Blog

Together We Rise!

Envisioning Pathways Forward: Reflections from the First Gathering of the RAD Network

From April 24-27, 2023, the Restore, Assert, and Defend (RAD Network gathered on the unceded and unsurrendered Territory of the Wolastoqwiyik at St. Mary’s First Nation, at Sitansisk (also known as Fredericton, New Brunswick). The intent of the gathering was to foster connections, deepen our understanding of the current context of the work, and co-create a shared vision for the emergent RAD Network.

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Masko Cimankanic Aski IPCA : A Place of Healing and Resurgence

CRP’s first bilingual blog features a story from Maro Adjemian . Maro who shares her reflections on her doctoral research with Atikamekw Nehirowisw as they develop a management plan for an IPCA called Masko Cimankanic Aski, located in Nitaskinan, colonially known as the Haute Mauricie region of Québec.

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Indigenous Women’s Leadership Series: A Celebration of Love and Healing

Starting on International Women’s Day, 2022, and throughout the year, we have had the honour to hold a space to celebrate and learn from Indigenous women who carry, grow, and share love for the lands, waters, and communities they call home. 

Valérie Courtois, a member of the Innu community of Mashteutiatsh, reminded us that one key thing women bring to the world, and to the conservation movement more specifically, is love: “Love for our families, love for communities, love for land, love for language, love for who we are as people.”

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COP 15 – What Does the Land Say?

By Chloe Dragon Smith and Robert Grandjambe

Our little home couldn’t be further from the bustle of Montreal. We live in Wood Buffalo National Park, between the towns of Fort Smith, NWT and Fort Chipewyan, AB. As two young northern Indigenous people, we are working hard to build a life that rehabilitates our ancestral ways, knowledge, and systems

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Sharing a Vision: A Guide for Indigenous Leadership Engaging with Parks Canada’s Management Planning Process

by Kai Bruce

We are excited to announce the release of a guide for Indigenous leadership who are engaging with Parks Canada’s management planning process. This guide aims to inform Indigenous leadership on Parks Canada’s collaborative management planning process for national parks, national park reserves, national marine conservation areas, and national historic sites. 

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2022 Year in Review

Compiled by Elena McCulloch

2022 was a great year for Indigenous-led conservation! In case you missed any of our community's achievements this year, or you would like to look back on and celebrate the work we accomplished, please enjoy this 2022 recap.

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Indigenous Conservation Governance in Southeast Asia: The Case of Salween Peace Park

By Andrew Paul and the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network

The Salween Peace Park, nestled between Burma and Thailand, embodies a commitment to building peace and reconciliation that centres Indigenous self-determination and responsibilities to ancestral territories. Salween Peace Park offers a model for how IPCA governance can be scaled up to entire landscapes and territories. The park continues to shine a light for Indigenous self-determination, peaceful coexistence, and federal democracy in Burma despite ongoing conflict in the region.

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Indigenous-led Land Trusts: An Exercise of Self-Determination

By Leora Gansworth and Ian Attridge

In recent years, more Indigenous individuals and groups are examining and amending the land trust model to advance their community interests. Land trusts may be developed to support self-determination and the resurgence of Indigenous legal traditions, relationships, and priorities, including the land back movement. So how can land trusts be a mechanism for Indigenous self-determination/support visions for Indigenous conservation leadership?

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Indigenous-led Natural Climate Solutions: A Promising Path Forward

By Steven Nitah, David Flood, Leora Gansworth, Mary-Kate Craig, and Lara Powell

There is an opportunity for environmental reconciliation, and for all people to reconsider their relationship with the living Earth. Indigenous-led conservation offers a path forward. One that addresses ecological devastation and envisions a powerfully connected future of living well together.

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CRP
Press Release: IPCA Knowledge Basket

The IPCA Knowledge Basket holds and shares vital resources to support Indigenous leadership in their nature conservation efforts, including the creation of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs).

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Research in Practice: The WISE Lab at the University of Guelph

By Heather Patterson, in collaboration with Dr. Allyson Menzies, Claire Kemp, and Kathryn Yarchuk

Dr. Jesse Popp, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Environmental Science at the University of Guelph founded the Wildlife, Indigenous Science and Ecology (WISE) Lab in order to prioritize Indigenous values and Knowledge Systems in environmental monitoring and management, a sector that is often dominated by Western approaches.

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Notes from the Field: Miawpukek First Nation Land Guardians

By Jessica Lukawiecki

Fieldwork is a pivotal moment in any Ph.D. journey. It is the moment when all of that time spent deep in the literature and archives, all of those theoretical class discussions, all of the preparation and planning, come to life in a dynamic, here-and-now, larger-than-life interaction involving real people’s lives, livelihoods and experiences.

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Cultural Keystone Species Series Part 2: Introducing Cultural Keystone Species

CKS are the salient species that hold up the ecosystems of our territories and significantly shape the cultural identity of our nations. They are often iconic species that have played essential roles in diet, livelihood, traditional medicines, and materials used for clothing, shelter, and tools, and have been featured since time immemorial in the languages, ceremonies, knowledge systems, and narratives that have shaped Indigenous cultures

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Cultural Keystone Species Series Part 1: Introduction to the Cultural Keystone Species Blog Series

This blog series intends to share some reflections and learnings about Indigenous perspectives on species conservation, present frameworks that embody these perspectives, and discuss why Indigenous worldviews and approaches to “conservation” (a word that does not often translate directly to Indigenous languages) should be given equal space in Canadian policy. (Photo Credit: Jessica Lukawiecki)

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2021 Year in Review

By Heather Patterson and Kristy Tomkinson

The Conservation through Reconciliation website is a space for partners and affiliates to share their knowledge, research, and reflections about Indigenous-led conservation and CRP activities.

Highlights from 2021 including written and audio blogs, webinars, and academic articles are summarized within this blog, with links to the full-length versions.

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CRP
Indigenous Rights and Private Land Conservation: Opening the Door to Collective Responsibility

By Larry Innes and Ian Attridge

Our recent report, Respect and Responsibility: Integrating Indigenous Rights and Private Land Conservation in Canada, explores the historical, legal and policy landscape of private land conservation and sets out pathways for meaningful engagement with Indigenous governments and respect for Indigenous jurisdiction.

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