Indigenous Habitat Protection Program

Indigenous women, girls, and gender-diverse people hold vital knowledge and responsibilities in protecting fish, waters, and the ecosystems that sustain all life.

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About the Habitat Protection Project

Fish are sacred relatives. They connect us to the waters, to each other, and to all life. Their wellbeing reflects the health of our ecosystems and the waters that flow across them.

The Fish and Fish Habitat Protection (FFHP) project uplifts the leadership, rights, and perspectives of Indigenous women, in all their gender diversity, within conversation of freshwater and marine ecosystems. As caretakers and stewards to the waters of Mother Earth, Indigenous women, in all their gender diversity, offer unique and critical insights to the aquatic world. NWAC responds to multi-year engagement initiatives by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), ensuring that Indigenous women’s lived experiences, Traditional Knowledge, and environmental values inform policy changes under the Fisheries Act and Species at Risk Act.

SEARCH RESOURCES

Phase 1: Foundational Engagement

NWAC launched its first phase of engagement to gather the perspectives of Indigenous women, in all their diversity, on fish and fish habitat protection. Roundtables explored gendered impacts, Indigenous governance, and knowledge systems. Key insights informed NWAC’s first set of formal recommendations to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Phase 2: Restoration Priorities and Community Voices

Engagements to explore drivers of fish habitat degradation and identify restoration priorities. Through roundtables, interviews, and surveys, Indigenous women and Knowledge Keepers, in all their gender diversity, inform DFO’s planning framework for fish habitat restoration and offsetting strategies.

Phase 3: Regulatory Feedback and Species Protection

Engagements on fish habitat protection and aquatic species conservation. This phase focuses on habitat offsetting, codes of practice, and species-at-risk frameworks – ensuring Indigenous women’s perspectives, in all their gender diversity, are meaningfully reflected in regulatory updates under the Fisheries Act and Species at Risk Act.

Phase 4: Climate Change and Indigenous Values

A gender-focused, values-based phase to explore how climate change and human activity impact fish, habitats, and the lives of Indigenous women, in all their gender diversity. This phase ensures Indigenous voices inform future updates to the Fisheries Act and Species at Risk Act.
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Phase 3: Regulatory Feedback and Species Protection

NWAC advanced its engagement with Indigenous women, in all their diversity, to explore how new regulatory proposals under the Fisheries Act and Species at Risk Act affect fish and fish habitat. Building on Waves 1 and 2, this phase focused on proposed changes to habitat offsetting and banking policy, interim and new codes of practice, and the framework for aquatic species at risk conservation. Engagement methods included roundtables and surveys that centered Indigenous women lived experiences in all their gender diversity, Traditional Knowledge, and perspectives.

Reports

New interim standard and codes of practice report

New Interim Standard and Codes of Practice Report

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New building principles for modernizing fish habitat offsetting and banking report

New Building Principles for Modernizing Fish Habitat Offsetting and Banking Report

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Developing a framework for aquatic species at risk conservation

Developing a Framework for Aquatic Species at Risk Conservation: A Multi-Species Approach Report

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Phase 4: Climate Change and Indigenous Values

In response to persistent gaps across earlier waves, NWAC led a values-based and gender-focused engagements centered on climate change and human-caused environmental impacts. Through a synthesis of previous waves, a national survey, and a roundtable on gender-informed values, NWAC gathered powerful insights on how fish and fish habitat degradation affect the lives, rights, and responsibilities of Indigenous women in all their diversity. These findings will inform future amendments to the Fisheries Act and Species at Risk Act, ensuring Indigenous women’s voices are embedded in conservation, climate adaptation, and environmental stewardship frameworks.

Reports

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Wave 4 Synthesis Report

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Roundtable Summary Matrix

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National Survey Report

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