Weekly Round-Up, January 7 2022
A lot has been happening lately across Turtle Island. We know it can be hard to keep up, so we’ve compiled a list of news, events, and big stories related to Indigeneity and the climate crisis.
Check it out, and be sure to share with your friends, family, and community!
WATCH:
Solarizing Nimkii Aazhbikong - A Video Series celebrating Energy Sovereignty!
Showcasing Indigenous support systems, Indigenous Climate Action (ICA) and Sacred Earth Solar (SES) have partnered to help fund Onaman Collective’s new sixty-foot land based art studio for youth in Robinson Huron Treaty Territory. The Onaman Collective, lead by Christi Belcourt and Isaac Murdoch, promotes grassroots land-based art initiatives sharing traditional knowledge and language with youth.
Read the blog & watch the videos!
OPPORTUNITIES:
Indigenous Environmental Journalism Story Grants 2022
Deadline: February 7 2022
EJN is offering reporting grants to Indigenous journalists to support the production of in-depth stories that will call attention to climate justice, biodiversity, sustainable ecosystems, Indigenous leadership and other issues related to the rights and well-being of Indigenous peoples and communities.
NEWS:
Brazil stops tracking savanna deforestation despite rising destruction
January 6, 2022
From Reuters: Brazil will stop monitoring deforestation in the Cerrado, the world's most species-rich savanna, a government researcher said on Thursday citing a lack of funds, days after data showed destruction hitting a 6-year high in 2021.
Meet the sqilxw women who are decolonizing the workplace
January 6, 2022
From IndigiNews: With babies on their hips and microphones at their lips, sqilxw women Elaine Alec and Jessie Hemphill recently celebrated a financial milestone for their community planning company, which they launched with Christopher Derickson in 2016. Taking a decolonial approach with their clients and within their own team was a priority for all three founders. Among their employees and their clients, Alec says it’s clear that colonization has had an impact on self-worth.
Indigenous communities at higher risk of climate change-induced flooding, study shows
January 6, 2022
From CTV: A recent study is shining a light on the disparities in which communities in Canada will be hardest hit by climate change. The study, published last month in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Science and led by researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, found that Indigenous communities are at a higher risk of climate change-induced flooding because of pre-existing socioeconomic vulnerabilities.
New report on climate change describes challenges ahead for Atlantic Canada
December 27, 2021
From CBC: Hotter days, crumbling coastlines, rising seas and a reduction in timber supply: a new federal report paints a bleak picture of the impacts of climate change in Atlantic Canada in the coming decades. The report describes regional challenges including "an inability to keep pace with the rate of change," "difficulties in coping with climate change impacts to natural systems," the complexity of multiple levels of governments seeking solutions, and a lack of adaptation planning in new development.
Canada's $40 Billon Settlement with First Nations Groups Not Binding, Doesn't Change Children's Lives
January 6, 2022
From Native News Online: Canada has tentatively agreed to a $40 billion settlement, to right its discriminatory child welfare system that disproportionately separates Indigenous youth from their families over the past three decades, then chronically underfunds the welfare programs meant to serve them. The non-binding principal settlement, announced on Tuesday and the largest in Canada’s history, will allocate $20 billion in payments to First Nations children who have been unnecessarily removed from their homes April 1, 1991 through March 31, 2022. How that actually will play remains unclear. Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Cindy Woodhouse called the settlement a long time coming.
Shamed Saskatchewan girl helps celebrate National Ribbon Skirt Day
January 5, 2022
From APTN: One year ago, a young Anishinaabe girl from Treaty 4 territory in Saskatchewan sparked an international movement, simply by wearing her ribbon skirt to school. That movement continued this week when Bella Kulak marked the first annual National Ribbon Skirt Day.
ACTIONS TO TAKE:
Please consider donating this holiday season to help us support Indigenous-led movements, mental wellness of Indigenous youth, and Indigenous climate action across so-called Canada.
Boots on the ground needed at Wet’suwet’en!
January 6, 2022
Once again, our relatives and friends on the Yintah prepare for militarized violence and more arrests from the RCMP as they defend their land and resist ongoing colonial and capitalistic expansion of the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline. Right now, the best way to support them is to show up at camp!
RSVP WEBINAR: Indigenous Perspectives on Climate Action: Community Solutions
Event date: January 12, 2022
From WE-CAN and RAVEN: Our guest presenters are Pansy Wright-Simms, a member of the Luutkudziiwus of the Gitxsan Nation, and Leona Humchitt, Councillor and Climate Action Coordinator, Heiltsuk Nation.
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In solidarity,
The ICA Team