Canada wants to up collaboration with First Nations, Inuit, Métis on national parks

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic @arctic_eq
Posted: Monday, May 14, 2018 at 11:14 — Last Updated: Monday, May 14, 2018 at 11:15
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Qausuittuq National Park. (Courtesy Parks Canada) — Qausuittuq National Park in Canada’s eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut. A new report says collaboration between the government and Indigenous peoples on projects like this are important to conservation efforts in the country. (Courtesy Parks Canada)

Greater collaboration with Indigenous peoples on national park areas will play an important role in conversation and management, says a report from Parks Canada released this month after a public consultation.

“I am proud to share the practical steps we are taking in response to that feedback – such as making ecological integrity the first priority in decisions made about the future of our national parks, and ensuring more Canadians have access to nature and historic sites,” said Catherine McKenna, Canada’s minister of the environment and climate change and the minister responsible for Parks Canada, in a news release last week.

“I look forward to working with our partners in communities across the country, and with Indigenous peoples in particular, to protect, share and sustain Canada’s essential natural and cultural legacy for generations to come.”

Indigenous knowledge and conservation

The Let’s Talk Parks, Canada, consultations were held in January 2017 to hear Canadians views on the country’s protected areas and historical sites.

Thirteen thousand people responded.

Canada’s Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, April 26, 2018. McKenna said protecting and conserving the natural environment is the most important role for the national park system. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

The report was released this month and outlined three priorities:

ensure the ecological integrity of national parks and historical sites through investment, limiting development and working with Indigenous peoples
better promote the national park system to Canadians
preserve protected areas for future generations

The report also said Indigenous guardian programs in national parks should be expanded , that interpretive and storytelling programs rooted in traditional knowledge should be developed and that both traditional Indigenous knowledge and Arctic marine science should inform conservation decisions.

Protected Arctic areas

Canada has already worked with Indigenous peoples on important park projects, including two in the Arctic: the creation of Qausuittuq National Park, located on the northern part of Bathurst Island, in the eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut; and the establishment of Tallurutiup Imanga / Lancaster Sound marine conservation area, also in Nunavut.

Parks Canada is the government agency responsible for preserving Canada’s natural and historical sites. It currently oversees 46 national parks, one urban national park in Greater Toronto, 171 national historical sites and four marine conservation areas.

Write to Eilís Quinn at eilis.quinn(at)cbc.ca

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