decided to become self-employed as an educational science consultant.

Pratt also saw a great appetite in people to learn the kind of information she was sharing on LinkedIn.

With a strong focus on sustainability and being environmentally friendly, Indigenous knowledge is strongly in demand. “All our practices were sustainable and environmentally friendly and now we’re going back. Now we’re like, ‘Oh, this is important’....We need to listen; we should have been listening to them all along, really,” she reflects.

When it comes to obstacles, it was important for Pratt to go out on her own as an entrepreneur and independent scientist so she can do what she wants, changing lesson plans and connecting scientific concepts to Indigenous worldviews and teachings. “I didn't want to be stuck in a system where I had to follow the system that's been there, and we know the system isn't working, because I've been in education for over 20 years, and not much has changed,” she explains. At the same time, working in communities they don't have laboratory space, equipment, usually, or materials.

Looking back, she wishes she had taken some business education in university, but she was completely focused on the sciences. She would have liked to have taken courses on marketing, branding and how to run a business. She wishes she had been more exposed to running her own business when she was young, like a lemonade stand and that someone had told her to learn a little bit about business. She didn’t even realize the importance of networking, she remembers. “I just totally jumped in with no knowledge of what I was doing, really, only what I wanted to do, but not knowing from a business perspective,” she recalls.

Her advice for students who have to leave home to pursue their education is based on her experience of moving from Regina to Ottawa when she got her job in nuclear waste management policy engagement outreachment. Moving to a much bigger city was scary but also exciting. Learning the bus system, getting to meet new people, flying all over the place was new and fun, while still intimidating. She made friends across the country and now has a background that’s valuable given where she lives. “Enjoy the journey,” she reinforces.

When it comes to balancing her mental health and wellness, Pratt enjoys going for drives. She also likes being outside, observing the animals. She also likes to fly her drone, taking pictures and videos of animals. She loves being in and talking with the community and being out on the land.

Thinking of the time she worked with organizations, she was waiting for them to take the lead but she only really enjoyed her work when she went out on her own. Working independently, she gets to work in community, in the environment, do science, be on the land, watch animals, work with elders and do what she wants to do. “I don’t know what I was waiting for before, I thought maybe they knew more than me… I wish I would have done this sooner,” she reflects.

“To me, the system isn't working, and I thought it would be best if I'm just on my own as an entrepreneur, doing what I love and trying to educate teachers and students on a different way of understanding scientific concepts.”

She finally got her start in 2019, registering her business, learning to design a website, observing other science personalities and businesses to see what they do. Five years later, she has her own contracts and she’s still going strong. She’s also started developing educational products based on her work with her elder Albert Scott.

As far as science centres and resources, she recommends the Science Center in Regina or the Calgary Science Center. There’s an exhibit called Indigenous Ingenuity that is travelling across Canada she recommends. There’s a book of the same name she also recommends.

Starting off playing with her chemistry set in grade four formed the foundation of her love of science, now Dawn Pratt teaches chemistry to students as an independent educational science consultant. She saw the gaps where Indigenous knowledge wasn’t being considered in curriculum and decided to go out on her own and create her own educational products and teachings with an elder to bridge that gap. With no business knowledge, she’s figured it all out from scratch and five years later she’s still going strong with her determination to succeed.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.