Indigenous engagement and reconciliation: Appearance before the Standing Committee – March 27, 2023
Q1. What is ECCC doing to support Reconciliation?
Mandate letters called on every Minister, including myself, to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples and to work in partnership with Indigenous peoples to advance their rights.
Environment and Climate Change Canada is committed to doing so. The Department actively engages Indigenous peoples and integrates their perspective and Indigenous Knowledge in the development of climate actions and of the National Adaptation Strategy, amongst other things.
ECCC has a new Indigenous Science Division that will work on bridging, braiding and weaving Indigenous Science and Western Science with its work on land, water, and species. This is a progressive step which recognizes the importance of Indigenous Science in the management and conservation of lands, water, and species.
Supporting Indigenous leadership in nature conservation is also part of the Government’s commitment to achieve reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Through initiatives-led area based conservation, Indigenous Partnerships for Species at Risk and the Indigenous Guardians, Indigenous peoples exercise their leadership through on-the-ground stewardship initiatives on their traditional lands, waters and ice to act as the "eyes and ears on the ground".
For example, Indigenous partnerships for species at risk are advancing relationships with Indigenous peoples and supporting the recovery of caribou, wildlife health monitoring, inclusion of Indigenous priorities in multi-species conservation planning, and a new approach to meeting consultation obligations for species at risk. This work is in addition to ongoing mapping, stewarding and restoring species at risk and their habitat on Indigenous lands.
We are also committed to continuing to put in place innovative approaches such as the agreement on collaborative decision making for the Disposal At Sea Regulations with the Tsleil-Waututh [slay-wah-tooth] in British Columbia.
Furthermore, the Government is committed to a federal assessment process that is robust, based on science and Indigenous knowledge, protects our rich natural environment, respects the rights of Indigenous peoples, and supports our natural resources sector.
Q2. How is the government respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act on climate change?
The Government adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act in June 2021. The legislation complements and informs other initiatives underway across Canada with Indigenous partners to close socio‑economic gaps, advance reconciliation and renew relationships based on the affirmation of rights, respect, co-operation and partnership.
References to the principles of “free, prior and informed consent” are embedded in the Declaration. They emphasize the importance of ensuring that there is effective and meaningful participation of Indigenous peoples in decisions that affect them, their communities and territories.
The Government has built the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act into its environmental and climate undertakings. For example, the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, stipulates that the Minister of Environment and Climate Change must take Indigenous knowledge into account when advancing measures for mitigating climate change, such as setting or amending a national greenhouse gas emissions target or an emissions reduction plan.
Since 2016, the Government of Canada has been co-chairing three senior-level, distinctions-based bilateral tables on clean growth and climate change with the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and the Métis National Council, including representative regional organizations. These tables are helping to inform the federal government’s climate actions and better respond to the unique needs and circumstances of Indigenous peoples. Although there is more work to be done, Canada is focused on strengthening relationships and supporting Indigenous peoples in addressing self-determined climate priorities. The Government will continue to position Indigenous climate leadership as a cornerstone of federal climate action and enable the full and effective participation of Indigenous peoples as key partners in advancing Canada’s climate plans.
As announced in the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan and Budget 2022, Environment and Climate Change Canada is working with Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and Indigenous partners to co-develop an Indigenous Climate Leadership Agenda. Over the next two years, engagement with Indigenous peoples across Canada will inform recommendations for building better Indigenous-federal partnerships on climate action, where funding is easier to access and Indigenous peoples are meaningfully involved in the development of policies and legislation, consistent with the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.
Environment and Climate Change Canada is also co-developing with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis three Indigenous Nature Tables to engage national and regional Indigenous partners in broad nature conservation discussions. This engagement jointly supports Indigenous leadership in conservation and Canada’s work to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030 and achieve a full recovery for nature by 2050.
Regarding the right to maintain, control, protect and develop Indigenous Sciences and Knowledge, Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Climate Science 2050: Advancing Science and Knowledge on Climate Change report contained principles jointly developed with National Indigenous Organisation representatives that acknowledge the importance of Indigenous leadership and self-determination in climate change research, the equality of Indigenous Knowledge, and the importance of co-developing knowledge in ways that respect the protocols, laws, and rights of Indigenous peoples.
Q3. How does the government engage Indigenous peoples on climate actions?
Since the launch of the Pan-Canadian Framework in 2016, our government has worked directly with Indigenous partners to identify ways for policies and programs to better support Indigenous peoples and their climate priorities. This has been supported through distinctions‑based senior bilateral tables on clean growth and climate change (Joint Tables) with the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Métis National Council, as well as representative regional organizations. Although there is more work to be done, Canada is focused on strengthening relationships and supporting Indigenous peoples in addressing self-determined climate priorities.
Since the release of the Strengthened Climate Plan, Canada has committed more than $1.9 billion in targeted investments to support Indigenous communities to transition to clean energy, advance nature-based solutions, build new or retrofit green community buildings, promote resilience of health systems, and undertake major disaster mitigation projects. This includes new investments announced in the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan to support Indigenous Climate Leadership ($29.6M) and Indigenous-led clean energy and energy efficiency projects ($180M).
Under the Indigenous Climate Leadership initiative, Canada is working with Indigenous peoples at the national, regional, and local levels to co-develop an Indigenous Climate Leadership Agenda which builds capacity and progressively vests authorities and resources for climate action in the hands of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis and representative organizations.
ECCC regularly engages National Indigenous Representatives to support Canada’s participation in meetings and activities of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This has enabled Canada to promote the importance of including Indigenous people, Nations, and Indigenous Knowledge in mitigation and adaptation action in international fora; as well as to ensure consistent recognition of the disproportionate vulnerability of Indigenous peoples and the Arctic to climate change.
We know partnerships will be the key to achieving Canada’s climate goals and the Government is committed to an ongoing partnership with Indigenous peoples to advance their climate priorities.
Q4. What support is the government providing to Indigenous communities for climate action?
Canada’s Strengthened Climate Plan and the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan committed to supporting Indigenous Climate Leadership, Indigenous-led climate strategies and collaborating on the development of Canada’s first National Adaptation Strategy.
Together with the additional investments made through Budgets 2021 and 2022, Canada’s climate plans include measures that will:
Advance discussions with Indigenous Partners to develop and implement a model of partnership for climate action that empowers self-determined climate action; leverages the transition to a net-zero economy to support efforts toward self-determination and the alleviation of socio-economic inequalities; and supports the expression of Indigenous Knowledge systems in national climate policy ($29.6M over 3 years);
Support clean energy and energy efficiency projects led by Indigenous communities and organizations through a new Indigenous Leadership Fund under the Low Carbon Economy Fund ($180M over 7 years);
Support First Nations and Inuit as they manage the health impacts of climate change, such as the impacts of extreme weather events, and mental health impacts of climate change on youth ($22.7M over five years);
Improve food security in the North, including in Inuit Nunangat ($163.4M over 3 years);
Help transition rural, remote, and Indigenous communities to clean energy ($376.4M over 5 years to help transition diesel-dependent communities to clean energy);
Support greener and more resilient infrastructure, including for large-scale adaptation or mitigation projects ($290M over 12 years);
Triple the net fuel charge proceeds available to Indigenous governments in jurisdictions where the federal backstop applies; and,
Protect biodiversity through the creation of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and partnerships to restore and enhance wetlands, peatlands, grasslands and agricultural lands to boost carbon sequestration (subset of $2.3B over 5 years for conservation, subset of $3.16B over 10 years for nature-based solutions, subset of $631M over 10 years for nature-based carbon sequestration).
Q5. What is the Government doing to support Indigenous-led nature conservation?
Indigenous-led conservation areas are an essential part of Canada’s path forward, both for protecting nature and working towards reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.
The Indigenous Guardians and Indigenous-Led Area Based Conservation initiatives recognize the many lessons that can be learned from Indigenous partners when it comes to protecting nature and rely on Indigenous experience and Traditional Knowledge to ensure lands and waters are safeguarded for generations to come.
To date, 51 Indigenous-led projects across the country have received funding to either establish a protected area or undertake early planning and engagement work that could result in additional Indigenous-led conservation areas. Examples include:
Through $5.3 million in funding under the Canada Nature Fund, the Mikisew Cree First Nation and the Government of Alberta have expanded the Kitaskino Nuwenëné Wildland Park’s existing western border. This collaboration expands the park by 1,438 km2 and significantly adds to the largest connected area of protected boreal forest in the world.
In partnership with the Government of Saskatchewan, the Ya’thi Néné will work with neighbouring Athabasca Dene First Nations and communities to protect up to 6,000 km2 by establishing Indigenous Protected Areas in the traditional territory of Nuhenene.
Indigenous Guardians are the “eyes and ears on the ground” in Indigenous territories. They monitor ecological health and protect sensitive areas and species.
Indigenous Guardians initiatives support Indigenous peoples in protecting and conserving the environment, maintaining cultural sites, developing and maintaining sustainable economies, and continuing the profound connections between Indigenous cultures and their lands.
Since 2017, over 173 First Nations, Inuit and Métis Guardians initiatives have been supported by the Government of Canada, with investments totaling $40.5 million.
Some examples of initiatives supported through the Guardians include:
the Tsilhqot’in Guardian Stewardship Program of the Tsilhqot’in National Government enhances the Initiative of Enhanced Nature Legacy by continuing on-the-ground research, monitoring, and patrolling in Tsilhqot’in Territory, while also advancing the establishment of a Guardians Network and building capacity at a community-level through training for Guardians;
the Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources and Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia’s work with member communities to increase capacity to manage and protect natural resources for future generations;
the Pimachiowin Aki World Heritage Site in Manitoba that ensures the collection of information and maintenance of knowledge systems as part of the obligations to UNESCO World Heritage designation while working closely with existing land users;
the Métis Youth Boreal Program of the Manitoba Métis Federation which involves young Métis learning and understanding environmental and ecological protection and preservation through hands-on experiential learning and equips youth to address climate change impacts; and,
the Uumajuit Warden program in Nunavik Inuit communities, that provides employment for wildlife protection, and for conducting environmental and harvest monitoring.
Indigenous partnerships initiatives for species at risk invested over $4.6M in 47 projects in 2020-21 that advanced relationships with Indigenous peoples and enabled the protection and recovery of species at risk. Projects supported Priority Species (caribou) recovery; wildlife health monitoring; including Indigenous priorities in multi-species conservation planning; and a new approach to meeting consultation obligations for species at risk, in addition to ongoing mapping, stewardship and restoration of species at risk and their habitat on Indigenous lands.
Further examples of Indigenous leadership in conservation are the 8 Migratory Bird Sanctuaries and 5 National Wildlife Areas co-managed with Inuit peoples in the Nunavut Settlement Area under the terms of an Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement conserving nearly 95,000 km2 of land and ice with current federal funding of $9.2 million.
Additionally, as announced at COP15, the government is providing funding of up to $800 million to support up to four Indigenous-led Project Finance for Permanence (PFP) initiatives. This could contribute up to 1 million km2 of protected lands and waters in Canada making a significant contribution to area-based conservation targets (30% of lands and oceans protected or conserved by 2030).
Q6. How is Parks Canada working with Indigenous peoples to support reconciliation and the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples?
Parks Canada is contributing to the Government of Canada Action Plan to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples. To date, Parks Canada has proposed five action plan measures, as well as a shared measure with Environment and Climate Change Canada. Ongoing dialogue with Indigenous partners and review of feasibility for any additional action plan measures proposed will determine the final action plan measures.
Parks Canada is committed to implementing the action plan measures in a good way, in full partnership and collaboration with Indigenous partners. This will help ensure that any new approaches are flexible, support local relationships, respect Indigenous cultures, and are appropriate to individual Parks Canada contexts.
Parks Canada is also working more broadly, through a proposed Indigenous stewardship framework, to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Parks Canada is currently engaging with Indigenous partners on the framework at the local, regional and national levels. This broader work will encompass the final action plan measures.
All engagement will be done in an ethical space where knowledge systems interact with mutual respect, kindness and generosity. Allowing the time and space for telling and hearing the truth about past and ongoing injustices is an important part of developing a shared understanding of priorities, opportunities, barriers and a way forward.
Q7. How is Parks Canada engaging with Indigenous peoples to advance Indigenous Stewardship?
As part of the 2023 Minister’s Round Table on Parks Canada, the Minister engaged Indigenous partners, stakeholders, and Canadians on Indigenous Stewardship of Protected Heritage Places. The outcomes of the 2023 Minister’s Round Table will complement other engagement currently underway with Indigenous partners on the same topic. Together, the outcomes of engagement are expected to contribute to ongoing work to develop an Indigenous Stewardship Framework, which the Minister committed to in the 2020 Response to the Minister’s Round Table on Parks Canada.
Q8. What is Parks Canada doing to advance mandate letter commitments to support Indigenous Guardian programs and Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas?
In Budget 2021, the Parks Canada Agency received up to $61.7 Million towards Indigenous Guardians programs at Parks Canada administered places. Through this new initiative, Parks Canada is working with Indigenous partners to enhance the existing seven Indigenous Guardians programs currently supported by Parks Canada, and co-create new Indigenous Guardians programs. By 2025-26, Parks Canada aims to provide funding for between 30 to 35 Guardian programs.
Parks Canada is working with Indigenous partners at Parks Canada administered places to co-develop Guardians programs. This approach reflects the relationships between Parks Canada and Indigenous partners at Parks Canada administered places, and ensures that Indigenous Guardians programs reflect the unique requirements of the particular place and the Indigenous partner.
Stewardship activities that are co-developed with Indigenous partners are flexible, and may include ecological and cultural resource monitoring, restoration, presenting natural and cultural heritage, as well as implementation of Indigenous knowledge and conservations practices, and cultural continuity (e.g., intergenerational knowledge transmission). These initiatives help maintain and revitalize connections with lands, waters, and ice that sustain the systems of knowledge, laws, and governance informing Indigenous stewardship practices. Guardian programs that operate within Parks Canada-administered places will be place-based expressions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis responsibilities to their traditional territories, treaty lands and ancestral homelands.
In the Minister’s Round Table Response, a commitment to identify opportunities to support and advance Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas through dialogue with Indigenous peoples and partners was made. This work is ongoing through both rights-based negotiations as well as in discussions regarding the establishment of new protected heritage places. For example, in partnership with Indigenous governments and organizations, Parks Canada designated the 14,305 km2 core of Thaidene Nene as a National Park Reserve under the Canada National Parks Act in 2019. The entirety of Thaidene Nëné is designated by Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation as an Indigenous Protected Area.
Currently, Parks Canada supports the establishment of new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas through the new park, marine, and Urban Park and Ecological Corridor establishment processes through the co-application approach for an Indigenous-Crown Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area. Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas can be enabled through Parks Canada’s policy and legislative tools and operationalized through shared governance structures.
On February 23, 2022, I signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the President of Nunatsiavut to determine the feasibility of establishing an Indigenous protected area in northern Labrador in the coastal waters adjacent to Torngat Mountains National Park under the Canada National Marine Conservation Areas Act. In addition to conserving biodiversity, protecting this area will contribute to the vitality of Inuit culture and traditions and the well-being of Labrador Inuit, who have been stewards of this region since time immemorial.
Q9. How is the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada working to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples?
An efficient, credible and predictable assessment process that enables inclusive and sustainable economic growth for all Canadians depends on ensuring that the rights of Indigenous peoples—rights affirmed in our Constitution and in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) —are respected and upheld.
The Impact Assessment Act (IAA) is one of the first pieces of federal legislation to specifically articulate our commitment to UNDRIP. Our goal is to secure free, prior and informed consent throughout the impact assessment process for all decisions that affect Indigenous peoples’ rights and interests. The approach to achieving free, prior and informed consent is based on ensuring meaningful and effective participation of Indigenous peoples from the outset.
Provisions in the IAA and supporting policies provide increased opportunities for cooperation and collaboration, including options for co‑development and for the integration of Indigenous-led studies and assessments, mandatory consideration of Indigenous knowledge, and requirements to consider potential impacts on Indigenous rights and culture in assessments and decision-making.
The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada provides funding to support Indigenous participation in project assessments, engagement on policy development, and capacity development.
Indigenous peoples are stewards of this land. Their knowledge and participation play a critical role in fostering sustainability through impact assessments.
Q10. What is the status of Indigenous cooperation agreement regulations?
Indigenous cooperation agreement regulations would allow the government to enter into agreements with Indigenous governing bodies so they may exercise powers and perform duties and functions related to the impact assessment of a designated project under the Impact Assessment Act.
Co-developing these regulations with Indigenous peoples requires adequate time to explore the complex issues involved and consider the views of diverse Indigenous peoples and all those potentially implicated.
As a first step, we are piloting new, innovative approaches with communities such as co-led assessments with the Cree Nation Government for mining projects in the James Bay area of Northern Quebec and co-developing terms of reference with First Nations for a regional assessment in the Ring of Fire region. These experiences will directly support the development of our regulatory approach.
To support co-development of the regulations themselves, the Agency has established a Circle of Experts to provide Indigenous perspectives and co-develop a discussion paper that outlines the range of options and considerations for the regulations and supporting policies.
The discussion paper will support engagement with Indigenous rights-holders and partners, provinces, territories, industry and other stakeholders. These discussions, expected to start in 2023, will inform potential regulations, polices and tools for agreements, and help the Agency identify and prioritize the work that will best meet the needs of Indigenous communities and others.
Q11. How is the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada balancing meaningful consultation with Indigenous peoples with achieving regulatory efficiency?
Meaningful Indigenous participation in regulatory processes and support for project developments is proving to be one of the biggest factors that contribute to timely and efficient project reviews.
The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada encourages best practices and supports timely and predictable project reviews that are based on western science and Indigenous knowledge, protect our environment and respect the rights of Indigenous peoples.
The participation of Indigenous peoples in the assessment process is critical to fostering sustainability and ensuring comprehensive and credible assessments.
The Agency strongly encourages proponents to reach out prior to the formal impact assessment process starting to identify the potential effects from the proposed project and to identify which Indigenous groups’ rights may be impacted by these effects.
Meaningful and early engagement of potentially impacted Indigenous groups, by the proponent and by the Agency, is key to building consensus and reduces unanticipated issues later in the IA process, supporting an efficient and robust assessment process.
