Winter 2022 Edition

Beginning this winter we will be sharing seasonal updates with our partners to help ensure we’re rising together in the spirit of respect, mutual responsibility, and reciprocity. These internal newsletters will 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.

This internal partnership newsletter 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:

Grounding our Work

As the CRP Elder’s Lodge members have reminded us, winter is a time for resting, listening, and learning. The governance they have gifted us asks us to enact the seven sacred laws in the way we carry out our work and the ways that we engage with one another.

As we move into the season of reflection, we ask our partners to consider how the seven sacred gifts show up in your day-to-day work.

What can you learn from bravery?

What are some active steps you can take to embrace bravery?

Announcement

Monica Mulrennan has been leading the Conservation Governance Stream alongside Lisa Young. In this role, Monica brought her extensive experience researching Indigenous rights and interests in coastal and marine portions of Indigenous traditional territories, including Indigenous knowledge, use and stewardship of Indigenous land-sea territories, Indigenous-led strategies of conservation and environmental protection, and local adaptations to environmental change to strengthen our collective work. Monica has taken on the role of Assistant Vice-President Research at Concordia University, which now takes up much of her time. Monica has stepped down from her role as co-lead of the Conservation Governance Stream, but will continue to engage with the stream with a focus on research.We are so grateful for the leadership and vision Monica has brought to our partnership - thank you, Monica!

Melanie Zurba has agreed to co-lead the Conservation Governance Stream with Lisa. Melanie’s has worked collaboratively with Indigenous communities in Canada and abroad on projects focusing on co-management of species and protected areas, shared forest tenure agreements, Clean Environment Commission hearings for water regulation, land use and occupancy mapping studies, food sovereignty, health promotion and wellbeing, and land-based learning and curriculum development. Welcome, Melanie!

New and Ongoing Projects

Thanks to all of you, we have a vibrant, dynamic, partnership united in the goal of supporting Indigenous-led conservation! Below is a brief overview of some of the new or ongoing projects being undertaken by CRP members. If you’re working on similar initiatives and want to learn more, contact crpinfo@uoguelph.ca. 

Legal Scan - domestic law and policy stream

Starting in the new year, the Domestic Law and Policy Stream will bring together Indigenous and non-Indigenous legal scholars, students, and practitioners to create a scan 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.

Indigenous-led Conservation on Fee Simple Lands

Did you know we have an Indigenous Land Trust Circle? The Circle helps promote collaborative learning and dialogue amongst Indigenous Nations, communities, and organizations who are interested in exploring the concept of Indigenous-led land trusts as a possible mechanism to support Indigenous conservation efforts. Contact Ian Attridge or Trish Nash. the co-chairs of the Circle, to learn more.

We are excited to share that Kristi Leora Gansworth (she/her) is joining the CRP family through a postdoctoral fellowship jointly supported by the CRP and the Nature Conservancy of Canada. Kristi Leora, a member of Kitigan Zibi, is an inter-generational Anishinabe beadwork artist & seamstress who also maintains a practice as a scholar, poet, and writer, as well as a researcher in the field of Indigenous geography. All of Leora’s work is formed with the hope of pursuing wellness and care for all Anishinabeg and our relatives. 

Leora will be working closely with the CRP Indigenous Land Trust Circle and students at Osgoode Law School to provide information to Indigenous Nations to help in their decision-making about appropriate conservation mechanisms for their lands. The work will help guide the development of a decolonial model of conservation to support Indigenous led conservation on fee simple lands.

governance scan - Conservation Governance Stream

The Governance Stream will produce an informational resource (or a set of resources) that explores the multitude of governance arrangements in IPCAs across Canada and in some key international examples of Indigenous-led conservation. 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.

Megan Youdelis is a postdoctoral researcher with the CRP, working with the Conservation Governance and International Policy Streams. She compiled and maintains the publicly available Indigenous-led Conservation Reading List, a database of literature housed in the Solutions Bundle and on the CRP website. Her latest research is a collaborative project exploring the establishment of IPCAs for future generations in the face of extractive capitalism (in partnership with Grassy Narrows Indigenous Sovereignty and Protected Area and Dasiqox-Nexwagwezʔan, as well as other academic colleagues within the CRP), published in the Journal of Political Ecology.

Cultural Burning – Indigenous Use of Fire Sharing Circle

The CRP has supported the creation of an Indigenous Use of Fire Sharing Circle in partnership with the Nature Conservancy of Canada, the Assembly of First Nations, Parks Canada, and others. In the coming months, the Sharing Circle will be working with cultural burning practitioners to document and share their stories to help highlight successes and barriers to Indigenous fire practices inside existing state-led protected areas.

building public understanding and support for Indigenous conservation

CRP researcher Dawn Dietrich, PhD, is working with Parks Canada and other partners to conduct research into strategies for building public understanding and support for Indigenous conservation approaches and decolonizing parks in different jurisdictions across​ Canada. This research project has included a ​systematic review of ​the literature, including (but not limited to) behaviour change strategies in conservation. Dawn also conducted interviews with Parks Canada field units and partner Indigenous organizations who are using communications tools to build support for Indigenous-led conservation. The research phase of this work is winding down - stay tuned for the detailed report coming soon!

Dawn ​(she/her) is a queer, settler, ​critical social scientist, educator and activist working in solidarity with Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island. Dawn grew up learning from the lands and waters ​of the Saukiing Anishnaabekiing (Saugeen Ojibway Nation territory). Today, she calls the ancestral lands of the Attawandaron people and the treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit home. Most days you can find her traipsing through the forests, playing in the rivers, writing about and fighting for the rights of Indigenous peoples, the land and water.

ipca creation guide

The CRP is excited to share that we’re developing an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCA) Creation Guide. The illustrated guide is intended to support Indigenous Nations and communities on their journeys to create IPCAs. Containing a series of reflective questions and examples from Indigenous Nations and territories across Turtle Island/Canada, the guide covers key themes related to IPCA establishment. We are grateful to the Leadership Circle and numerous CRP partners who shared insights and examples with us as we co-developed this resource. Nicole Burton Illustrations created the beautiful images that are central to this guide. We are hoping the guide will be available in the coming months – stay tuned!  

Justine Townsend, PhD Candidate at the University of Guelph, has been coordinating this project. Justine is a political ecologist investigating the reconciliatory potential of IPCAs and associated legal innovations. She is involved with the CRP’s Conservation Governance, Ethical Space, and Domestic Law and Policy Streams.

Student and Post-doc community

opportunities to share your work

Did you know students and post-doctoral researchers who are a part of the CRP are welcome to come and present their work to the CRP Leadership Circle? This is an opportunity to engage with former members of the Indigenous Circle of Experts and national Indigenous thought leaders, and with Robin (PI of the CRP) and Faisal (Biocultural Indicators and Outcomes Stream Lead), in an informal setting. We would especially love to hear about projects that are at the ideas or proposal stage, but any stage is welcome! Please contact Allison for more details: abisho07@uoguelph.ca.  

Communicating for Government – A Storytelling Session

On January 14th we are hosting a learning session on ‘communicating for government’ for members of the CRP Student and Post-doc Community in collaboration with the Indigenous Leadership Initiative and the IISAAK OLAM Foundation, the two host organizations for the CRP.  With a focus on real examples and storytelling, this session will explore different strategies for communicating effectively with government audiences (i.e. being mindful of government cycles; drawing out key messaging; thinking about mandate letters and public commitments). We are grateful for Valérie Courtois (Indigenous Leadership Initiative), Eli Enns (IISAAK OLAM Foundation and CRP Leadership Circle) and Faisal Moola (University of Guelph and CRP Leadership Circle) to join us as panelists. For information, please contact crpinfo@uoguelph.ca.

Third Moose Circle Updates: Communications and Knowledge Mobilization

The Third Moose Circle comes from the ‘Four Moose Narrative’ in the Indigenous Circle of Experts Report, We Rise Together. Four Moose (jurisdiction, financial solutions, capacity development and cultural keystone species) were identified as thematic areas that need to be addressed to support Indigenous-led conservation (pg. 11-13).

Upcoming Webinars

January/February: Métis-led Conservation Initiatives: Stories and Dialogue

February/March: Inuit-led conservation initiatives: Stories and Dialogue.

Past Webinars

December: Indigenous Rights and Private Conservation: Creating Pathways for Respect and Responsibility

On December 14, 2021, we co-hosted a webinar with the Nature Conservancy of Canada and OKT Law to explore the legacy of private land conservation in Canada and how we can collectively create pathways to recognize and respect Indigenous laws, governance and self-determination.

This webinar is brought to you by the CRP Domestic Law and Policy Stream and Indigenous Land Trust Sharing Circle, and supported by OKT Law and the Nature Conservancy of Canada. It pulls from insights and current research as part of the report: Respect and Responsibility: Integrating Indigenous Rights and Private Conservation in Canada.

Click on the video below to watch the full recording.

‘Did You Know’ Campaign for IPCAs

We receive lots of thoughtful, important questions about IPCAs from our partners and the public. That’s why we are collaborating with the IISAAK OLAM Foundation and the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, two host partners of the CRP, to launch a social media campaign to help respond to the top questions we receive about IPCAs. The campaign will be launched this winter. Stay tuned to see how you can support and amplify this work – more information will be shared soon!

community connections series

Now that we are into year three of our partnership journey, we have been looking for different ways to expand how we tell the story of our work. With so many working groups and co-learning circles emerging, we see an opportunity to share stories of connections and relationships within and beyond the partnership to advance our impact. There’s lots of amazing work happening behind the scenes and we’d like to bring some attention to it!

Early this year, we will launch a "Community Connections" series of short audio stories on our website that will feature various individuals within our partnership. These conversations will focus on examples of how partners have built and/or strengthened relationships and how those relationships have advanced their work in supporting Indigenous-led conservation. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this work so far.

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