What does land-based reconciliation look like in our region, and how do we get there, together?
Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative has been hosting online workshops to learn and discuss how Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and organizations can work together to create and sustain prosperous communities and healthy landscapes in British Columbia.
The ethical space series started in late 2020, with five workshops covering a range of topics, including Indigenous authority, revitalizing Indigenous law, place based stories, partnerships for caribou recovery, intractable conflict, strategic regional competition, and transformative approaches to land based reconciliation.
Y2Y will continue to host more learning opportunities on these topics and more, including approaches and models of Indigenous-led conservation across the Y2Y geography.
Below, you can watch presentation recordings and find a list of resources and further reading. Stay tuned for future workshops and opportunities!
If you have ideas for future sessions, or resources to share, please let us know by emailing Nadine Raynolds at nadine (at) y2y (dot) net.
“Reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians, from an Aboriginal perspective, also requires reconciliation with the natural world. If human beings resolve problems between themselves but continue to destroy the natural world, then reconciliation remains incomplete. This is a perspective that we as Commissioners have repeatedly heard: that reconciliation will never occur unless we are also reconciled with the earth.”
— Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
2022 Workshops:
Dene K’éh Kusān – Indigenous Led Conservation and the Kaska Dena’s Vision for the Stewardship of Dena Kayeh
Hosted on March 2, 2022, Gillian Staveley, the Director of Land Stewardship and Culture of the Dena Kayeh Institute, shared images, stories, and presented on the process of developing an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area in Northern B.C.
Previous workshop recordings
Session 1
Getting Ready: Ethical Space, Indigenous Authority, and Reconciliation, facilitated by Gwen Bridge
Session 2
The RELAW Program: Revitalizing Indigenous Law for Land, Air and Water with Jessica Clogg, Rayanna Seymour-Hourie, and Shelby Lindley.
Session 3
Indigenous Story and Law with Lauren Terbasket
Session 4
Partnerships for Caribou Recovery: Protecting the Sacred Twin Sisters Area
Session 5
A Ktunaxa Ethical Space Context and Consideration with Michele Sam
Additional reading and resources
The social, cultural, legal and policy landscape regarding the relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada is evolving rapidly. We are all called to explore what reconciliation means to us individually and for our organizations, communities, economies, laws and governance structures.
Here are some resources that may help. If you have additional resources, readings or links to include, please email Nadine Raynolds at nadine (at) y2y (dot) net.
- The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), A Quick Reference
- Full UNDRIP resolution, 2007
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action, 2015
- We Rise Together: Achieving Pathway to Canada Target 1 through the creation of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas in the spirit and practice of reconciliation, The Indigenous Circle of Experts’ Report and Recommendations, March 2018
- Canada’s Conservation Vision: A Report of the National Advisory Panel, March 2018
- B.C. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), November 2019
- Memorial to Sir Wilfred Laurier, Premier of the Dominion of Canada from the Chiefs of the Shuswap, Okanagan and Couteau Tribes of British Columbia BC, 1910
- A Primer on Governance for Protected and Conserved Areas, International Union for Conservation of Nature, 2014
- Indigenous Law Research Unit, University of Victoria
- RELAW: Revitalizing Indigenous Law for land, air and water, West Coast Environmental Law (documents and video)
- Constructing Indigeneity: Syilx Okanagan Oraliture and Tmixwcentrism by Jeanette Armstrong, 2012
- Conservation Through Reconciliation Partnership, University of Guelph
- Contextualizing Approaches to Indigenous Peoples’ Experiences of Intractable Conflict, Michele A Sam, 2019
- The Ethical Space of Engagement by Willie Ermine
- Voices of Understanding: Looking Through the Window, Examining decision-making models and creating ethical spaces where indigenous communities and the AER can work together, Alberta Energy Regulator, November 2017
- Reconciling Ways of Knowing: Indigenous Law and Science Forum
- When Voices Matter (video) discusses parallels between western and indigenous decision-making models
- Operationalizing Ethical Space in IPCAs and Crown Protected and Conserved Areas (pdf) by Danika Littlechild and Colin Sutherland
- 150 Acts of Reconciliation
- 10 Ways to be a Genuine Ally to Indigenous Communities, Amnesty International
- Bringing the Salmon Home, Annual Report 2019-20, The Columbia River Salmon Reintroduction Initiative of the Syilx Nation, Ktunaxa Nation, Secwepemc Nation, Government of Canada, Government of British Columbia
- Intergovernmental partnership agreement: central group Southern Mountain Caribou, Government of Canada
- We Are Bringing Them Back, film about mountain caribou by Nikanese Wah Tzee Stewardship Society
- Ktunaxa Creation Story
- The One About Coyote and the Mirrors
- Metaphysics: Intersecting Western and Native Ideas with Leroy Little Bear
Thank you to our presenters as well as event sponsor for their support:
