True reconciliation requires an honest conversation about the past and present. But reconciliation must also be rooted in the land. It calls for respecting the centrality of the land in healing Indigenous communities and restoring Indigenous Nationhood.

Our Nations have proven time and again that Indigenous-led conservation is good for people and the land. This increased federal funding in IPCAs and Guardians confirms our work is being recognized at the national level. And it means our Nations can continue addressing some of biggest global crises of our time.

When you love someone or something, you do everything you can to protect them. You fight for them. You nurture them. You interact with them. Love involves care, closeness, protectiveness, attraction, affection, and trust. All of this Indigenous Peoples have felt for their lands, waters and everything in them.

The First Nations Guardians Gathering 2021 was a celebration of what Guardians do on behalf of our communities, our Nations, and Canada. When you bring hundreds of Guardians together, you can feel the energy and knowledge grow—even over Zoom.

The success of Indigenous-led conservation is gaining visibility at the highest levels of government. Leaders realize that partnerships with Indigenous Nations are essential for countries to achieve their climate and biodiversity goals.

At a recent online event hosted by the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, leaders talked about Indigenous stewardship and the benefits it creates for all people. Indigenous leaders on the land, said the Right Honourable Paul Martin, “perform a great service to this country and to all the generations that come.”

A recent Probe Research survey found 83% of Manitobans endorse the Seal River Watershed Alliance’s proposal to establish an Indigenous Protected Area. In poll after poll, Canadians have expressed similar support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, Guardians programs, and other initiatives that reflect Indigenous Peoples’ cultural responsibility to care for lands and waters.

The United Nations released two major reports recognizing the leadership of Indigenous Peoples in sustaining our planet. The reports look at the fragile state of nature. Together they illustrate what place-based peoples have known all along: everything is interrelated. If we burn through natural resources, we undermine our own futures. Yet if we relate to the natural world in a thoughtful way, the beings from the land and water such as herring, salmon, caribou, and moose will remain—not just for us but for generations to come.

One year ago, the Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation signed an agreement with the Governments of Canada and Northwest Territories to protect 26,376 square kilometres known as the Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area. We have been busy ever since. The Nation has hired Indigenous Guardians to monitor the area, and we’ve invested over $500,000 in regional businesses to buy boats and research equipment.

Summer is a busy time for Indigenous Guardians. Along the eastern shores of Great Slave Lake, the Ni Hat’ni Dene Guardians are testing water quality in wetlands where tens of thousands of migratory birds are raising their young. In the forests of northern BC, Yunesit’ni land guardians are working on traditional fire management in a region devastated by the record-breaking blaze of 2017. And in Georgian Bay, the Anishinabek Traditional Ecological Guardians are monitoring species at risk and climate impacts within a chain of islands that forms a natural corridor for animals.

Forests managed by Indigenous Nations have a pivotal role to play in helping Canada build a more sustainable economy in the wake of the pandemic. These forests capture and store vast amounts of carbon. The Great Bear Lake watershed alone—managed by the Sahtúgot’ine Dene in the Northwest Territories—holds the equivalent of 34 years’ worth of Canada’s industrial emissions.

A publication called Staying the Course, Staying Alive—Coastal First Nations’ Fundamental Truths: Biodiversity, Stewardship and Sustainability offers a possible model that provides a structure and process that can be adapted and adopted whether you are salmon people or caribou people, mountain people or lowland forest people.

On August 21st, Łutsël K’e Dene First Nation signed an agreement with the Parks Canada Agency and the Government of the Northwest Territories to permanently protect 26,376 square kilometres of these vibrant lands. The entire area, called Thaidene Nëné, is an Indigenous protected area. Parts of it are also designated as a national park, territorial park and wildlife conservation area. All of it will be co-managed by Łutsël K’e Dene First Nation.

On March 12 and 13, over 300 guardians, leaders and partners will gather in Vancouver to discuss the next steps in realizing that future. Hosted by the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations and Environment and Climate Change Canada, the First Nations Guardians Gathering 2019 will present recommendations for how to expand the network of guardians programs. This is an exciting time for the network to take shape.

The next generation of Indigenous land managers can count on strong support in Australia. The federal government has made long-term investments in Indigenous Protected Areas and Indigenous Rangers, and research confirms this funding benefits the land, the economy and the people. Now a delegation of Indigenous land managers from Warddeken and other regions are traveling to Canada to talk about the transformative power of well-supported Indigenous-led conservation.

A sweeping stretch of black spruce, headwater lakes and caribou grounds west of Yellowknife has gained new protections thanks to the leadership of the Dehcho First Nations. The Dehcho passed a Dene law to create the Edéhzhíe Protected Area in July. And this week, Dehcho leaders held a signing ceremony with Environment Minister Catherine McKenna to designate it as a joint Dehcho Protected Area and National Wildlife Area.

Home to herds of woodland caribou, chains of crystal clear lakes and wetlands full of birds, it is called Pimachiowin Aki—the Land that Gives Life. The Anishinaabe people have always known it is a special place. Now, thanks to their tireless efforts, the world will know it too.UNESCO has designated Pimachiowin Aki a World Heritage Site in honour of its outstanding cultural and natural values.

Participants in the Northern Values have identified the importance of land use plans for achieving cooperation, clarity, respect and certainty across Manitoba’s boreal forest. The Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (NCN) is one of the communities demonstrating what that looks like on the ground.

In about 30 First Nations across the country, Indigenous Guardians help care for the land and water. They act as the “eyes and ears” for their communities, paying attention to the health of animals, testing water quality, monitoring industrial development, and welcoming visitors to protected areas. “We are here protecting Mother Earth in order for the rest of the world to live on her,” says Gloria Enzoe of the Ni hat’ni Dene Guardians program of the Lutsel K’e First Nation in the Northwest Territories.

As Canada works to protect at least 17 percent of lands by 2020, it can look to Australia for a proven model of partnership with Indigenous Peoples. Australia has announced it will invest an added $250 million AUD to support Indigenous Rangers who help manage the country’s natural heritage—including a vast network of Indigenous Protected Areas.