Federal Elections Statement
FEDERAL ELECTIONS STATEMENT 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 15, 2021 — With less than a week left in the federal election, voters in so-called Canada will elect a government of their choice. However, this doesn’t change the current exclusionary nature of our government system, where Indigenous Peoples and our lands are violated against. A government system based on neo-colonial structures of intended oppression, dispossession, harmful extractivism and genocide will not generate impactful change. A new party can only invoke true change if it is willing to dismantle the problematic foundation of which gives it power.
Parties may promise to alleviate systemic issues faced by Indigenous Peoples, instead of promising to dismantle the same system that fuels the ongoing genocide against Indigenous Peoples and one that decimates our lands and waters.
As we endure an ongoing pandemic, climate disaster and the countless unmarked graves investigators continue to find at former Indian Residential Schools, it is clearer than ever the federal government needs to unravel itself, regardless of what political party holds the seat.
The climate crisis is immediate with no signs of stopping, and so far, the response to it overwhelmingly excludes Indigenous leadership. When we know implementing Indigenous knowledge, rights and sovereignty is the way forward.
It is Indigenous Climate Action’s mission to ensure Indigenous Peoples are reinforced as the natural and rightful leaders driving climate policy in the land commonly referred to as Canada. Indigenous worldviews and approaches to the Earth are based on respecting the integrity of the land, and this is beneficial to all. In the words of our Executive Director, Eriel Deranger:
“Structural exclusion is not a nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous peoples, first and foremost, [we] are meant to have a seat at these climate tables,” published by the Yellowhead Institute in an article called Colonization caused climate change. Indigenous rights are the solutions.
True climate justice can only be achieved when Indigenous Peoples are given the rightful power to determine the fate of our own lands. This means governments must engage in nation-to-nation decisions while truly respecting the self-determination of Indigenous Peoples in so-called Canada. It needs to be up to Indigenous Peoples to decide what is best for them, and it should not be up to a party to make those decisions for them.
Voting a new party doesn't change the colonial structures that continue to overstep and infringe upon Indigenous peoples, rights, and lands. It is a systems issue, where neo-colonial power treats Indigenous Peoples as stakeholders and not decision-makers. Reconciliation also means decolonizing climate policy so that the Indigenous self-determination is respected and given its rightful power.
It is in our hope the incoming government materializes promises of reconciliation, decolonization, and the inclusion of Indigenous peoples as decision makers on climate policy.
Indigenous Climate Action released in winter 2021 our Decolonizing Climate Policy in Canada: Phase One, a report which examined two major climate policies in Canada, a Pan Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change (PCF), released in 2016, and the more recent A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy (HEHE), released in 2020. Our report found that “Indigenous Peoples, our rights, our knowledges, and our approaches to climate changes are systematically excluded from the creation and implementation of climate policies and plans.” And “To effectively address climate change, policies and solutions need to take aim at the ongoing drivers and root causes of the crisis and need to be centering the voices, needs and leadership of the people most impacted by the crisis (Decolonizing Climate Policy in Canada, 2021, ICA).
So, as we move towards another federal election, we must work together to disrupt the colonial powers which continue to exclude those most vulnerable to climate change caused by colonialism, and continue to hold space for Indigenous rights. Our solution is simple, give Indigenous Peoples our rightful power to make decisions and lead climate policy in so-called Canada.
Media inquires:
Amber Bernard, External Media Coordinator
amber@indigenousclimateaction.com
Indigenous Climate Action supports Indigenous Peoples, reinforcing our place as leaders in climate change discourse and driving solutions for today and tomorrow. Our work is grounded in four main pathways: Gatherings, Resources and Tools, Amplifying Voices and Supporting Indigenous Sovereignty.