"Buffalo are renewal. We know that — it’s baked into who we are."

This week on Explore, David McGuffin sits down with award-winning filmmaker, scholar, and advocate Tasha Hubbard to discuss her latest documentary, Singing Back the Buffalo.

This powerful film delves into the deep, sacred relationship between buffalo and Indigenous Peoples, highlighting how these iconic animals are more than just symbols of the past — they are key to cultural, spiritual and ecological renewal. Singing Back the Buffalo tells the story of the 2014 Buffalo Treaty, an unprecedented agreement now endorsed by over 80 First Nations, committed to restoring buffalo herds to Indigenous lands and traditional territories.

Through a focus on the bison reintroduced to Elk Island, Banff and Grasslands National Parks, Hubbard explores how the return of these herds is helping to heal both landscapes and communities. The conversation touches on the interconnectedness of Indigenous knowledge and Western science, the resurgence of biodiversity and the role of buffalo not just as survivors, but as teachers and guides for a more sustainable future.

Hubbard is a professor at the University of Alberta and a member of Peepeekisis First Nation in Treaty Four Territory. Her award-winning work challenges colonial narratives, centres Indigenous storytelling and envisions hopeful futures grounded in collective memory and resilience.