Indigenous leaders are demanding a stronger voice in Canada’s energy transition, calling for climate action that not only respects Indigenous rights, but incorporates traditional knowledge of the environment in any future solutions.
Addressing more than 1,100 participants via video link at the Assembly of First Nations Third National Climate Gathering in Calgary, AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said climate change is an emergency for First Nations’ lands, waters, and communities. “The drivers of the climate and biodiversity crisis are interconnected and we must address the root causes to rebalance our relationship with all of creation,” Woodhouse Nepinak said.
The gathering, with federal representatives present, focused on clean energy leadership, stronger consultation, environmental racism, and the links between climate, biodiversity, and Indigenous rights.
Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault attended virtually, promoting Canada’s proposed Clean Electricity Regulations, due to be finalized this year.
“We’ve backed that strategy with lots of new subsidies, like our new investment tax credits on electricity generation,” Guilbeault said. He criticized Alberta’s resistance to federal grid regulations, turning for support to Indigenous leaders, who have contributed to over 2,500 clean energy projects [pdf] across the country.
“I know we can count on the AFN as allies in our bid towards cleaner electricity,” he said, adding that “the scale of Indigenous leadership on clean energy is a story more Canadians need to know about.”
Guilbeault also mentioned Premier Danielle Smith’s legal challenge [pdf] against Ottawa’s updated environmental assessment law, saying he was disappointed to see her demand to “gut” the law and “remove any reference in that legislation respecting the rights set out under it.”
The Liberal government has asked for a law that will require Ottawa to develop an environmental justice strategy within two years, Guilbeault added. It will “address the racism that has been directed towards communities in the past, many of which are Indigenous—and prevent it from happening again.”
Environmental Justice Delayed
But in the weeks leading up to the AFN summit, the federal government was in court fighting a Manitoba First Nation’s demand for water security.
Shamattawa First Nation, which has been under a boil water advisory since 2018, is pursuing a class action lawsuit for all First Nations members countrywide whose communities were subject to a drinking water advisory in effect on or after June 20, 2020, reports CBC News.
Canada argued in its defence that it does not “owe any legal obligations or duties to operate and maintain the plaintiffs’ water systems,” a statement that Woodhouse Nepinak had said she found “appalling.”
The lawsuit came up in an AFN workshop on environmental racism of the kind Guilbeault promised to address. Breanne Lavallée-Heckert, a Métis activist and author, said Canada’s defence statement pointed to an urgent need to “decolonize law.”
Keji Banjoko, government relations and consultation coordinator for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, said decades of health concerns are plaguing the Fort Chipewyan community, which is downstream of oilsands operations.
And very little information is being shared with First Nations about the carbon capture and storage (CCS) hub and pipeline planned for northern Alberta, Banjoko added. He expressed concern over the project’s impact on waterways.
Meanwhile, as more than 30 long-term drinking water advisories remain in place for Indigenous communities across Canada, Members of Parliament are studying Bill C-61 to set principles that guide the provision of clean, safe drinking water, and the treatment of wastewater, on First Nation lands.
Getting Bill C-61 passed is a pressing environmental issue for the AFN, with Woodhouse Nepinak telling reporters earlier in October that “it’s time that Canada makes this right with First Nations people.”
Concerns Over Consultation
While several First Nations agree that Canada’s energy transition brings opportunities to lead and own clean energy projects, there are concerns that the race will sidestep due process.
Ross Montour of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke and Benjamin Green-Stacey of Kahnawà:ke Iakwatonhontsanónhnha tsi Iehiatónhkhwa, said they are concerned that the duty to consult with the Mohawk people was ignored in the planning for the C$7 billion Northvolt electric vehicle battery manufacturing project in Quebec.
The Council filed a lawsuit arguing that the province allowed work to begin on the Swedish manufacturer’s plant without proper analysis of the impact on local biodiversity. “Laws are great if they’re followed, but they don’t seem to be followed—they seem to be optional,” Montour said.
A subsidiary of Northvolt has filed for bankruptcy, but CTV News reports the Quebec project is going ahead.
Putting ‘Heart’ In The Equation
The AFN climate gathering also debated whether and how to work with other governments.
Yukon Regional Chief Kluane Adamek, who holds the AFN portfolio for environment and climate, encouraged participants to lead with their hearts.
“One of the other pillars of this work has been to help people understand who we are as climate leaders. It can’t just be about ‘let’s minimize the emissions and we’re moving to renewables’,” Adamek said. “Have we solved the problem about the overuse, overconsumption, and disconnection as human beings from the land and the water?”
For artist Api’soomaahka (William Singer III), forging connections to nature begins in preschool. “The work that I’m doing focuses on connecting our children to the land,” he said. “The colonial way that we follow today is that we wait, we wait until we’re in high school or post-secondary to learn about plants and the natural world.”
“In the traditional ways we start right from the beginning.”
Young Perspectives Emerge
The summit heard from a panel of young Indigenous leaders who described how growing up in their communities shaped their perspectives.
Serena Mendizabal, a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River and co-chair of SevenGen Energy, said she has been working in climate and clean energy for eight to 10 years, from when she was a child. “There is no just transition without land back,” Mendizabal said. “A just transition is energy efficiency, it’s solar, it’s seed storage, but it’s also illuminating our hereditary governance systems that will support the longevity of our people.”
Beze Gray, a two-spirit youth advocate from Aamjiwnaang First Nation who grew up surrounded by refineries that they called “cloud makers,” said they originally thought conditions were the same everywhere.
Gray added that Indigenous laws and teachings are a science and could be used to guide policy.
“Our Elders in our community can say a lot more than someone on Parliament Hill about our needs in Aamjiwnaang and what climate action needs to be.”
Xàkújághá (Minor Chief) Steven Crowchild of the Tsuut’ina Nation echoed this idea: “We developed a legislative procedures act, a tool that enables us to develop and enact our own legislation and policies, and under our own inherent authority,” he said.
“Believe in your Nationhood, assert your authority in every space you walk into.”
