Guardians of the earth
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Self-determination Lands, territories and resources First Nations Inuit Métis
How First Nations, Inuit, and Métis are leading environmental stewardship in their communities – and modelling it for the world
Across the country, Indigenous Guardians are playing a pivotal role in environmental stewardship, climate action, and preservation of cultural heritage.
First Nations, Inuit, and Métis have always been caretakers of the land. The Indigenous Guardians initiative supports Indigenous communities to continue and expand this work. First piloted in 2018 by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, the Initiative has made some major leaps forward over the past few years.
These projects support UN Declaration Action Plan Measure 47, which is about Indigenous leadership in conservation through initiatives such as Indigenous Guardians.
Today, roughly 250 Indigenous Guardians initiatives are protecting sensitive areas and animals, monitoring wildlife and waters, running search and rescue missions and maintaining cultural sites in their traditional territories.
In the Arctic, Inuit Guardians are on the frontlines of climate change. Inuit families in Nunatsiavut are monitoring their traditional territories and connecting with culturally important landscapes. They are applying Indigenous and western science to monitor the impacts of warming temperatures.
Photo credit: Nelson Cloud
First Nations Guardians on Mi’kmaq territory doing water sampling in the East Coast.
In northern Saskatchewan, Métis Guardians are monitoring the changing ice and water conditions with technology like ground penetrating radar, and through oral histories passed down from Elders.
This work is crucial to understanding the changing climate and how it’s affecting lands, waters, ice, wildlife, and communities.
And in 2022, long-standing calls from First Nations communities were answered when the First Nations National Guardians Network (NGN) was launched. In 2023, the Indigenous-led NGN took over the management of First Nations Guardians initiatives from ECCC, ensuring stable funding and connecting communities so that Guardians can do more together than on their own. As the world’s first Indigenous-led national stewardship network the NGN is a model for self-determination in action.
- Get the details about Indigenous-led conservation and climate action in Nunatsiavut in this CBC story and in this story from the Indigenous Leadership Initiative
- Learn how Métis Guardians are monitoring ice in this video from the Métis Nation Council: MN-S Guardians - YouTube
- Read about the world’s first Indigenous-led national stewardship network in The Narwhal, CBC, and Radio-Canada (French only)
Contributed by: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Department of Justice Canada
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