Advisory Council Announcement for Decolonizing Climate Policy Project

Since December 2019, ICA has been working with researcher Dr. Jen Gobby to conduct a thorough analysis of recent federal climate plans: the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change (2016) and A Healthy Environment, A Healthy Economy (2020). This research serves as phase one of our two phase Decolonizing Climate Policy Project; the full report will be released in the coming weeks. 

In examining these plans, we found that climate policy in Canada is: 

1. failing to drive the scale of climate action that is needed

2. including policies that may exacerbate existing economic and social inequalities

3. excluding Indigenous Peoples from policy-making tables, thereby violating Indigenous rights to free, prior, and informed consent 

Given these failures, Indigenous-led climate policy becomes increasingly important. Prior to putting together such policy recommendations, our team put together an Advisory Council in order to guide the process of gathering climate policy ideas from Indigenous Peoples across so-called Canada. It is crucial that we conduct this research in ways that are guided by decolonial and Indigenous research protocols and do not replicate the deeply problematic ‘consultation’ process that climate policy-making usually involves. The Advisory Council will oversee and guide this idea-gathering process so that it is done in a good way. We also recognize the sanctity of traditional knowledge and that not all knowledge is meant for public sharing. We will respect and uphold any and all protocols for the sharing of knowledge. 

We looked for Indigenous folks with experience related to climate change, decolonial research, policy making, and/or Indigenous rights and responsibilities to oversee our research process to develop Indigenous-led climate policy in so-called Canada. We chose one member from each of the five biomes of Canada (along with one youth member): Boreal Forests, Grasslands, Mountain Forests, Tundra, and Temperate Deciduous Forests. 

The members are: 

• Katherine Whitecloud (Boreal Forests)

• Pamela Beebe (Grasslands)

• Tiffany Traverse (Mountain Forests)

• Jesse Unaapik Mike (Tundra)

• Deborah McGregor (Temperate Deciduous Forests)

• Bryanna Brown (Youth)

We’re incredibly excited to begin phase two of this project and grateful to the AC for sharing their wisdom and lending their leadership and expertise to this important work.