January 20th marked the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th US President. Sitting behind him were some of the most powerful people in the corporate world, as he outlined the path forward for a new “golden age” for America. This new 'golden age' is marked by promises to scale back immigration policies, revoking diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and phasing out environmental commitments such as withdrawing from the 2015 Paris Agreement - again. 

Trump’s inauguration has compounded current political tensions during a time of an already uncertain political future within Canada, marked by the January 6th resignation of Justin Trudeau as he stepped down from his role as the Prime Minister. Within the country, political leaders, including Pierre Polilevre, have made troubling remarks over the years—like suggesting that residential school survivors “need a stronger work ethic,” and that Canada has no legal obligation to provide clean drinking water to First Nations communities. These statements, echoed by others like Poilievre, reflect a broader disregard for Indigenous rights and sovereignty. Indigenous people need to move beyond the political binary to enact their sovereignty and take real climate action in their communities and beyond.

Beyond the Binary

Time and time again, Indigenous people prove to be invisibilized across the political landscape of Turtle Island—unless it’s profitable to acknowledge our pain, or there’s a land grab in this rush to mitigate the extreme effects of climate change. There’s “double the tragedy” with state-sanctioned land grabs—denying Indigenous people rights to their own lands and caretaking, while removing protective things like trees and topsoil for industrial activities that are directly fuelling this climate crisis. 

This moment of uncertainty has highlighted the binary understanding that is often mistakenly used throughout political narratives: the framing of Liberal Trudeau as “good,” and Conservative Trump (‘Republican’ in America) as “bad.” 

There is no denying that Trudeau’s government made some strides towards meaningful progress, such as the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and passing Canada’s first comprehensive climate legislation (Bill C-12). 

However, any progressive steps taken were almost always followed by actions that contradicted any meaningful change. For instance, promising to fully implement all of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) 94 Calls to Action and only fulfilling 11 of them in 10 years since this report was made—at this rate, meaningful change for Indigenous peoples in so-called Canada will come by the early 2100s… Similarly, in 2019, less than 24 hours after declaring a climate emergency, the Canadian government purchased the climate-killing Trans Mountain Pipeline for $4.5 billion dollars—with public funds. 

Justin Trudeau and his parties’ actions highlight the reality that even the most seemingly “progressive” parties further entrench our society into extractive capitalism. We need to acknowledge that Canada and the United States are just a few corporations in a trenchcoat fronting as ‘democratic’ nations. This also highlights how participating in “this vs. that” conversations confine us within the limitations of the existing colonial frameworks, when we should be breaking out of the binary and building worlds that serve our people—for us, and by us. For Indigenous people, this oversimplification is a distraction from the reality that regardless of who is in power, we will still exist under a broken colonial system that upholds white supremacy, protects corporate interests, and relies on Indigenous subjugation. 

In a country inaccurately praised for its relationship with Indigenous peoples, our communities cannot exercise control over our territories, lack access to clean drinking water, and continue to be put at the back of the line when it comes to decision-making about our futures, rights and the land that has sustained our nations since time immemorial. 

Re-Centering Indigenous Governance 

As Indigenous peoples, we are often told to aspire to state recognition of our sovereignty, culture and caretaking of the land. By this, we mean we’re always looking for the breadcrumbs of incremental change, and celebrate them as if we’ve crossed the finish line—when the truth is, the “finish line” is an illusion that exists purely within the minds of colonial politicians. These tiny breadcrumbs, like symbolic acknowledgements, are tactics used by states to silence Indigenous resistance and to avoid any meaningful structural change. We cannot, and should not, rely on state validation because governments are bound by their own processes of accountability that are ultimately self-serving. 

We need to get comfortable with not having immediate solutions or answers to questions like, “What is an immediate alternative to the current system?” Instead, we need to focus on asking questions that are generative, imaginative, and centre the creation of thriving Indigenous futures, cultures, and governance structures. 

We do not need another colonial ‘leader’ that is full of lip service and land grabs—what we truly need is a resurgence, which can be defined as “regenerating our lifeways, relational responsibilities, and sustainable pathways so that we approach engagements with states and other colonial actors from a strength-based perspective,” (Corntassel, 2021). Resurgence requires and promotes a loving mobilization of Indigenous practices, knowledge and governance structures.  

Learning from the Land

As both nations undergo major political transitions, the stakes for Indigenous sovereignty and the pursuit of climate justice are higher than ever. While many are preparing to entrench themselves within colonial governance systems as a means of creating change, we urge communities to consider an alternative path. The climate crisis is a crisis of imagination, and we must be willing to imagine lives and worlds outside of capitalism and colonialism. 

We need to divest from colonial legal systems as a way to seek justice, and spend our time and energy breathing life into our own knowledge, our own languages, and our own governance systems. Upholding our sovereignty means asserting our rights to push effective climate action, which requires us to reject the breadcrumbs being offered to us, and commit to building anew. We existed before the state of Canada and we will exist after.  

As our Executive Director Eriel Tchekwie Deranger reminds us, “the land still holds steadfast in the coldness and reminds us that all of this is impermanent. Like the land, we need to remain steadfast and not waver and remember who we are and where we come from.” Her words remind us to draw strength from the resilience of the land, and the ancestors who cared for it long before us, and long before Canada. 

“This has happened before and it will happen again until we have the courage to break the cycle of abuse,” she continues. The path forward rests in investing in our communities, cultivating autonomy from existing colonial governments and extractive corporations, and creating processes of accountability to the people most impacted by these systems.

Want to Learn More & Take Action?

1. As government protections roll back across a variety of human services in the United States and Canada, support mutual aid callouts in our communities and online so people have access to the necessary resources and funds to support their livelihoods 

2. Honour, uplift, and protect our 2 Spirit and trans relatives across Turtle Island as these states try to deny their existence and repeal their rights 

3. As ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and law enforcements ramp up their raids across the states, know your rights if ICE approaches you in public

Strategically disrupting these harmful colonial narratives that uphold violence over Indigenous lands and bodies by voting like a radical and honouring the complexities of organizing for justice.

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