As a foundation for the Strategy, First Nations in BC must be recognized as inherent Title and Rights holders in climate planning and response. The aim is to provide an opportunity to begin a new path where First Nations are treated as true and equal partners in climate planning and response.
Self-Determination and Self-Government
1.1.1Ensure First Nations in BC have full enjoyment of their rights to self-determination and self-government in climate planning and response.
1.1.2Respect and support First Nations in developing, maintaining, and implementing their own institutions, governing bodies, and political, economic, and social structures related to climate change.
Strategies and Actions
Priority
Implementation Recommendations
a)Co-develop processes with transformed decision-making where First Nations are recognized as governments holding inherent jurisdiction in climate planning and response. This includes jurisdiction to manage and care for their territories, resources, and economy.
Immediate
- All entities engaging with First Nations in BC must transform and co-develop decision-making processes and agreements with one another in line with the identified actions. This specifically includes Crown governments and entities in the private sector.
- The FNLC to advocate for the implementation of these actions while supporting First Nations to assert their rights to self-determination and self-government in climate response.
b)Engage with First Nations through a government-to-government relationship based on the recognition and implementation of their inherent Title, Rights, and jurisdiction.
Ongoing
c)Respect the development and implementation of First Nations laws, policies, or programs, including those that guide land, water, and environmental protection and stewardship, emergency management, and related decision-making.
Ongoing
Legislation, Policy, and Program Reform
1.2.1Ensure all climate-related legislation, policies, programs, and their implementation mechanisms are aligned with the UN Declaration and the Declaration Acts.
1.2.2Remove legislative barriers on First Nations in BC in being able to exercise their inherent Title, Rights, and Treaty Rights in climate planning and response.
1.2.3Strengthen collaboration and partnership between First Nations in BC and Crown governments in climate response, conservation, and environmental, land, and water protection and stewardship.
Strategies and Actions
Priority
Implementation Recommendations
a)Conduct a review at both the provincial and federal levels of current climate-related legislation, regulations, policies (including CleanBC policies), and programs to:
- Identify barriers, impacts, and limitations on the assertion of First Nations’ Title, Rights, Treaty Rights, and jurisdiction in climate planning and response. This includes any restrictions on consent-based decision-making in line with the minimum standard of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC).
Develop reform recommendations and a work/implementation plan with timelines, continued updates, milestones, and indicators of success. - Develop reform recommendations and a work/implementation plan with timelines, continued updates, milestones, and indicators of success.
Immediate
- Crown governments to work in collaboration with First Nations in BC to prepare a review/report on climate-related legislation, regulations, policies, and programs in line with this action.
- Crown governments are responsible for reviewing, implementing, and reporting the progress of the identified recommendations.
- The FNLC to support First Nations to implement the above.
b)Establish protocols, mechanisms, or guides for provincial and federal government agencies to use in order to:
- Ensure that climate-related legislation, policies, and programs are co-developed with First Nations in BC through meaningful engagement and collaboration.
- Ensure inclusive and diverse representation of First Nations in BC, including leadership, Elders, Knowledge Holders, youth, women, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals at climate-related discussion tables.
Ongoing
- Crown governments to work in collaboration with interested First Nations in BC to co-develop protocols, mechanisms, or guides in line with this action.
- The FNLC to support First Nations at their request to implement the above.
c)Conduct a publicly available assessment on how the UN Declaration can be used to assert and protect Title and Rights in climate action in various venues.
Ongoing
- The FNLC to collaborate with interested First Nations in BC to draft and share this resource.
Examples of key legislation:
Federal Legislation: Indian Act; Species at Risk Act; Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act; Impact Assessment Act; Environmental Assessment Act; Fisheries Act; Migratory Birds Convention Act
Provincial Legislation: Clean Energy Act; Climate Change Accountability Act; Carbon Tax Act; Environmental Management Act; Fisheries Act; Oil and Gas Activities Act; Mineral Tenure Act; Forest Act; Water Sustainability Act; Wildlife Act; Heritage Conservation Act; Riparian Areas Protection Act.
Indigenous Knowledge, Laws, and Languages
1.3.1Support the preservation and use of First Nations knowledge, laws, and languages as a foundation to build resiliency and respond to the climate crisis today and in the future.
1.3.2Revitalize and implement First Nations laws and legal orders to guide climate change response.
Strategies and Actions
Priority
Implementation Recommendations
a)Increase representation of Elders and/or Knowledge Holders in state-led climate discussions and response initiatives.
Immediate
- Crown governments to work in collaboration with interested First Nations in BC to develop mechanisms to implement this action.
- The FNLC to support First Nations at their request to implement the above.
- See Theme 1.2 for more implementation recommendations.
b)Create opportunities for climate action collaboration between Elders and/or Knowledge Holders and First Nations youth.
Immediate
- Interested First Nations in BC, with financial support from Crown governments and/or organizations, to develop initiatives in their own self-determined ways to implement this action.
c)Support interested First Nations communities with the:
- Implementation of climate discussion circles, storytelling and teaching, and land-based learning initiatives between Elders and/or Knowledge Holders and First Nations youth.
- Selection of oral narratives and stories to identify legal principles relating to the stewardship of lands, resources, and the environment.
- Development and/or implementation of specific laws, policies, programs, and strategies to inform climate action and environmental protection and stewardship broadly.
Ongoing
- Crown governments, like-minded organizations, educational institutions, legal practitioners, academics, and individuals with appropriate training to support interested First Nations communities seeking to implement this action.
d)Support the creation of Nation-specific climate glossaries grounded in traditional language(s) to adapt colonial climate terminology.
Ongoing
- Interested First Nations in BC to work to draft this resource in collaboration with Elders and/or Knowledge Holders and language speakers.
- The FNLC to support First Nations at their request to implement the above.
e)Explore partnerships with education institutions and organizations to collaborate in the revitalization and use of First Nations laws and legal orders in the climate context.
Ongoing
- Interested First Nations in BC are encouraged to explore these types of partnerships.
Crown Engagement and Honouring Commitments
1.4.1Strengthen the Crown “duty to consult” by ensuring meaningful Crown engagement, collaboration, and partnership with First Nations in climate planning and response.
1.4.2Support First Nations capacity to meaningfully participate in negotiations, consultations, and climate-related engagement and collaboration discussions.
Strategies and Actions
Priority
Implementation Recommendations
a)Engage with First Nations as inherent Title and Rights holders and respect their self-determination and self-government throughout engagement discussions and related decision-making in line with Theme 1.1.
Immediate
- Crown governments, at all levels, must immediately implement this action at all discussion tables.
b)Review current state-led First Nations and Indigenous engagement and consultation frameworks to:
- Identify limitations that prevent First Nations from fully participating in climate-related engagement processes and decision-making.
- Ensure broad active participation and representation of First Nations at all levels in the community through engagement and collaboration activities.
- Strengthen co-management and decision-making processes related to climate planning and response.
- Develop tools for governments and relevant stakeholders, such as engagement guidelines and best practices.
- Ensure Crown governments provide information and resources to First Nations communities well in advance of climate-related engagement and discussions, negotiations, and consultations.
- Ensure that relevant decision-makers with the respective authority to make decisions are at the table during climate discussions and relevant decision-making processes with First Nations.
Immediate
- Crown governments to work in collaboration with interested First Nations in BC to prepare a review/report in line with this action and provide recommendations. This includes the development of a work and implementation plan with measurables, targets, and indicators of success to monitor progress.
- The FNLC to support First Nations at their request to implement the above.
c)Improve inter-ministerial collaboration in state-led climate engagement processes with First Nations and develop annually updated mechanisms to measure their progress.
Ongoing
- Crown governments, at all levels, to strengthen inter-ministerial and internal processes in this regard.
Public Knowledge and Education
1.5.1Enhance public knowledge and understanding of the societal, cultural, and economic consequences of climate change impacts on First Nations in BC, as well as the unique and essential role of Indigenous Peoples in addressing the climate crisis.
1.5.2Increase public understanding of the role of colonization and colonial laws, such as the Indian Act, in limiting and restricting First Nations ability to respond to climate change.
Strategies and Actions
Priority
Implementation Recommendations
a)Identify curriculum reform recommendations at all levels throughout the province to incorporate content about:
- First Nations in BC and their history, culture, traditional territories, connection to the land and waters, and inherent Title, Rights, and Treaty Rights.
- Historic and current forms of colonization experienced by First Nations in BC and how communities are impacted by the cumulation of colonization, climate change, and current state-led climate responses.
- The essential globally recognized role of Indigenous Peoples in addressing the climate crisis.
Ongoing
- Educational institutions, at all levels, are encouraged to work in collaboration with First Nations in BC to develop curriculum reform recommendations in line with this action.
b)Develop publicly available educational materials (pamphlets, webpages, reports, videos) highlighting impacts and threats of climate change on First Nations communities.
Ongoing
- Interested First Nations in BC, with support from Crown governments, like-minded organizations, school districts and private investors, to develop these resources.
c)Build competence and understanding within Crown governments, entities in the private sector, and their respective institutions relating to First Nations’ Title, Rights, and Treaty Rights.
Immediate
- Crown governments, organizations, and entities in the private sector to must immediately develop mechanisms to implement this action.
d)Improve public education regarding the principle of FPIC including the rationale behind FPIC, the content of FPIC, and the difference between FPIC and a “veto”.
Ongoing
- Interested First Nations in BC, with support from First Nations organizations, to develop/improve materials to implement this action.
e)Create space where interested First Nations communities may safely and comfortably invite non-Indigenous peoples to tables to discuss and share their priorities, challenges, and responses in the climate context.
Ongoing
- First Nations in BC are encouraged to explore ways to implement this action in their own self-determined ways.