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Canada’s shameful treatment of Indigenous people was rooted in a double abuse, of both their personal lives and their sustaining values. Now, some of the most significant reforms are being driven and led by Indigenous citizens themselves, and by a respect for their cultures and experience. A compelling example is the proposed National Indigenous Guardians Network.

(Also appeared in the Victoria Times Colonist)

(Vancouver Sun) Finally, a proposal dealing with Indigenous lands, cultures and opportunities that could help create a new relationship with government and industry and create benefits that all Canadians, including B.C. First Nations, can share....

A nonprofit group, the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, is asking the federal government for $500 million over five years for a new nationwide monitoring program.

The proposed national “Guardians” program would send around 1,600 First Nations people out on their traditional lands.

The Indigenous Leadership Initiative is pushing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to put reconciliation into action by committing $500 million over five years to create a national network of guardian programs. The money would come on top of the $8.4 billion committed to Indigenous peoples over the next five years in the first budget delivered by the Liberal government.

OTTAWA — The Trudeau government is being pushed to invest $500 million over five years on a 1,600-member national “Guardians” team to patrol, and assert aboriginal sovereignty in, the vast traditional territory of Canada’s First Nations.

Modelled in part after a land stewardship initiative by B.C.’s Haida Nation on the north coast, the initiative would help boost economies and build leadership in remote communities, members of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative said at a news conference here Monday.

The Indigenous Leadership Initiative (ILI) is asking the Federal Government to help Indigenous Nations and communities address major challenges by committing roughly $500-million over five years in a partnership to create a national network of Guardian programmes....

3 OCTOBRE 2016 L’Initiative de leadership autochtone (ILA) demande au gouvernement fédéral de venir en aide aux nations et communautés autochtones, appelées à relever d’importants défis, en s’engageant à hauteur d’environ 500 millions de dollars sur cinq ans dans le cadre d’un partenariat visant à créer un réseau national de programmes…...

This national program worked in Australia. Could the same go for Canada? We hear the case for it.

National program would allow Indigenous communities to monitor land and maintain culture

An experiment that has won favour in Australia is gathering steam in Ottawa as the federal government scrambles to live up to its promise to help Aboriginal Peoples.

The World is watching to see how Canada proceeds—as evidenced by successive United Nations and Amnesty International reports on the poor treatment of our peoples. Our indigenous peoples are an untapped and neglected on-the-land asset—and it is time we changed that.

If Canada is to succeed in addressing climate change and becoming a global leader in environmental protection and management it needs to engage experts who know the land best, yet have been mostly ignored: indigenous peoples.