Brandi Morin
APTN National News
Green party leader Elizabeth May says the Justin Trudeau Liberal government should pay Indigenous people to be “earth stewards.”
May said Indigenous people are already on the frontline of the climate battle, but they are there at great cost.
“In case after case, time after time it’s Indigenous people who are on the frontline without payment and, on the contrary, at great cost,” said May. “Turning that on its head and saying let’s acknowledge the earth stewards of Turtle Island, our Indigenous peoples, not only do we learn a lot through traditional knowledge as a Western society grounded in Western science, but this merging of Western science and traditional knowledge will enrich our understanding of ecosystems and help us to protect them.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Barack Obama are expected to endorse a continental strategy on climate change Thursday in Washington, DC.
May said as climate talks continue moving forward, the Liberal government needs to make sure if doesn’t leave Indigenous people behind.
“You can’t get a national solution when you leave out key decision makers, so I’m hoping the Liberals will move in that direction,” said May. “Have they got it quite right in terms of their engagement of First Nations, Metis and Inuit? I’ll leave that to Indigenous peoples to say.”
Assembly of First Nations Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day said he is concerned Ottawa seems to be pushing ahead with climate change plans without engaging in a real way with First Nation people and communities.
“What we need to see is that governments are including us in the front end and not just having a pre-meeting for show, we need to see formal inclusion,” said Day.
He said that life is changing rapidly on the land and animals are being listed as species of concern at alarming rates and some nearing extinction.
First Nations in Ontario are also witnessing a rapid change in temperatures is creating serious stress on communities already gripped by crisis on issues like clean drinking water, poverty and educational deficiencies.
“We just need to look around, you see the physical changes but you also have to factor in the social impacts. There’s some very real severe impacts to climate change right across the board,” said Day.
The regional chief agrees with May that investing with First Nations to help combat climate change will help catapult green economies and solve longstanding issues.
“First Nations have not been afforded our fair share of resource development revenues to the point where we have the capacity to contribute to the solutions. Now we have to be very clear to the prime minister that we need the resources and we need to build a new business model that looks at the issue of dealing with climate change as an essential cost,” said Day. “That will be part of every sort of business model that the government and First Nations endorse going forward. Even if it’s retail, a restaurant, a tire store or a major development.”
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