New funding and structure for Indigenous Guardians programs – The Narwhal

Oct. 3, 2024

For more than six years, the federal government has been funding Guardians programs to support Indigenous-led environmental stewardship.

Combining Indigenous Knowledge with western science, guardians play a critical role in monitoring and managing wildfires, water quality, species protections and more. But applying for funding to do this work was “a tedious, time-consuming process,” Gillian Staveley, a Kaska Dena citizen from northern B.C., told The Narwhal. Engaging with the application process meant taking guardians away from the land.

Staveley is a council member of the National Guardians Network — Canada’s first Indigenous-led national stewardship network, which launched in December 2022 at COP15, the United Nations biodiversity conference in Montreal. For the first time, this past year the network independently managed and allocated funds for all Indigenous communities.

Read More: https://thenarwhal.ca/indigenous-guardians-new-funding-system/