scholarly journals Renewable energy and energy autonomy: how Indigenous peoples in Canada are shaping an energy future

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Stefanelli ◽  
Chad Walker ◽  
Derek Kornelsen ◽  
Diana Lewis ◽  
Debbie H. Martin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Keyword Search ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Energy Autonomy

In 2015, the Liberal Party of Canada formed a majority federal government on a platform that included prioritizing Nation-to-Nation relationships with Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) peoples in the country and re-asserting global leadership in climate change action by moving away from fossil-fuel based extraction and toward renewable energy initiatives. It may be argued that addressing both of these issues, advancing Indigenous–Settler reconciliation, and mitigating climate change, can be done in the same space. Indeed, though Indigenous peoples in Canada and elsewhere have recently moved forward with renewable energy initiatives within their Territories, there has been very little critical analysis on just how such projects have been operationalized and whether renewable energy can or even should be considered a vehicle for reconciliation efforts. In this paper, we present a systematic review of Canadian literature (spanning from 1980 to 2017) concerning Indigenous peoples’ involvement in renewable energy to better understand the stated motivations and desires of Indigenous peoples in Canada taking leadership, partnering in, and (or) participating in the renewable energy sector. Using a series of keyword search strings across three academic databases, two theses databases, and a grey literature search, we retrieved literature (n = 980) that was subjected to four exclusionary forms and then thematically analyzed the included literature (n = 26). Our findings suggest Indigenous peoples’ experiences and motivations are varied, yet many are developing renewable energy in their Territories to: break free of colonial ties, move towards energy autonomy, establish more reliable energy systems, and reap the long-term financial benefits that clean energy can provide. Despite the apparent advantages seen throughout most of the literature reviewed here, we suggest further research in this area is necessary before this kind of positive rhetoric of renewable energy in Indigenous communities builds enough momentum that proponents become blind to possible shortcomings. We conclude with a broader discussion of the interactions between Indigenous–Settler reconciliation in the context of renewable energy projects as well as offering indicators for future research to fill current knowledge gaps.

Indigenous climate change adaptation: New directions for emerging scholarship

2021 ◽  
pp. 251484862110224
Author(s):  
Danielle Emma Johnson ◽  
Meg Parsons ◽  
Karen Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Cultural Continuity ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Indigenous Development

Although Indigenous peoples’ perspectives and concerns have not always been accommodated in climate change adaptation research and practice, a burgeoning literature is helping to reframe and decolonise climate adaptation in line with Indigenous peoples’ lived experiences. In this review, we bring together climate adaptation, decolonising and intersectional scholarship to chart the progress that has been made in better analysing and responding to climate change in Indigenous contexts. We identify a wealth of literature helping to decolonise climate adaptation scholarship and praxis by attending to colonial and neo-colonial injustices implicated in Indigenous peoples’ climate vulnerability, taking seriously Indigenous peoples’ relational ontologies, and promoting adaptation that draws on Indigenous capacities and aspirations for self-determination and cultural continuity. Despite calls to interrogate heterogenous experiences of climate change within Indigenous communities, the decolonising climate and adaptation scholarship has made limited advances in this area. We examine the small body of research that takes an intersectional approach to climate adaptation and explores how the multiple subjectivities and identities that Indigenous peoples occupy produce unique vulnerabilities, capacities and encounters with adaptation policy. We suggest the field might be expanded by drawing on related studies from Indigenous development, natural resource management, conservation, feminism, health and food sovereignty. Greater engagement with intersectionality works to drive innovation in decolonising climate adaptation scholarship and practice. It can mitigate the risk of maladaptation, avoid entrenchment of inequitable power dynamics, and ensures that even the most marginal groups within Indigenous communities benefit from adaptation policies and programmes.

Extreme weather highlights longer-term Canada concerns

2022 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Focused Attention ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Weather Patterns ◽  
Extreme Cold ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ways Of Life ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Significance The extreme cold comes as the province is still dealing with the damage caused by unprecedented levels of heat and wildfires last summer and then record levels of rainfall and flooding in November. Its experience has focused attention on Canada’s wider vulnerability to the impact of shifting weather patterns and climate change. Impacts The natural resource sectors that are vital to Canada’s economy face an increasingly difficult environment for extraction. Indigenous peoples across the country will see their traditional ways of life further disrupted by climate change. The increasingly evident impacts of climate change on day-to-day life will see voters demand greater action from government. Significant investment in green initiatives, clean energy and climate resiliency initiatives will boost green industries.

scholarly journals Cannabis, Reconciliation, and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Prospects and Challenges for Cannabis Legalization in Canada

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantia Koutouki ◽  
Katherine Lofts
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
New Era ◽  
Real Risk ◽  
Inuit Peoples

The provisions of the federal Cannabis Act came into force on 17 October 2018, opening a new era of cannabis management in Canada. We examine cannabis in Canada through the lens of reconciliation and the rights of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples. There is potential for Indigenous communities to benefit from cannabis legalization, but also a very real risk that the new legal framework will simply perpetuate existing injustices. We show that the new legislation is inadequate both in terms of lack of consultation with Indigenous communities, as well as in terms of substantive provisions — and omissions — in the legislation itself.

Indigenous Studies in the United States and Canada

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aubrey Jean Hanson ◽  
Sam McKegney
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Native American ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Indigenous Voices

Indigenous literary studies, as a field, is as diverse as Indigenous Peoples. Comprising study of texts by Indigenous authors, as well as literary study using Indigenous interpretive methods, Indigenous literary studies is centered on the significance of stories within Indigenous communities. Embodying continuity with traditional oral stories, expanding rapidly with growth in publishing, and traversing a wild range of generic innovation, Indigenous voices ring out powerfully across the literary landscape. Having always had a central place within Indigenous communities, where they are interwoven with the significance of people’s lives, Indigenous stories also gained more attention among non-Indigenous readers in the United States and Canada as the 20th century rolled into the 21st. As relationships between Indigenous Peoples (Native American, First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) and non-Indigenous people continue to be a social, political, and cultural focus in these two nation-states, and as Indigenous Peoples continue to work for self-determination amid colonial systems and structures, literary art plays an important role in representing Indigenous realities and inspiring continuity and change. An educational dimension also exists for Indigenous literatures, in that they offer opportunities for non-Indigenous readerships—and, indeed, for readers from within Indigenous nations—to learn about Indigenous people and perspectives. Texts are crucially tied to contexts; therefore, engaging with Indigenous literatures requires readers to pursue and step into that beauty and complexity. Indigenous literatures are also impressive in their artistry; in conveying the brilliance of Indigenous Peoples; in expressing Indigenous voices and stories; in connecting pasts, presents, and futures; and in imagining better ways to enact relationality with other people and with other-than-human relatives. Indigenous literatures span diverse nations across vast territories and materialize in every genre. While critics new to the field may find it an adjustment to step into the responsibility—for instance, to land, community, and Peoplehood—that these literatures call for, the returns are great, as engaging with Indigenous literatures opens up space for relationship, self-reflexivity, and appreciation for exceptional literary artistry. Indigenous literatures invite readers and critics to center in Indigeneity, to build good relations, to engage beyond the text, and to attend to Indigenous storyways—ways of knowing, being, and doing through story.

scholarly journals Effects of food policy actions on Indigenous Peoples’ nutrition-related outcomes: a systematic review

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. e002442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Browne ◽  
Mark Lock ◽  
Troy Walker ◽  
Mikaela Egan ◽  
Kathryn Backholer
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Food Policy ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Nutrition Policy ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Targeted Interventions ◽  
Food And Nutrition ◽  
The Impact

IntroductionIndigenous Peoples worldwide endure unacceptable health disparities with undernutrition and food insecurity often coexisting with obesity and chronic diseases. Policy-level actions are required to eliminate malnutrition in all its forms. However, there has been no systematic synthesis of the evidence of effectiveness of food and nutrition policies for Indigenous Peoples around the world. This review fills that gap.MethodsEight databases were searched for peer-reviewed literature, published between 2000 and 2019. Relevant websites were searched for grey literature. Articles were included if they were original studies, published in English and included data from Indigenous Peoples from Western colonised countries, evaluated a food or nutrition policy (or intervention), and provided quantitative impact/outcome data. Study screening, data extraction and quality assessment were undertaken independently by two authors, at least one of whom was Indigenous. A narrative synthesis was undertaken with studies grouped according to the NOURISHING food policy framework.ResultsWe identified 78 studies from Canada, Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand and the USA. Most studies evaluated targeted interventions, focused on rural or remote Indigenous communities. The most effective interventions combined educational strategies with policies targeting food price, composition and/or availability, particularly in retail and school environments. Interventions to reduce exposure to unhealthy food advertising was the only area of the NOURISHING framework not represented in the literature. Few studies examined the impact of universal food policies on Indigenous Peoples’ diets, health or well-being.ConclusionBoth targeted and universal policy action can be effective for Indigenous Peoples. Actions that modify the structures and systems governing food supply through improved availability, access and affordability of healthy foods should be prioritised. More high-quality evidence on the impact of universal food and nutrition policy actions for Indigenous Peoples is required, particularly in urban areas and in the area of food marketing.

scholarly journals International and Domestic Law Dimensions of Climate Justice for Arctic Indigenous Peoples

2014 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 113-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Ann Kronk Warner ◽  
Randall S. Abate
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Indian Country ◽  
Indigenous Nations ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

The Arctic region is in crisis from the effects of climate change. The impacts of climate change pose a particular threat to Arctic indigenous communities. Because of the disproportionate impacts of climate change, these indigenous communities are environmental justice communities. Part I of this article discusses how indigenous nations are environmental justice communities and discusses the unique factors that may apply to environmental justice claims arising in Indian country. The article then presents two case studies to explore how, if at all, these concepts have been previously applied to environmental justice claims brought by various Arctic indigenous communities. Part II addresses the Inuit Circumpolar Conference’s petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Part III considers the Native Village of Kivalina’s lawsuit against numerous private emitters of greenhouse gases. These case studies underscore the failure of international and domestic forums’ consideration of the special situation of Arctic indigenous peoples as environmental justice communities.

Indigenous communities and climate change: a Recognition, Empowerment and Devolution (RED) framework in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Nikolakis ◽  
Quentin Grafton ◽  
Aimee Nygaard
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Indigenous Cultures ◽  
Murray Darling Basin ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Depth Interviews

Climate change directly threatens Indigenous cultures and livelihoods across Australia's Murray-Darling Basin (MDB). Using a modified grounded theory methodology, this study draws on in-depth interviews with Indigenous leaders and elders across the MDB to highlight that climate variability and over-extraction of water resources by agricultural users directly threatens the integrity of aquatic systems. As a consequence, Indigenous cultures and livelihoods reliant on these natural systems are at risk. Interviewees identify a range of systemic barriers that entrench vulnerability of Indigenous Peoples (IPs) in the MDB. Building on insights from the literature and from interviews, a Recognition, Empowerment and Devolution (RED) framework is developed to establish possible pathways to support climate adaptation by rural IPs. Fundamental to this RED framework is the need for non-Indigenous socio-institutional structures to create a ‘space’ to allow IPs the ability to adapt in their own ways to climate impacts.

scholarly journals Traditional Knowledge: Considerations for Protecting Water in Ontario

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah McGregor
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Traditional Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Regulatory Documents ◽  
Nations People ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
First Nations People ◽  
Ways Of Life

In Canada, the water crisis increasingly felt around the world is being experienced primarily in small, usually Indigenous, communities. At the heart of this issue lies an ongoing struggle to have Indigenous voices heard in the decision-making processes that affect their lives, lands, and waters. As part of ancient systems of Traditional Knowledge (TK), Indigenous people bear the knowledge and the responsibility to care for the waters upon which they depend for survival. A series of internationally developed documents has supported Indigenous peoples’ calls for increased recognition of the importance of TK in resolving environmental crises, including those involving water. Ontario provincial and Canadian federal governments have been developing legislative and regulatory documents to help fend off further water-related catastrophes within their jurisdictions. Despite such efforts, a number of barriers to the successful and appropriate involvement of TK in water management remain. Based on years of community-based and policy-related research with First Nations people involved in water-related undertakings, this article highlights progress made to date, and provides Indigenous viewpoints on what further steps need to be taken. Key among these steps are the need to restore and maintain Indigenous access to traditional territories and ways of life, and the requirement for mutually respectful collaboration between TK and Western science.

scholarly journals Qualitative Health Research Involving Indigenous Peoples: Culturally Appropriate Data Collection Methods

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Wright ◽  
Olive Wahoush ◽  
Marilyn Ballantyne ◽  
Chelsea Gabel ◽  
Susan Jack
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Policy Statement ◽  
Culturally Appropriate ◽  
Data Collection Methods ◽  
Collection Methods

Historically, health research involving Indigenous peoples has been fraught with problems, including researchers not addressing Indigenous research priorities and then subsequently often failing to utilize culturally appropriate methods. Given this historical precedence, some Indigenous populations may be reluctant to participate in research projects. In response to these concerns, the Government of Canada has developed the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS2): Research Involving the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples of Canada, which stipulates the requirements for research collaborations with Indigenous communities. Utilizing this policy as an ethical standard for research practices, this paper describes, critiques and synthesizes the literature on culturally appropriate oral-data collection methods, excluding interviews and focus groups, for use with Indigenous people in Canada. Results suggest that photovoice, symbol-based reflection, circles and story-telling can be methodologically rigorous and culturally appropriate methods of collecting data with this population. Suggestions are made for researchers wishing to use these methods to promote respectful and collaborative research partnerships with Indigenous peoples in Canada.

scholarly journals Coping with Hypertension among Indigenous Peoples in Brazil and the Role of the Primary Care Nurse: A Critical Review from a Transcultural Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 942-954
Author(s):  
Mauricio Viana Gomes Oliveira ◽  
Ângela Maria Mendes Abreu ◽  
James R. Welch ◽  
Carlos E. A. Coimbra
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Nursing Education ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Keyword Search ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
National Standards ◽  
Clinical Communication ◽  
Manual Search

Our objective is to critically review the literature addressing the strategic role of nurses in the daily primary care of arterial hypertension in Indigenous communities in Brazil. We selected studies based on an initial keyword search of major bibliographic indexing databases for the years 2000 to 2020 and manual search. Further selection was based on topical, methodological, and thematic relevance, as well as evaluation of scholarship quality and pertinence to our chosen narrative. The literature demonstrates Indigenous peoples do not receive health services that measure up to national standards in large part due to a marked lack of academic and employer preparation for nurses operating in transcultural settings. Inequities were apparent in recurrent reports of victim-blaming, deficient clinical communication with patients, clinical malpractice, devaluation of hypertension as a problem for Indigenous peoples, insufficient intercultural training for nurses, and discrimination against Indigenous students in nursing education programs. This systemic problem needs to be addressed by universities and the Indigenous Health Care Subsystem in Brazil.

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