Indigenous-led Conservation in Canada’s North

Historically, the creation of protected areas in Canada and around the world has been part of colonial relationships, dispossessing Indigenous Peoples of their ancestral territories. Today, Indigenous Peoples are not only in the process of reclaiming land rights within existing protected areas; they are also taking the lead in reshaping what future land protection means. Drawing on their own knowledge and practices of land and water stewardship, Indigenous nations are asserting new forms of protection that advance Indigenous territorial rights even as they promise new avenues to conserve global biodiversity. Canada’s North is rapidly emerging as a global focal point for the rise of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, with both public funding and philanthropy flowing to support these new models of protection. Despite rapid advances and promising new forms of collaboration, challenges remain. Will there be sufficient financial resources to sustain long-term environmental monitoring and management across vast areas of new protected spaces? Are Canadian governments ready to transfer wildlife management enforcement authority to Indigenous Guardians? How far will climate change undermine traditional food systems, and what will this mean for Indigenous conservation efforts across northern landscapes? These and other questions face Indigenous and non-Indigenous leadership and policy makers seeking to realize the full potential of these new models for protected areas, both as vehicles for conservation and as pathways to reconciliation.