Question Period Note: Canada’s Enhanced Nature Legacy –Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and Indigenous Guardians Pilot

Canada’s Enhanced Nature Legacy –Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and Indigenous Guardians Pilot

• The Government of Canada recognizes that Indigenous leadership in conservation is a vital part of its commitment to conserving 25 % of Canada’s land and oceans by 2025, and working toward 30 % by 2030.
• Supporting Indigenous leadership in nature conservation is part of the Government’s commitment to achieve reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.
• Through initiatives such as Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCA) and Indigenous Guardians Indigenous Peoples exercise their leadership through on-the-ground stewardship initiatives on their traditional lands, waters and ice to act as the “eyes and ears on the ground”.
• Investments since 2017 have supported 81 Indigenous Guardians projects.
• Budget 2021 reinforced the critical role of Indigenous peoples in conservation through investments of $166.6 million to support the establishment and planning of IPCAs, and $173 million for new and existing Indigenous Guardians initiatives.

Indigenous Guardians – ECCC
• Indigenous peoples have been stewards of the land for millennia and First Nations lobbied the federal government for financial support to communities’ nature conservation objectives.
• The Government invested $25M over 5 years in Budget 2017 to launch the creation of an Indigenous Guardians Pilot under ECCC. Since its creation, the program has funded over 80 Guardians initiatives for a total of approximately $21M and contributed to the development of capacity and employment in Indigenous communities across the country.
• The Pilot is being implemented in partnership with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis using a distinctions-based approach to respect and recognize the unique perspectives, responsibilities, interests and needs of each Indigenous group.
• These individual approaches include establishing individual governance for determining priority-funding areas, designing assessment criteria, determining selection processes and developing evaluation methods in order to inform the building of a business case for long-term funding for Indigenous Guardians across Canada and an approach for potential national networks.
• The Pilot is demonstrating a growing need for increased ongoing resources for Indigenous Guardians initiatives. An average of 150 initiatives, totaling almost $50M in funding, are requested yearly to support the engagement of Indigenous peoples in stewarding and protecting our lands and biodiversity.
• Expectations and requests for Government of Canada support for Indigenous Guardians programs are increasing, including for programs on federally administered lands such as Parks Canada-administered heritage places.
• An evaluation of the Pilot is underway to collect data to help inform ECCC’s potential request for long-term funding for Indigenous Guardians across Canada and the potential establishment of distinctions-based National Indigenous Guardians Networks.
Indigenous Guardians – Parks Canada
• Parks Canada also supports Indigenous Guardians initiatives. Parks Canada will work with Indigenous partners to enhance current, and co-create new Indigenous Guardian initiatives that will operate on lands, waters and ice administered by Parks Canada. The program will support Indigenous peoples in expressing their rights and responsibilities as stewards of their traditional territories, support conservation and biodiversity targets while ensuring cultural continuity, as well as recognize Indigenous leadership and support weaving of Indigenous knowledge in the stewardship of places administered by Parks Canada.
• Currently, approximately 300 First Nations, Inuit and Métis governments and organizations work with Parks Canada in conserving, restoring, and presenting Canada’s natural and cultural heritage. The funding for Guardians at Parks Canada will support the growing interest of Indigenous partners to establish, re-establish and/or strengthen their roles as stewards of these lands, waters and ice.
• The distribution of these programs between Parks Canada places is not pre-determined, and will be based on leveraging the relationship between Parks Canada and Indigenous Partners. Indigenous partners have approached Parks Canada with a growing interest in establishing, re-establishing and/or strengthening their roles as stewards of these lands, waters, and ice, specifically through Guardians programs.
• There are a small number of current Indigenous Guardians-like programs operating in/on Parks Canada administered places, one of which includes the Haida Watchmen, which has existed for more than 25 years. Learnings from these Guardian programs will be applied to the new Parks Canada Indigenous Guardians program, leveraging best practices.
• The ECCC and Parks Canada programs will be separate, but complementary. The Parks Canada program will focus on Indigenous partners that Parks Canada already works with, and focus on sites administered by Parks Canada. The two programs will collaborate and share lessons learned, and will allow for a broader reach than either program alone. Both programs strive to strengthen Indigenous stewardship as Canada moves to protecting more of our land, water and ice.
Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas
• Benefits of advancing Indigenous leadership in conservation such as supporting new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) is key to achieving ambitious targets, advancing Indigenous reconciliation, and mitigating the impacts of climate change by protecting and restoring healthy, resilient ecosystems and contributing to the recovery of species at risk.
• The Spaces Stream of the Canada Nature Fund focuses on the creation of new protected and conserved areas across Canada including IPCAs. To date, the Canada Nature Fund Spaces Stream has funded over 65 projects with an investment of over $86 million. This investment has supported partners to make progress toward Canada’s biodiversity commitments.
• The Target 1 Challenge program involvement with National Indigenous Organizations (NIOs) has primarily been with Assembly of First Nations (AFN), and Métis National Council (MNC). Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami declined to participate in the Target 1 Challenge program.
• Fifty-two Indigenous communities across the country have also received funding to either establish an IPCA or undertake early planning and engagement work that could result in additional Protected and Conserved Areas in the future.
• Development of the delivery mechanism for new IPCA funds is underway, working to ensure that communities that are interested in pursuing funding have access to apply for funding, while also continuing to support work that has already begun.

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