Our Seasonal Partner Update helps to ensure we’re rising together in the spirit of respect, mutual responsibility, and reciprocity. For Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership members only, these internal newsletters include: 

·       Ongoing and upcoming projects at various phases from Co-Learning Circles and Work Streams 

·       Upcoming communications and knowledge-sharing activities and opportunities to spread the word 

·       Opportunities for collaboration 

·       Information on how members of the CRP family can actively contribute to our collective work. 

These internal updates will complement our seasonal public-facing newsletters which focus on sharing the story of work that has been recently completed. To sign up for the public-facing newsletter, click on the button below:  

Upcoming Knowledge Products for IPCA Knowledge Basket

A Guide for Indigenous Governments to Engage with Parks Canada

Many Indigenous governments are actively engaging with Parks Canada to negotiate and/or renegotiate the governance and management of national parks and heritage sites.

The purpose of this guide is to support the ability of Indigenous governments to participate in management planning with Parks Canada. While there are several types of cooperative agreements Indigenous governments can strike with Parks Canada, this guide focuses on management planning, which is a process each park is legislated to undergo, and which must have Indigenous input.  The guide provides Indigenous governments with clear definitions of key terms and an assessment of what is possible in cooperative management planning with Parks Canada. 

This guide, led and authored by Kai Bruce, is expected to be published in the Fall of 2022.

IPCA Governance Scan

The Conservation Governance Stream will produce an informational resource that explores the multitude of governance arrangements in IPCAs and other Indigenous-led conservation initiatives across Canada to date. We hope to share the possibilities and challenges associated with different governance models to assist Indigenous governments and Nations with IPCAs, or those that are interested in establishing IPCAs, to make decisions around how they'd like to move forward.

This resource, led by Megan Youdelis with support from Justine Townsend and Jonaki Bhattacharyya, is expected to be published in late Fall of 2022.

Federal, Provincial, Territorial Legislation Scan

The Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Legislation Scan provides an overview of the current state of Crown legislation and regulatory mechanisms that may be leveraged to advance Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas across federal, territorial, and provincial jurisdictions. 

This work will complement an earlier report produced by Larry Innes (OKT Law) and Georgia Lloyd-Smith (West Coast Environmental Law) which explored Indigenous laws in the context of conservation.

This report, led by Victoria Kacer, with support from Leora Gansworth, Larry Innes, Matthew Green and other students,  is expected to be published in early 2023.

Contributing to the IPCA Knowledge Basket

On June 20, 2022, we celebrated a milestone for the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership as we launched the IPCA Knowledge Basket.

One of three legacy initiatives of the CRP, The IPCA Knowledge Basket represents the strength and beauty we can create by weaving multiple knowledge systems together. The IPCA Knowledge Basket would not have been possible without the generous contributions of wisdom, knowledge, and stories from Indigenous leaders, governments, and communities.  It was created through the collective vision and efforts of many, including the IISAAK OLAM Foundation, the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, and members of the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership (CRP)

This digital space provides opportunities to harvest, collect, and contribute resources to inform, guide, and catalyze Indigenous-led conservation initiatives, including IPCAS.

In the spirit of ‘we rise together’, we continue to encourage our partners to share and contribute resources to enhance our collective knowledge.  Partners can share directly through the platform by visiting the IPCA Knowledge Basket here: https://ipcaknowledgebasket.ca/engage

New and Ongoing Projects

Digital Storytelling Workshops

The CRP is partnering with IISAAK OLAM Foundation and Re٠Vision Centre for Art and Social Justice to provide a series of digital story-making workshops for representatives from IPCA projects. Participants will learn how to create digital stories, specifically short videos, that weave together personal and communal narratives with photographs, video clips, music, dance and artwork.

The primary goal of the workshop series is to provide a learning opportunity for representatives of IPCAs so they can support ongoing digital story creation for their projects. Some participants may choose to share their stories with the IPCA Knowledge Basket. We are hoping to offer another intake of participants in spring, 2023. If you are interested, please contact crpinfo@uoguelph.ca to learn more. 

Indigenous Carbon Rights and Responsibility

The members of the Carbon Rights and Responsibility Group of the Conservation Through Reconciliation Partnership are meeting to plan a gathering entitles “Envision the Pathways to Indigenous-led Conservation Economies.”

The purpose of the gathering is to call forward the spirit of a collective vision: a future where Indigenous-led conservation economies thrive across Turtle Island, rooted in Indigenous Rights and Responsibilities.

The goal is to bring people together to create tangible plans toward this shared future with actionable pathways to get there together.  The intention of this gathering is to create a space of trust and protection as we come together - a time to plant and build from the many strengths that exist in our communities and Peoples.
Originally scheduled for September 23-25, the gathering has been postponed due to Hurricane Fiona and travel concerns.  The Carbon Rights and Responsibilities Group are coming together to determine how they will work together over the winter and plan a larger gathering to take place in Spring 2023.

Our thoughts are with our partners in the East Coast. We pray for your safety and well-being.

Stay tuned for more announcements and updates.

Indigenous-led Land Trust Toolkit

The community land trust model originated in European legal systems, built on logics of private property and public benefit. Indigenous-led land trusts adapt and reinvent the model in specific ways to exercise expressions of relationship and responsibility. 

This project forms connections among the many networks of Indigenous communities and territories where the land trust model is being utilized or adapted. For Dr. Leora Gansworth, it is an honor to witness the advancement of Indigenous-led conservation and invigorating relationships: among people, and with land, water, and other relatives.

Members of the Indigenous Land Trust Circle are working with partners, including the Nature Conservancy of Canada, to develop materials that will answer common questions and offer examples to support Indigenous communities interested in this approach.

National Parks Audio Storytelling Project

Members of the Conservation Through Reconciliation Partnership are collaborating to produce the Relationships and Reconciliation in National Parks Audio Storytelling Project. This community-led project will feature stories of relationships and reconciliation between members of Indigenous communities and National Parks in a podcast series.

The podcast will include mini-series of up to three thirty-minute episodes from each community. The first two mini-series will feature stories from members of the Hul'qumi'num Lands and Resources Society and the Dënesųłı̨né Métis community about their relationships with Gulf Islands National Park and Wood Buffalo National Park respectively.

The goal of the podcast series is to illuminate the varied experiences that Indigenous peoples have had with National Parks in their territories. This may include stories about the complex histories of the parks, including dark histories of disconnection and the dispossession of land, as well as how Indigenous peoples have navigated relationships with parks and worked to create more equitable relationships that uphold Indigenous governance and legal orders within them.

 Each mini-series is led and recorded by Indigenous community members themselves, with production and editing support from Megan Youdelis and Kristy Tomkinson.

Advanced IPCA Planning Certificate Program

The IISAAK OLAM Foundation has led the design of Canada’s first post-secondary program specializing in planning for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs). The program is currently being offered by Vancouver Island University (VIU) in British Columbia (B.C.).

The Advanced IPCA Planning Certificate will train a new generation of planners with the skills, knowledge, and capacity to support the establishment and stewardship of IPCAs and other Indigenous-led conservation initiatives within the B.C. context.

Students will gain a greater understanding of Indigenous approaches to land relationship planning and the holistic and integrated approach to stewardship that IPCAs represent. They will also gain an increased ability to navigate the interface between Western and Indigenous knowledge systems, laws, and governance systems using frameworks such as Ethical Space and Two-Eyed Seeing.

The certificate includes six distinct and interconnected courses. Course delivery is designed to serve individuals who may be employed full-time and who are seeking ways to advance their learning in areas relating to reconciliation, conservation, and planning. The first course is a field study that is offered as an intensive on-the-land course in Tla-o-qui-aht Territory (Tofino, BC), hosted at the Clayoquot Campus of the Pacific IPCA Innovation Centre on the week of September 26-30, 2022. All the other courses are offered online throughout the year.

A total of 17 founding students have started the program in late September. The program is using the IPCA Knowledge Basket as one of its educational tools to share resources and advance student learning with a Two-Eyed Seeing approach.       

The Advanced IPCA Planning Certificate Program looks forward to welcoming a new cohort next year. For more information, please visit the following websites:

-          https://socialsciences.viu.ca/indigenous-protected-and-conserved-areas-planning

-          https://www.iisaakolam.ca/ipca-planning

A Warm Welcome to New Members!

We would like to extend a heartfelt welcome to the following new students, post-docs, and members of the CRP.

Christie Macdonald

Christie is the Manager of Indigenous-led Conservation with the Nature Conservancy of Canada and is based on southern Vancouver Island. Christie is of settler origin and was raised outside of Toronto, exploring farms and forests along the Oak Ridges Moraine. Trained in biology and geographic information systems, Christie has worked in wildlife research and applied conservation across Canada. Her work has largely centred on adapting spatial technologies and analysis methods to a wide range of environments and purposes. Christie’s work recently supported the creation of Cree-led protected areas in Eeyou Ischee and is currently focused on elevating Indigenous rights and knowledge systems to support the realization of Indigenous visions for conservation.

Rochelle Bloom

Rochelle is a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Victoria. Her research interests include: Cultural Landscapes, Ethnography, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Community Based Conservation.

Sophie Boardman

Sophie is a Master of Environmental Studies student in the School for Resource and Environmental Studies (SRES) at Dalhousie University under the supervision of Dr. Melanie Zurba. Her research will be exploring relationships around the governance of IPCAs across Canada. Sophie’s undergraduate Honours Thesis was invited by the CRP, which explored the Indigenous Circle of Experts (ICE) governance outcomes of social learning through their work with Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs). 

Peter Duker

Peter is a PhD student coming into our department whose work will bridge CRP and Indigenous communities in Thailand he has been working with.

Lauren MacLachlan

Lauren is an incoming Masters student at University of Guelph in the Geography, Environment and Geomatics Department.

Allison Bishop

Allison has started her PhD with the Social Practice and Transformational Change program at the University of Guelph. Through this interdisciplinary program, Allison hopes to describe and define decolonial solidarity with Indigenous-led conservation in Canada and explore how decolonial solidarity can contribute to the transformation of settler-Indigenous relations in Canada. She plans to produce arts-based curricular modules which will be available on the IPCA Knowledge Basket. This work will respond to ICE recommendations to support capacity building in the conservation sector and has emerged, in part, through questions brought forward by members of our partnership.

Allison is continuing in her role as manager of the CRP but will be stepping back to part-time hours.

For information regarding webinars, blogs, and other communications and knowledge mobilization activities, please sign up for and read our external newsletter by clicking on the button below: