Our Partners
The Indigenous Leadership Initiative works with a broad array of partners to advance Indigenous land management and conservation.
ILI has worked with dozens of First Nations, helping support land use plans, the creation of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, Guardians programs, and other Indigenous-led conservation initiatives.
ILI has partnerships with a diversity of private foundations whose funding approaches align with our values of strengthening Indigenous Nationhood through conservation. ILI does not compete with First Nations for access to public funds.
Land Needs Guardians
The Land Needs Guardians campaign celebrates and supports Indigenous Guardians programs and Indigenous stewardship. Across the country, Indigenous Guardians are stepping forward to care for traditional lands, waters, and resources.
A movement is growing up from the land, from elders, youth and a new generation of leaders calling for Indigenous leadership on the land. The Land Needs Guardians campaign recognizes those who are honouring the cultural responsibility for stewardship. It is calling for long-term support for Indigenous Guardians programs and Indigenous-led conservation.
The Indigenous Leadership Initiative helped launch the Land Needs Guardians campaign to create a platform for guardians and their supporters to celebrate and expand the proven results of Indigenous stewardship.
National Guardians Network
The National Guardians Network (NGN) is an independent First Nations-designed and First Nations-led nonprofit corporation. It helps ensure First Nations have the tools, opportunities, and investments they need to build and maintain thriving Guardians programs and regional networks. Its mission is to provide timely, consistent funding, networking, and training and knowledge exchanges that support the profession of Guardians.
ILI helped lay the groundwork for the establishment of the NGN, including by calling for federal investments in Indigenous Guardians in Budget 2017 and financing for the network to be included in Budget 2021. In September 2018, the First Nations/Federal Pilot Joint Working Group for Guardians was created by ILI and Environment and Climate Change Canada. And in December 2022, the First Nations National Guardians Network was announced at the COP15 Biodiversity Summit in Montréal. In 2023, Canada announced that management of the program would be handed to the NGN.
The Conservation Through Reconciliation Partnership
The Conservation Through Reconciliation Partnership (CRP) represents a seven-year program of work hosted by the IISAAK OLAM Foundation, the Indigenous Leadership Initiatives, and the University of Guelph.
CRP was launched in May 2019 to create a collation of Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders and organizations, scholars, conservation agencies and organizations, and knowledge mobilization specialists. They have come together to act on the recommendations laid out in the Indigenous Circle of Experts’ landmark report for creating and expanding Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas in the spirit of reconciliation.
CRP is dedicated to three primary objectives: Creating a network for conservation through reconciliation; ensuring ethical and collaborative research; and increasing capacity amongst Indigenous Nations and communities, the conservation sector and the general public.
Nia Tero
Nia Tero works in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples who sustain thriving territories and cultures to strengthen guardianship of Earth and all beings.
They believe that following Indigenous leadership and wisdom is critical to the health of our planet as a whole. Their vision is of an Earth where Indigenous guardianship of thriving homelands and waters is enabled everywhere possible.
Nia Tero works to ensure that relevant global, national, and regional policies strongly support Indigenous guardianship, and reflect and align with Indigenous spirituality and culture. And Nia Tero amplifies and uplifts Indigenous narratives and creative endeavors.
Nia Tero and The Indigenous Leadership Initiative have partnered on a number of projects, from working on the ground with partners in the Sahtu region of the Northwest Territories to collaborating on programs at the Indigenous Village at COP15 in Montreal, UN Climate Week in New York, and the First Nations National Guardians Gathering.
