Community Storytellers
Indigenous stories.
From the land.
Made by Guardians.
The Land Needs Guardians Community Storyteller program is a model of co-creation and capacity building between the Land Needs Guardians campaign and First Nation Guardians on the ground. Our mission is to help advance Indigenous-led conservation initiatives across the country by making sure that Guardians can tell their own stories, of their own experience with land, culture, language, and knowledge, from their own perspective.
What we do
Who we are
Land Needs Guardians is an Indigenous Leadership Initiative (ILI) campaign that is calling for long-term support for Indigenous Guardians programs and Indigenous stewardship. The Land Needs Guardians campaign was launched by the ILI in 2019 to support Guardians and to build on the strength growing up from the land – from youth, Elders and a new generation of leaders who are honouring the cultural responsibility for stewardship. It celebrates and supports Indigenous Guardians programs and Indigenous-led stewardship and draws attention to the growing movement of Indigenous Guardians.
Our mission is to ensure that Indigenous stories are told by Indigenous storytellers to advocate for Indigenous-led conservation. To reach those government decision-makers and their constituents, the Storytellers program creates short, shareable video stories, and then strategically distributes them in sophisticated digital campaigns. These videos focus on Indigenous Guardianship, expertise, leadership, and the impact of their work on the environment, local economies, and Guardians themselves. These stories introduce the people with expert training on the ground, who are fighting climate change and keeping waters clean—all while honouring Indigenous laws and knowledge. These powerful, positive storylines are expanding what conservation looks like in Canada and who the conservation leaders are.
Meet the Storytellers
Amberly Quakegesic, Wahkohtowin
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!
Robby Dick, Ross River
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.
Arial Sanguez, Dehcho First Nations
Twyla Edgi-M, Dehcho First Nations
Tanya Ball, Kaska Guardians
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.
Lisa Shepperd, Kaska Guardians
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.
Charlotte Denny, Unama'ki Institute of Natural Resource
Cody Anderson, Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation
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.
Becky Cook, Misipawistik Cree Nation
Dolcy, Kitigan Zibi
Shauna Yeomens, Taku River Tlingit
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.
