NWAC’s environment team continues to work on important projects related to water, climate change, biodiversity and transportation issues.
Most of our team’s energy in November focused on implementing the next phase of our two largest projects funded by Transport Canada, the Indigenous Knowledge Framework (IKF) and Canadian Navigable Waters Act (CNWA). Following our engagement sessions with Indigenous women and gender-diverse people about the CNWA and the IKF in October, the environment team has been busy organizing two national expert engagement symposiums. The CNWA symposium will be held on December 6, 2021, and will bring together 8 to 10 Indigenous women and gender-diverse people to share their knowledge and expertise about how the government should engage with Indigenous women and gender-diverse people on issues related to water and navigation. Similarly, the IKF symposium scheduled for December 13, 2021, will bring together 6 to 8 Indigenous women and gender-diverse people to get their input on how the IKF should consider Indigenous women and gender-diverse people’s knowledge and how this can be implemented in the government’s current IKF.
Our team also spent the month of November organizing and preparing for the next phase of the Fish and Fish Habitat Protection (FFHP) project. In the upcoming months, we will be holding three engagement sessions with 15 Indigenous women and gender-diverse people per session to understand how the FFHP provisions under the Fisheries Act impact them. Our team is also continuing to update and maintain the FFHP portal, which is the central communication hub on issues related to the FFHP for Indigenous women and gender-diverse people.
Lastly, our team continued to support four of NWAC’s provincial and territorial member associations (PTMAs) in conducting a Climate Change Survey at the regional and grassroots level. In November, we held three engagement sessions with 15 Indigenous women, gender-diverse, and Two-Spirit people on climate change, conservation, and biodiversity. We have also started to write a 20-page report summarizing the key findings from the engagement sessions.
We also have been working with the PTMAs to develop their report writing and research skills to create a uniform moderator’s guide, background project document, and template of the engagement sessions to ensure that all regions are using the same methodology.
Our team is excited to see all of our November preparation come to fruition in the coming months!