Canada’s Goals
Indigenous-led stewardship will help Canada honour its international conservation commitments. Progress is already underway.
The biggest, most ambitious proposals for protecting lands in Canada are coming from Indigenous Nations. Łutsël K’e Dene First Nation has led the creation of Thaidene Nëné in the Northwest Territories, one of the largest protected areas in Canada. The Sayisi Dene First Nation have secured agreement to protect 50,000 square kilometres of the Seal River watershed in northern Manitoba.
Taken together, Indigenous-led proposals could conserve over 125 million acres of Boreal Forest—one of the largest intact landscapes left on the planet.
This Indigenous leadership will ensure Canada meets international targets. In 2015, Canada pledged to protect at least 17% of lands and freshwater by 2020 as part of the effort to stop the dangerous decline in plant and animal species around the globe. It had protected 11.8% by mid-2019.
Supporting Indigenous-led conservation is the most effective way for Canada to achieve its 2020 conservation goals and the next round of international biodiversity commitments. It will also provide a model for the world of a new kind of ethical conservation—one built on respect, Nationhood and partnership.
When the Canadian government announced funding in August 2019 for a series of conservation projects aimed at reaching the biodiversity target, it included support for up to 27 Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas.
Almost nine out of 10 Canadians either strongly support or support the 2010 commitment to protect at least 17% of lands and freshwaters by 2020. And over two-thirds of Canadians favour federal investment in Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and Indigenous Guardians programs, according to an Abacus Data survey conducted for the International Boreal Conservation Campaign.
“Edéhzhíe will be a gift for the future, for people to enjoy 100 years from now, 200 years from now, 300 years from now.”
—Jonas Antoine, Dehcho First Nations
Now it’s time to realize the full potential of this work. Sustained, long-term support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and Indigenous Guardians programs will:
Protect more lands and waters for all Canadians.
Ensure more Indigenous communities enjoy the economic, social and cultural benefits that come with managing the land.
Help Canada reach its goal of protecting at least 17% of lands by 2020.
Demonstrate that conservation and reconciliation can go hand-in-hand.
“What inspires me is something we can hand down, something that can be a legacy for our young children. I’d like to play a part in building a different way of taking care of Mother Earth.”
—Gordon Planes, T’Sou-ke First Nation
In the News
The Original Stewards
By Kate Allen - Science and Technology Reporter
Toronto Star
July 2, 2019
The Seal River flows undammed across Manitoba’s far north, where the thick spruce and tamarack of the boreal forest thin out into vast, rocky tundra. It is one of the last great truly wild rivers in Canada, as distant from Winnipeg and the prairies as Chicago is from Alabama.
The boreal forest is North America’s bird nursery — and we must protect it
Jeff Wells and Frits Reid - Contributed to The Globe and Mail
June 28, 2019
Canada is not immune to the global biodiversity crisis. A new report on the state of Canada’s birds that shows perilous declines in birds from a wide range of Canadian habitats makes that abundantly clear.
This First Nation has a plan to protect a pristine landscape in northern B.C.
By Chief Myles Manygreyhorses, Dease River First Nation (Good Hope Lake), Deputy Chief Fred Lutz Sr., Daylu Dena Council (Lower Post) and Chief Donny Van Somer, Kwadacha Nation (Fort Ware)
The Narwhal
Jun 6, 2019
Earlier this month the United Nations warned the world just how urgent and catastrophic global biodiversity loss is for nature and human life. The outlook isn’t better here in B.C. where we’re bracing for summer droughts and more forest fires, and where resident killer whales and caribou herds struggle to feed themselves and breed.