Our Projects

Working with Aboriginal Communities

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The Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI) is working with a number of Aboriginal organizations and communities from across Canada to advance the Boreal Forest Conservation Framework, a balanced vision of conservation and development that respects Aboriginal and treaty rights and promotes Aboriginal leadership in land and resource management.

Our Aboriginal partners include individual First Nations, Tribal Councils, provincial/territorial organizations, and environmental and cultural institutes.  The success of the work between CBI and Aboriginal organizations is based on mutual understandings and shared objectives, rooted in strong relationships and clearly defined goals.

One of the key commitments of the Boreal Framework is to “support effective land use planning exercises, using science and traditional ecological knowledge and participating with governments [and] Aboriginal people.”  CBI recognizes the challenges that First Nations and Aboriginal communities face in trying to ensure recognition and accommodation of Aboriginal rights and title; undertake meaningful consultations; and promote Aboriginal models of resource management.  CBI is committed to assisting First Nations overcome these challenges, and has provided nearly $3 million over the past 4 years to First Nations to facilitate this work.

Partnerships between Aboriginal communities and CBI develop over time, usually beginning with an invitation or an introduction from community leaders to CBI.  Following meaningful discussions between CBI and leadership to define mutual goals, specific projects may be identified to advance the partnership under a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).  Partnerships are based on mutual respect and shared commitment to ensuring that both the short and long term goals are realized.  The MOU has been an effective tool in guiding these relationships, and ensures that common goals, guiding principles, and specific objectives are identified and formulated to fit the individual circumstances of each partnership.

Most Aboriginal communities have unique needs, and the variety of projects that CBI has supported reflect the priorities of our partners:

• Innu Nation - CBI supported training and capacity development for Innu Nation Forest Guardians to ensure implementation of an ecosystem-based forest management plan, and assisted Innu Nation to develop communications materials that enable their plan to be used as a model for other community-led forest management initiatives.

• Mistissini Cree Nation - CBI provided strategic support for communications and government outreach and funding to increase resource management capacity.

• Ouje-Bougoumou Cree Nation –CBI provided strategic support through communications and government outreach.

• Grassy Narrows First Nation - CBI supported the Grassy Narrows First Nation Community in gathering the cultural and technical information needed to develop an Anishinaabe culture and ecosystem based planning process for the traditional territory of the Grassy Narrows people, and to conduct community workshops and meetings.

• Moose Cree First Nation – CBI is supporting capacity development and GIS support for the creation of a Land Use Plan and provided resources to hold community workshops.

• Mushkegowuk Environmental Resource Council – CBI is providing support for the development of an Aboriginal discussion document about carbon management.

• Wabanong Nakaygum Okimawin – CBI assisted in communications and government outreach and provided support for a regional workshop with 16 First Nations on Land Use Planning.

• Nishnawbe Aski Nation - CBI supported NAN in hosting a Special Chiefs Conference on Lands and Resources and provided capacity support to address mining and forest priorities. CBI also supported the development and publication of the third edition of the NAN Consultation Process document.

• Poplar River First Nation - CBI supported development of the management plan for the protected area, including the completion of relevant studies; protected areas planning; and consultations and meetings within the community and with adjacent communities involved in a World Heritage Site proposal.

• Bloodvein First Nation, Little Grand Rapids First Nation and Pauingassi First Nation - CBI is supporting the development of land use plans in each of these communities by providing capacity and technical support for community-based Land Use Plan Coordinators.

• Prince Albert Grand Council - CBI assisted PAGC in the completion of Phase I of their land use plan, and is supporting capacity necessary for the detailed planning and completion of the land use plan.

• Little Red River Cree Nation - CBI supported the development of a number of resource management strategies and a study of High Conservation Value Forests within their traditional territory as a first step towards FSC certification.

• Kaska Nation - CBI is supporting the work of the Dena Kayeh Institute to complete a number of initiatives, including the compilation and organization of Kaska traditional knowledge (including the establishment of appropriate methodologies and policies that incorporate mechanisms to ensure protection of Kaska intellectual property rights) and the integration of this knowledge into land and resource management decision-making processes.

• Treaty 8 Tribal Association of Alberta - CBI is partnering with the T8TA in the development of a self-financed First Nations-led cumulative impact management and assessment system addressing the full spectrum of cumulative industrial impacts in northeastern BC.

• Northern Nations Alliance - CBI and the NNA are working in partnership and in support of the member nations of the NNA to advance the development of Land Use Plans for state-of-the-art sustainable development and conservation in a manner that will support the recognition and affirmation of the Aboriginal rights, titles and interests.

• Dehcho First Nations - CBI supported specific initiatives to advance the Dehcho Land Use Plan, including preparation and digitization of GIS maps; community consultations and meetings; and sponsorship for the 2006 Keepers of the Water gathering in Fort Simpson to advance recognition of Aboriginal and treaty rights to water.

• Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation –CBI is supporting the LKDFN in the establishment of a new National Park in the Thaydene Nene region, adoption of the Thelon Game Sanctuary management plan in the Northwest Territories, and the designation of special management areas in the upper Thelon basin.

• Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources - CBI is working with CIER in delivering an Aboriginal Leadership Program (ALP) to build community capacity and help key individuals develop essential leadership and professional skills.

• National Aboriginal Forestry Association - CBI partnered with NAFA on research exploring the extent to which forest management practices in Ontario meet the expectations of Aboriginal peoples and coordination of a team of diverse stakeholders to implement Theme Three of the National Forestry Strategy of Canada (NFS).

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October 2010: Katinniapik - A report from the 6th Northern Aboriginal Seminar

The “Plan Nord” and the 50% Challenge
Setting the milestones to achieve a new conservations and development model in Quebec
The 6th Northern Aboriginal Seminar was held from August 9 to 13, 2010, at Mushuau-nipi, on George River, some 250 km northeast of Schefferville