More than 40 Indigenous communities in Canada have launched guardian programs, which employ local members to monitor ecosystems and protect sensitive areas and species. At a national gathering in Vancouver this week, guardians raised alarm about climate change in their territories.
Indigenous Guardians receive training in land stewardship at Dechenla in the traditional territory of the Ross River Dena Council, along the border of the Northwest Territories and the Yukon as shown in this undated handout image. Valerie Courtois / THE CANADIAN PRESSVANCOUVER -- Growing up in a small, remote First Nations community in northwestern British Columbia, Jarett Quock found he faced racism and stereotypes from non-Indigenous people whenever he left the reserve.
A massive wildfire swept through Quock's community of Telegraph Creek last August, destroying 21 homes and damaging many others. Climate change was partly to blame for the rapid spread of the flames through tinder-dry vegetation, said Quock. The program has since grown from being focused mostly on hunting to more of a land stewardship program, monitoring water quality, protecting caribou and removing problem wildlife, he said.
"We sustain ourselves off the land, so if there are issues such as declining populations of caribou, moose and what have you, we're certainly the first to know and also be affected by issues of climate change," he said. Environment and Climate Change Canada provided $25 million in the 2017 budget for a four-year Indigenous guardians pilot program to provide communities with greater opportunities to be responsible for stewardship of their traditional lands, waters and ice. The pilot program aims to inform a potential National Indigenous Guardians Network.
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