Exploring Theme: "Indigenous Leadership Initiative: Guardians"

Nationtalk: Ottawa: A new national poll shows that the vast majority of Canadians support Indigenous Guardians programs and view Guardians’ work as a cost-effective solution to the challenges of climate change, reconciliation, and nature conservation. Indigenous Guardians are trained experts who care for lands and waters on behalf of their First Nations. They test water quality,...

By Zahra Khozema  Haida harvester and youth program co-ordinator Aadiitsii Jaad (Marni York) surrounded by trees. Photo by John Woodside/Canada’s National Observer  NationTalk: Canada’s National Observer: Over the last few weeks, Canada’s National Observer published reporting from a remote archipelago just off the coast of British Columbia called Haida Gwaii. These islands are home to dramatic landscapes, abundant...

Toronto Star: OTTAWA – On the shores of the eastern arm of Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories, Iris Catholique and the Ni Hat’ni Dene Indigenous Guardians have spent several years watching the ice take longer and longer to form every winter. It’s another sign of climate change and the changing environment in the...

Fighting American colonizers in the 1800s. Setting the foundation for Canada’s first major anti-logging action. Trailblazing tribal parks and sustainable logging practices. How the Tla-o-qui-aht continue to take stewardship of their territory back into their own hands The Narwhal: Saya Masso stands in front of a culturally modified tree, looking up into the canopy which...

The Sahtu ́K’aowe Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area is set to move ahead and conserve the world’s eighth largest lake, after an announcement at COP15 biodiversity conference The Narwhal: The eighth largest lake in the world is one step closer to becoming an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area.  Tsá Tué, or Great Bear Lake, is...

Canada needs to protect more land. There’s 500,000 square kilometres in proposed Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas. So what’s the holdup? The Narwhal: In 2019, three Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas were announced in the Northwest Territories in rapid succession. Since then, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has voiced support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas —...

Feasibility assessment of Seal River Watershed to be informed by Traditional and scientific Knowledge. Canada includes some of the planet’s most significant, fully intact natural spaces. Protecting these areas plays a vital role in conserving natural and cultural heritage and in fighting climate change and biodiversity loss. Today, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment...

The Narwhal: By  Stephanie Wood and  Ainslie Cruickshank A First Nations Guardians Network, announced Friday, is the first of its kind in the world, Valérie Courtois, director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, said. And it’s all thanks to the demands that Indigenous guardians made themselves back in 2014. At that meeting, Indigenous guardians — who steward and monitor their territories...

NationTalk: UN Biodiversity Conference – COP 15 – Montreal, QC – The federal government announced its plan to invest $800 million in four Indigenous-led conservation initiatives across Canada, including a commitment to join our Nations to develop a conservation finance model for the Great Bear Sea today. The Project Finance for Permanence (PFP) is a...

NationTalk: Indigenous Peoples have been caring for the lands and waters of Canada since time immemorial. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis have unique relationships with nature and knowledge of responsible stewardship as a way of life. By working together and supporting Indigenous Peoples in protecting more nature across the country, we are continuing to listen...

A new Indigenous guardian program in the 50,000-square-kilometre Seal River Watershed in northern Manitoba is the next step toward nearly doubling protected areas in the province The Narwhal: It had been a stormy August week in Tadoule Lake, nearly 1,000 kilometres north of Winnipeg. Days of lightning and rain had darkened the skies over the...

Costal First Nations: Coastal First Nations have lived with their bear neighbours, including grizzlies and Spirit Bears, for thousands of years. Today, these ancient stewardship traditions are carried forward with the integrated bear stewardship by Coastal Guardians and their Nations. When provincial laws and management were failing public values and compromising ecosystem health with the...

Government of BC: VANCOUVER – New provincial funding is helping First Nations clean up marine debris along the coast of the Great Bear Rainforest and create opportunities for lasting change through community awareness and education. The Coastal First Nations-Great Bear Initiative received an additional $1 million from the Province’s Clean Coast, Clean Waters (CCCW) initiative, bringing...

The Indigenous Leadership Initiative – is promoting a federally funded, Indigenous-led National Indigenous Guardians Network in Canada that supports development and employment of guardians across the country. This network has generated broad support, including from the Assembly of First Nations which passed a resolution in 2015 calling for a national Guardians program. The movement to create...

For thousands of years, First Nations along the Pacific North Coast, Central Coast, and Haida Gwaii, have worked together to carefully manage an abundance of resources—ancient cedars, herring, salmon, halibut, shellfish and more. Given mounting pressures on coastal territories over the past century, from industrial logging, commercial fishing, tourism and climate change, these Nations agreed...

“The Land Needs Guardians” is a new campaign designed to celebrate and support Indigenous Guardians programs and Indigenous stewardship. The campaign, launching on Wednesday, is part of a larger movement. Across the country, Indigenous Nations are caring for lands, waters and resources. They are delivering proven benefits for their communities and for all Canadians. And...