The federal government has announced $340 million in new funding over five years to support Indigenous-led conservation and stewardship. This includes more than $173 million for Guardians programs. And it represents a major increase from previous funding for Guardians—up from the $25 million over five years pilot investment in 2017.

Guardians programs help strengthen ourselves and our Nations after decades of colonization. “The mass graves opened up wounds in our own community and across the country,” said Chief Heidi Cook of the Misipawistik Cree Nation in Manitoba. “Maintaining our relationships with the land is healing for a lot of our people. Going back to those natural laws and feeling the love that the land has for us—feeling the belonging in our space—that's the important thing.”

For time immemorial storytelling has been widely utilised as a way of sharing information. From childhood to the moment you are reading this article, your life has been filled with stories. Some are read to you from a teacher or fellow student, some are told to you from an adult, some stories are fiction, some share a lesson or a moral, and some share a little about your history. Stories have been used to share messages, to translate knowledge and to provide learning opportunities. Within Indigenous populations this form of learning and sharing is a critical element that enables knowledge to be passed on from generation to generation.