Policy Sectors

Engaging Indigenous People in Climate change Policy

First Nations, Inuit, and Métis women, girls, gender diverse and Two-Spirit peoples in Canada are disproportionately impacted by climate change.

Climate change impacts Indigenous communities across Canada in serious ways. Climate change threatens the ability of Indigenous peoples and communities to exercise their constitutionally protected rights, including the rights to hunt, fish and carry out traditional lifestyle practices and ceremonies.

Indigenous communities, particularly Indigenous women, girls, gender-diverse, and Two-Spirit are more likely to experience the adverse effects of climate change in a number of ways: having their diets altered as a result of changing ecosystems and migration patterns; changing their modes and pathways of transportation; their cultural ways of life; and, their abilities to access essential resources and services such as clean drinking water.

Against this backdrop, NWACC is conducting work on the significant challenges Indigenous women, girls, gender diverse and Two-Spirit people face in relation to the impacts of climate change.

Contact

Vilbert Vabi
Sr. Policy Advisor - Environment

Website: EIPCCP | Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC)

Goals

NWAC is currently working with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) on a five-year project to:

  • identify opportunities to build the local capacity of Indigenous women, girls, gender diverse and Two-Spirit people to help understand and reduce the risks of changing climate conditions;
  • gain an in-depth understanding of long-term trends and impacts of climate change by combining newly collected data with traditional knowledge to make relevant and pertinent decisions;
  • assess and respond to the direct impacts of climate change;
  • develop locally appropriate renewable energy options to assist in the reduction of carbon-intensive emissions from diesel generator.