What does land-based reconciliation look like in our region, and how do we get there, together?
In late 2020 Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative hosted an online workshop series 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 the British Columbia’s Kootenay-Columbia.
This workshop series is designed as a package, building from one session to the next, so we encourage you to review all three recordings, below.
More information is available in the Entering Ethical Space backgrounder. We have also created a list of resources and further reading, below.
“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
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
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.
- United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), 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
- 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
- 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
Thank you to our presenters as well as event sponsor for their support:
