Indigenous Government Research Articles

Where Exactly are all the First Nation Businesses?

The Yukon has one of the fastest growing, albeit smallest, economies in Canada, with an increasing population and a tight labour market. Modern treaties and self-government agreements have empowered First Nations government and Supreme Court decisions and treaty rights secured Indigenous governments a significant place in the resource sector. Yet Yukon First Nation businesspeople are not yet benefiting fully from this positive political and economic situation. This paper explores the underrepresentation of the Yukon First Nation businesspeople in the economy through an exploration of the available data from the Yukon business survey, census of Canada self-employment data and a new national program at Statistics Canada that is working to better define the presence of Indigenous businesses within the national economy. The research shows that work still needs to be done to better support the development of Indigenous businesspeople as they strive to break through the barriers that have left on the margins of the northern economy.

Where Exactly are all the First Nation Businesses?

The Yukon has one of the fastest growing, albeit smallest, economies in Canada, with an increasing population and a tight labour market. Modern treaties and self-government agreements have empowered First Nations government and Supreme Court decisions and treaty rights secured Indigenous governments a significant place in the resource sector. Yet Yukon First Nation businesspeople are not yet benefiting fully from this positive political and economic situation. This paper explores the underrepresentation of the Yukon First Nation businesspeople in the economy through an exploration of the available data from the Yukon business survey, census of Canada self-employment data and a new national program at Statistics Canada that is working to better define the presence of Indigenous businesses within the national economy. The research shows that work still needs to be done to better support the development of Indigenous businesspeople as they strive to break through the barriers that have left on the margins of the northern economy.

Exploring practices, challenges, and priorities for human health and ecological risk assessments in Indigenous communities in Canada.

Indigenous peoples in Canada are disproportionately exposed to environmental contaminants and may face elevated health risks related to their unique cultural, spiritual, and economic relationships with the land, including the use of traditional food systems. However, to date, institutionalized approaches to assess risks to human and ecological health from contaminants have not been well developed or implemented with Indigenous community contexts in mind. There is regulatory interest in developing new approach methods for risk assessment, and thus an opportunity to increase their relevance to Indigenous communities in which they will be ultimately applied. Therefore, we conducted an anonymous mixed-methods survey of those involved with risk assessment in Indigenous communities in Canada to: (1) understand risk assessment practice in Indigenous communities, (2) explore challenges with conventional assessment methods and compare these across sectors, and (3) gather perspectives on the development of new approaches. In all, 38 completed survey responses were received (14% response rate). Respondents were from Indigenous community environment and health offices (21% of respondents), Indigenous governments (8%), federal and provincial governments (21%), and academia (45%). Risk communication was seen as the most challenging part of risk assessment (71% responded "difficult"), and nearly all respondents agreed that time (86%), cost (76%), and resource availability (86%) were "moderate" to "serious" problems. Few respondents (16%) had heard of "new approach methods" for risk assessment, and 76% of respondents (and 100% of community-based respondents) agreed on the need to develop improved risk assessment approaches. To modernize risk assessment, respondents recommended advancing cumulative risk assessment methods, improving risk communication, and promoting Indigenous leadership and Traditional Knowledge in assessment activities. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2024;20:1677-1692. © 2024 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

The potential for Indigenous-led conservation in urbanized landscapes in Canada

Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) are an important pathway and governance system for area-based conservation led by Indigenous Peoples. While IPCAs have been established across rural and northern regions of Canada, they have received little attention in urbanized landscapes, even though all of Canada’s urban areas coincide with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis territory (and thereby underlying Indigenous jurisdiction) and the majority of Indigenous Peoples in the country live in urban centers. Canada’s federal government is in the process of establishing six new urban national parks and has committed to working with local Indigenous governments and organizations in parks planning. This study examined the potential for strengthening Indigenous participation in urban parks planning, governance, and management, including the establishment of new urban Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (UIPCAs). The results of spatial analyses of urban Indigenous territory, a review of relevant domestic and international policy and interviews with local Indigenous conservation leaders illuminate the potential for new forms of urban conservation governance that are grounded in Indigenous rights and responsibilities and reflective of Indigenous knowledge systems and biocultural priorities. However, it remains to be seen how urban Indigenous-led conservation, such as UIPCAs, can fit and operate within proposed government urban conservation initiatives, such as Canada’s Urban National Parks Program, which do not currently foreground Indigenous-led conservation in the governance of urban green space.

Tools for Indigenous-led impact assessment: insights from five case studies

ABSTRACT Indigenous-led impact assessment (ILIA) is a project review process designed and conducted with meaningful input and an adequate degree of control by Indigenous peoples. Using a case-based approach, this paper examines ILIAs conducted in Canada. The research – tools for ILIA – provides examples of options for the design and implementation of ILIA processes which have been utilized by Indigenous Nations while making their own determinations regarding if and how development should occur according to their unique locations, histories, natural resource issues, and governance. We have identified five tools: framework agreements; customized review panels; land use and consultation policy; impact and benefit agreements; and land use planning. Each tool is described along with a case study example of how the tool was applied within ILIA. Although our work focuses on Canada, the examples and tools can be valuable for Indigenous peoples and EIA practitioners in jurisdictions elsewhere who are looking to understand how ILIA might be operationalized to reflect their settings, values, and priorities. The results are helpful to Indigenous governments and groups looking to develop their own approaches to assessment, and for understanding the relative strengths and experiences of options they may consider or adapt for their own needs.

Taking care of knowledge, taking care of salmon: towards Indigenous data sovereignty in an era of climate change and cumulative effects

In this paper, we argue that Indigenous data sovereignty (IDS) is vital for addressing threats to ecosystems, as well as for Indigenous Peoples re-establishing and maintaining sovereignty over their territories. Indigenous knowledge-holders face pressure from non-Indigenous scientists to collaborate to address environmental problems, while the open data movement is pressuring them to make their data public. We examine the role of IDS in the context of cumulative effects and climate change that threaten salmon-bearing ecosystems in British Columbia, guided by content from an online workshop in June 2022 and attended exclusively by a Tier-1 audience (First Nations knowledge-holders and/or technical staff working for Nations). Attention to data is required for fruitful collaborations between Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous researchers to address the impacts of climate change and the cumulative effects affecting salmon-bearing watersheds in BC. In addition, we provide steps that Indigenous governments can take to assert sovereignty over data, recommendations that external researchers can use to ensure they respect IDS, and questions that external researchers and Indigenous partners can discuss to guide decision-making about data management. Finally, we reflect on what we learned during the process of co-creating materials.

Indigenous and decolonial futures: Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas as potential pathways of reconciliation

Crown governments, the conservation sector, academics, and some Indigenous governments, communities, and organizations are framing Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs)—a newly recognized form of Indigenous-led conservation in Canada—as advancing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. Yet it is often unclear what is being, or could be, reconciled through IPCAs. While highly diverse, IPCAs are advanced by Indigenous Nations, governments, and communities who protect them, with or without partners, according to their Indigenous knowledge, legal, and governance systems. IPCAs may be expressions of “generative refusal,” visions of Indigenous futures, and commitments to uphold responsibilities to the lands, waters, and past and future generations. IPCAs refuse settler colonial ontologies including the expectation of ongoing white settler privilege, which relies on the continued appropriation of lands and resources. By examining the practical, relational, and systemic challenges Indigenous Nations advancing IPCAs encounter, we discuss opportunities for Crown governments and the conservation sector to cultivate decolonial responses. Indigenous Nations advancing IPCAs may face challenges with resource extraction, laws and legislation, financing, relationships and capacity, and jurisdiction and governance. We contend that IPCAs could be pathways of reconciliation if Crown governments and the conservation sector support IPCAs in ways consistent with the recommendations of Indigenous leaders. This requires dismantling the roadblocks arising from settler ontologies and institutions that impede IPCA establishment and ongoing stewardship. Thus, not only could Indigenous futures be advanced, we might also cultivate decolonial futures in which all peoples and species can thrive.

COVID-19 Containment in Indigenous Communities in North-West Saskatchewan: Community and Multi-Sectoral Stakeholder Perspectives

In the spring of 2020, remote Indigenous communities in the far north-western region of Saskatchewan, Canada, experienced a COVID-19 outbreak that required the collaboration of local leaders, Indigenous governments, and other multi-sectoral organizations. This study shares the stories of those involved in the response and illustrates the challenges, successes, and recommendations for future emergency preparedness. A total of 22 participants were interviewed from the impacted communities, government agencies, and organizations in public health, public safety, and law enforcement between May and August of 2021. Qualitative interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis resulting in the following themes: 1) Challenges, 2) Consequences, 3) Successes, and 4) Recommendations. A final knowledge translation event was held with key stakeholders, including public health professionals and community members, to co-create final recommendations for future public health responses in remote Indigenous communities. Our findings underscored the importance of community leadership, local investment, public health preparedness, and relationship building between organizations and jurisdictions. Lessons and recommendations from these stories can be applied to future pandemic preparedness in the province.

The Person and the Mirror: On the Colonial Force of Corporate Law

AbstractBuried within the everyday deployment of business vehicles by Indigenous governments as a seemingly neutral way to pursue economic development are also legal notions of corporate personhood and representation. While it is occasionally suggested that corporate law is itself part of the problem of colonialism, the idiomatic notions of “representation,” “legal personhood,” and “business as neutral” form an opaque curtain that hides colonizing tendencies within the legal structures used by Indigenous peoples. This article explores these colonial tendencies at play in Canadian corporate law, showing how corporate law’s deployment of the “legal person” sits at odds with Indigenous juridical orders.

Re‐imagining the precautionary approach to make collaborative fisheries management inclusive of Indigenous Knowledge Systems

AbstractFisheries science uses quantitative methods to inform management decisions that reflect cultural preferences which, in turn, indirectly influence the states of ecosystems. To date, it has largely supported Eurocentric preferences for the commodification of marine organisms under the tenets of maximum sustainable yield, whereby abundances are intentionally maintained far below their historical baselines despite broader socio‐ecological trade‐offs. In contrast, Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) adhere to the principle of “take only what you need and leave lots for the ecosystem,” implementing lower fishery removals to support socio‐ecological resilience. Despite the power imbalance favouring Eurocentric preferences in decision‐making, fisheries scientists increasingly recognize that the pairing of IKS and Western science, or Two‐Eyed Seeing, would lead to more holistic management goals. For recognition to transcend tokenism, meaningful collaborations and co‐governance structures underlying knowledge co‐production must carry through to legislated policy changes. Using recent co‐governance developments for fisheries management and spatial protections involving federal, provincial and Indigenous governments in Pacific Canada, we illustrate how the precautionary approach, including reference points and harvest control rules broadly applied in international fisheries, could be revised to make collaborative fisheries management compatible with IKS and improve biodiversity and fisheries protections. Our recommendations may create socio‐economic trade‐offs at different timescales for commercial fishers. Pre‐empting that challenge, we discuss IKS‐compatible economic approaches for addressing shorter term costs arising from reduced exploitation rates. Although our case study derives from Pacific Canada, the insights provided here are broadly applicable elsewhere in the world.

U.S. COUNTERINSURGENCY EFFORTS AGAINST THE “TALIBAN” IN AFGHANISTAN: POLITICAL ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT

The U.S. fought its history’s longest war to defeat the “Taliban” insurgency, one strategy for doing so involved winning the “hearts and minds” of Afghans. However, the U.S it failed in its stated objectives. The United State could have done more to try to defeat the insurgency and counter terrorist groups in Afghanistan as well as to achieve state building and peace building objectives if they could have convinced the region, especially Pakistan to cooperate towards these aims Afghan problem. The poor governance, vast corruption, lack of regional cohesion in defeating “Taliban’s” insurgency especially Pakistan’s frequent negative interference in Afghanistan and lack of legitimacy of the Afghan Government has undermined the United States counterinsurgency efforts in past two decades in Afghanistan. To elaborate on the failure of the U.S. counterinsurgency campaign, it is important to understand the essence of theory and practice. D.Galula’s theory of “counterinsurgency” is a mixture of military, political and social actions under the resilient control of a single authority. This observation leads us to one of the critical hypotheses of this research which is that by ignoring Indigenous government– as one the most significant precondition for winning counterinsurgency – resulted in the return of the “Taliban” insurgency and prolongation of the Afghan conflict. Using the interventionist theory, this paper briefly analyses the cause and consequences of the U.S. counterinsurgency efforts and its peace and state-building failure in Afghanistan.

The Usage of Indigenous Languages as a Tool for Meaningful Engagement With Northern Indigenous Governments and Communities

The Usage of Indigenous Languages as a Tool for Meaningful Engagement With Northern Indigenous Governments and Communities

The Reign of Raffles in Java in 1811-1816

Not long after the handover of Java, Lord Minto, governor of India, appointed Thomas Stamford Raffles as lieutenant-governor of Java. Coincidentally, in keeping with his feelings for the Dutch, he began his career on the island of Penang, where the British established a trading station (1786) against the trade monopoly exercised by the Dutch forces in Malacca through sea patrols. Raffles may well be regarded as a staunch hater against the Dutch who were constantly trying to destroy them before, during and after his rule in Java. The initial action of Raffles and Minto was to place the important influence attached to the administration of the domestic government in British hands. This was done through changes in the European government bureaucratic system and indigenous governments as well as changes in the administrative system of the residency area. Besides, Raffles introduced the land rental system or what is more commonly called the "land tax system", the "British system" or the "national system". The period of Raffles' rule in Java, which was relatively short, brought about a lot of changes and developments in Java.

Socio-ecological conflicts and (cosmo)political reconfigurations in the Peruvian Amazonia: the case of the Wampis Nation

ABSTRACT This paper, which draws on research carried out in collaboration with the first indigenous government to be officially constituted in the Peruvian Amazonia, the Gobierno Territorial Autónomo de la Nación Wampís (GTANW), describes the governance structure and territorial policies of this new political actor. Research activities conducted between June and August 2017 included fourteen interviews with Wampis political leaders and GTANW activists, three discussion groups organized and co-animated by the participants and the participant observation of a variety of activities related to the democratic life and territorial governance of the Wampis Nation. In the context of an explosion of social conflictuality caused by the expansion of extractive industries in Wampis territory, the GTANW puts into practice a vision of indigenous political and territorial self-determination that revendicates Wampis cosmopraxis, ancestral knowledge and traditional institutions of political leadership. Through a participatory democracy based on consensus building, Wampis political leaders and GTANW activists seek to establish an economic development model compatible with their worldview. Results suggest that, in the Peruvian Amazonian context, socio-ecological conflicts are rooted in different ontological understandings of the territory that is being disputed and of the stakeholder entities involved in the conflict, and therefore do not occur in a unified system of signs and cosmovisions shared by all the conflict stakeholders. The newly formed indigenous government’s intent is to create spaces for political dialogue in epistemic equality by translating their cosmovisions into terms that are negotiable to the State and other institutions.

Braiding Knowledges: The Canadian Mountain Network Experience

The Canadian Mountain Network (CMN) is the country's first Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE) focused on the resilience and health of mountain systems, peoples, and regions, and the first to recognize Indigenous governments and organizations as NCE-eligible partner organizations. CMN's Indigenous-led and -co-led research, training, knowledge mobilization, and networking programs represent a first-in-a-generation learning opportunity focused on how to support the weaving of Indigenous and Western knowledge systems towards respectful and impactful mountain systems research.

Wildlife health in environmental impact assessments: are we missing a key metric?

Environmental impact assessments (EIAs) aim to assess the predicted effects of future projects on the environment, human health, and the economic potential of a region. They are an instrumental tool for sustainable development and to reduce the impact of large-scale industrial projects on biodiversity. The accurate assessment of the effects of projects on wildlife populations has a variety of ecological, cultural, and economic implications. However, assessments are commonly done using indirect indicators such as the predicted impact of changes in the quantity and quality of wildlife habitat and (or) predicted changes in nonspecific wildlife population metrics (e.g., relative abundance). In recent decades, the interpretation of wildlife health has moved from the classical dichotomous state of “disease presence/absence” to a broader concept that integrates the interaction of biological, social, and environmental health determinants. We sought to determine how wildlife health metrics are used in EIA processes and propose a framework to characterize, quantify, and monitor wildlife health in future EIAs. First, we performed a targeted review of EIA documents from three jurisdictions in Canada to characterize the relevance and use of “wildlife health” in these documents. Then, we reviewed case studies and research examples to understand wildlife health in different contexts associated with conservation biology to propose a framework to incorporate wildlife health into baseline monitoring and mitigation processes in EIAs. Our targeted review illustrates that while wildlife health and related terminology is often invoked in the main and specific objectives of EIAs, it is rarely tracked and quantified in EIAs and related processes. We identified approaches that can be used to effectively incorporate wildlife health in EIAs, including context-specific wildlife health metrics, participatory epidemiology, community-based sampling, and local ecological knowledge. We illustrate case studies where wildlife health can facilitate the inclusion of communities, Indigenous governments, and local ecological knowledge into the evaluation process of projects and developments and into comanagement practices of wildlife. Our work highlights the critical need to move towards incorporating wildlife health into EIA processes to provide a more direct and holistic perspective on the potential environmental impacts and improve the opportunities for early implementation of mitigation measurements.

Islands in the Lake: Environment and Ethnohistory in Xochimilco, New Spain

Islands in the Lake: Environment and Ethnohistory in Xochimilco, New Spain

NORTH AMERICAN COMMISSION ON STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE Note 72 - Application for Revisions to the North American Stratigraphic Code to Address Culturally Offensive or Inappropriate Unit Names and to Encourage the Use of Indigenous Place Names

The North American Stratigraphic Code ("the Code") addresses the naming of formal geologic units from a scientific perspective. Guidelines based on scientific rationale are provided for assigning and revising unit names. However, whereas some scientific codes and guidelines now address the problem of offensive or inappropriate names, the Code at present has no means of addressing such matters. This omission presents a problem because most categories of formal units covered by the Code are named after geographic features, and some units have thus inherited culturally offensive or inappropriate names. The naming of geographic features (toponymy) also has reflected the historic suppression of Indigenous languages in North America. To address the first issue, additions and changes to the Code are proposed around the use of culturally offensive or inappropriate names: to explicitly counsel against their use; to provide a simplified process to rename scientifically valid units; and to invalidate nomenclatural stability as a justification for retaining such unit names. To address the second issue, additions to the Code are proposed that recognize maps produced by Indigenous governments or organizations as sources of geographic names, and that encourage the respectful use of Indigenous place names.

Duties And Responsibilities Of Customary Functionaries In The Implementation Of The Indigenous Government System In Nafri Village

The purpose of writing this article is to find out the role of customary functionaries in running the customary government system and the cooperative relations between these traditional partners in carrying out the customary government system for the indigenous people in Nafri Village. Both traditional partners from Nafri Village and also traditional partners from outside Nafri Village. This research can be categorized in the type of research with empirical aspects, because here we see the role of customary functionaries in the implementation of customary government law in the Nafri customary law community who sees the role of customary functionaries being carried out in reality. From the results of the study, it was revealed that customary functionaries have a very important role in carrying out the customary government system in the indigenous people of Nafri Village, both on ontofro and whase ontofro. And also these traditional functionaries have a cooperative relationship with traditional partners, both those from within the Nafri village itself and also traditional partners with villages from outside the Nafri village.

Shifting Authority: Indigenous Law-Making and State Governance.

How can Indigenous law-making affect state authority? I examine this in the context of Canada's extractive sector, where I question how and when Indigenous laws prevail over state laws to challenge colonial authority and reassert Indigenous self-determination. Although the state claims supreme authority, Indigenous governments are enacting their own laws, laws that are sometimes in tension with those of the state. I demonstrate that while the state usually responds to contentious Indigenous law-making with conflict, under certain conditions Indigenous communities can incite the state to reverse its position to one of acquiescence or cooperation. By drawing on insights from three Indigenous communities in Canada, I offer four conditions under which Indigenous peoples and governments may be able to compel the state to relent and accrue authority, including by preparing to engage in a long-term project, by fomenting community cohesion, by exploiting evolving international norms related to Indigenous rights, and by offering viable governance alternatives to colonial legislation. By highlighting new sites of authority and resistance, this work underscores the transformative possibilities of Indigenous politics. Une autorité en évolution : pouvoir législatif autochtone et gouvernance publique.