Shaunna Yeomens is the Senior Land Guardian for the Taku River Tlingit First Nation. A guardian since 2014, she was first connected with the program when she began conducting mine checks. Growing up in the mining town of Atlin, BC, Shauna had limited exposure to her Indigenous heritage. Through the Guardians Program, she began spending time on the land and found a renewed sense of purpose that grounded her in a cultural and spiritual place.

Meet Cody Anderson, who has been a fundamental part of the development of the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (NCN) Guardians Program. Located 70 miles west of Thompson, Manitoba, NCN is home to crystal clear lakes, Boreal Forest, and culturally important lands that are rich in animals and plants.

For Lisa Horsey, Guardian from the Dane nan yḗ dāh Network (Kaska Land Guardians), there is no average day on the job. Some days she finds herself in the office, others she’s out patrolling the land during morel mushroom season, and on some of her favourites she is leading local school kids on water monitoring expeditions.

Tanya Ball has been working with the Dane nan yḗ dāh Network (Kaska Land Guardians) in Lower Post, BC since 2014. Today, she is the Guardian Coordinator for the region, overseeing everything from new guardian training to land management programs. Her favorite days on the job, though? The field work that takes her out on the land.

Meet Robby Dick: traditional land steward for the Kaska Dena Nation in Ross River, Yukon. Robby has been a land steward since 2015. His greatest sense of joy comes from being out on the land, from hunting, and hearing youth and Elders share stories in Kaska around a campfire.

Learning is a central part of Guardianship, and for Amberly Quakegesic, it’s been her favorite part. “That’s the beauty of it - so much diversity,” she said of her work. As a Wahkohtowin Guardian, she works on tree planting and forestry, performs vegetation surveys, gains traditional knowledge from community Elders, and even gets to make something sweet - birch syrup!