Indigenous stewardship policy

As Parks Canada undertakes efforts to support Indigenous stewardship, we, as the Indigenous Stewardship Circle, are compelled to emphasize the Indigenous understanding of reciprocity to ensure the appropriate and respectful implementation of this policy.

For Indigenous cultures, humans are inextricably linked to the natural world. This holistic, reciprocal worldview understands that all beings and energy forms are interconnected, equal and linked. It is recognized that a person’s actions have an effect on them and others. This relationship with others is often described through the concept of ‘all of my relations’. From this comes a duty and responsibility to live in balance with all other entities and respect and care for the lands, waters, and ice in our shared and respective territories. This reciprocal relationship, which forms Indigenous perspectives of stewardship, understands that while we benefit from the bounties of the natural world, we have a duty to balance and protect these bounties.

In implementing this policy and developing Stewardship Plans and Stewardship Strategies, it is important that we fulfill our responsibilities of reciprocity, balance, and respect.

The Indigenous Stewardship Policy was developed by the Indigenous Stewardship Circle ^{Footnote 1} and Parks Canada.

Indigenous stewardship preamble

This preamble is written in first person from the perspective of one Indigenous person. The purpose of this section is to represent the policy as an expression of two worldviews – an Indigenous and western worldview - supporting and upholding one another. We acknowledge a policy represents a western practice and process; this policy is grounded and built upon the perspective of an Indigenous worldview.

For as long as I can remember, my identity as an Indigenous person has centred around my relationships to my surroundings and the natural environment, to my family, my community, and my ancestors. I am taught to acknowledge and honour these relationships, to honour the plants and animals that give themselves to me so that I may be nourished and have strength, to honour the waters which sustain life, and provide cleansing and healing. Acknowledging and honouring these and other relationships is essential because these are the relationships that nurture me, hold me up, and support me. They make me who I am.

With these relationships come responsibilities. I have been taught that I have a responsibility to be in relationship with all of the things that give and sustain life and provide support and guidance. I have a responsibility to respect these things, to give thanks and, in turn, to do what I can to take care of the things that take care of me. In this way I honour the teachings, wisdom, and laws of my family, my community, and Nation, and my ancestors, as well as the teachings that come from the plants and animals themselves. This is how I maintain and honour those reciprocal relationships.

My identity as an Indigenous person is defined by these relationships and responsibilities, and my lived experiences of them. On an individual level, the practice of honouring and upholding these relationships and responsibilities largely encapsulates what is meant by Indigenous stewardship.

However, my ability to uphold my responsibilities and maintain the enduring relationships with the natural environment has been interrupted by a chorus of laws, policies, practices, and perspectives. Some laws and policies have separated me from my traditional territories, treaty lands, and ancestral homelands, and have limited my ability to use and access these places. Others have kept me and my people from having a say in how lands, waters, ice, animals and plants, and other living and non-living entities are treated, honoured, and cared for.

Colonial practices and perspectives have acted as further barriers, complicating my ability to have a say and preventing my perspectives and voice, or those of families and communities, from being heard. These practices and perspectives have also silenced the voices and wisdom of ancestors, plants, animals, and other entities in these discussions.

All of these laws, policies, practices and perspectives have left in their wake a cascade of effects. I am unable to be fully self-actualized in my identity as an Indigenous person and steward. My family and I, as well as my community and countless other Indigenous Peoples, have not been able to fulfill our obligations to live in reciprocity with our environments, or participate in the caretaking of these places. In essence, we cannot fulfill our responsibilities as Indigenous Peoples in ways that enable us to align ourselves with our teachings about who we are. This continues to have real-time consequences for Indigenous Peoples, the environment, and me. Imagine being disconnected from all of the things upon which your language, culture, and identity depend, all the while being told that your contributions in caring for those things were not valued or necessary.

An Indigenous stewardship policy has the potential to support Indigenous Peoples in exercising our individual and community responsibilities as Indigenous stewards through different forms of cooperative management and shared governance. This provides a forum for the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge in decision-making and expressions of Indigenous leadership and governance. It gives voice to Indigenous values and priorities for stewarding lands, waters, and ice that are consistent with Indigenous lifeways and that promote and protect Indigenous practices. The continuity of these practices ensures that Indigenous knowledge is lived, that Indigenous laws are upheld, that our responsibilities are fulfilled, and that our relationships with the natural world, families, and communities are maintained.

1. Effective date

This policy comes into effect once it is endorsed through the Indigenous Stewardship Policy ceremony.

2. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to lay the foundation, through a distinction-based approach ^{Footnote 2}, for equitable, effective, and collaborative stewardship now and into the future between Indigenous communities and Parks Canada. It must be viewed as one part of a broader effort undertaken by Parks Canada to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (‘UN Declaration’). It will guide the implementation of the Indigenous Stewardship Framework and all action plan measures implicating Parks Canada in the implementation of United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act through the co-development of Stewardship Plans at each Place and Stewardship Strategies at each National Office Directorate.

Parks Canada has established and managed Places ^{Footnote 3} in a way that is not inclusive of Indigenous Peoples nor Indigenous stewardship. While in recent years, new protected areas have been established in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, in other contexts protected areas have been detrimental to Indigenous Peoples by fostering disconnection between Indigenous Peoples and their territories. This policy will support and honour reconnection and healing. It recognizes that Indigenous stewardship is critical for successful conservation outcomes that can sustain more biodiversity and can offer rich opportunities for connection, learning, and understanding.

This policy has been co-developed with the Indigenous Stewardship Circle and is intended to engender mutual understanding and respect by embodying Ethical Space in its presentation.

3. Policy objectives

This policy has two primary objectives:

First, the policy guides the application of the Indigenous Stewardship Framework (see section 5) at all Places and within National Office Directorates.

Second, the policy creates conditions that support cultural continuity, cultural safety, and healing. To do this, it will be necessary to support, revitalize, and celebrate the practices, relationships, and connections of Indigenous Peoples with lands, waters, and ice, and respect Indigenous life ways, ways of knowing, worldviews and legal orders, including understandings of Natural Laws.

4. Indigenous stewardship guiding values and principles

This policy identifies fundamental values and principles that serve as the foundation of all of Parks Canada’s work with Indigenous partners. Values of Trust, Respect, and Reciprocity convey our underlying beliefs and communicate what is important to us. These values help us to make decisions that are in line with our beliefs and guide our day-to-day actions, attitudes, and the choices we make. Accompanying principles to honour rights, duties, and responsibilities; foster Ethical Space; nurture healthy, respectful relationships, and ensure continuity of Indigenous culture and language help to further guide our actions and decisions. These principles will help to fulfill our values.

Taken together, the values and principles are flexible enough to support regional and local interpretations and operational realities, while providing broad national level guidance. They draw on perspectives communicated by Indigenous Peoples and align with relevant principles and objectives communicated by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, the National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, 2SLGBTQI+ people, and the UN Declaration.

Values

Trust

Trust is central to everything we do. We at Parks Canada value Indigenous partnerships and recognize that trust is never complete, but rather continues to evolve and grow over time. Trust is vulnerable and requires humility; it must be earned and cannot be assumed. It is foundational to respectful relationships and without it, we will not be able to work in partnership and respect. Trust takes time and needs to be continually maintained through truth-telling, accountability, and transparency.

Reciprocity

Reciprocity comes from the understanding that all beings are interconnected. We are interrelated and we recognize that our actions impact others and come with a responsibility to honour our relationships with one another, and a duty to care and live in balance with all beings. We benefit greatly from partners and from the lands, waters, and ice we have a role in stewarding. We will practice reciprocity in honouring these connections.

Respect

Respect requires treating all of creation with fairness, dignity, empathy, sensitivity, and kindness. This contributes to a healthy and welcoming environment for Indigenous partners we work with and the public we serve. It ensures the safety and well-being of Indigenous partners, employees, and all beings we support, while also promoting collaboration, openness, and transparency.

Principles

Honouring Rights, Duties, and Responsibilities

Parks Canada will respect that Indigenous Peoples have both an inherent right to be self-determining and to practice the continuity of their cultures, languages, and ways of life. We will support Indigenous Peoples in exercising these rights and responsibilities to steward lands, waters, and ice. We will be informed by Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, treaties (both modern and historic), and other agreements between Indigenous Peoples and the Crown as well as the UN Declaration in its entirety with particular attention to Articles 1-5, 25-26, and 29.

Fostering Ethical Space

Parks Canada is committed to working with Indigenous partners in Ethical Space to establish and maintain respectful relationships. We will work together to support stewardship informed by Indigenous knowledge and worldviews, in addition to the western knowledge that has been dominant in recent years. All Parks Canada team members will strive to maintain culturally safe spaces for Indigenous Peoples and will be supported by an organizational cultural competency framework. To create this Ethical Space and culturally safe spaces, we are committed to acknowledgement, apology, truth-telling, and reconciliatory actions grounded in Indigenous approaches. In working with and alongside Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Parks Canada will respect distinction-based and/or community driven principles of Indigenous data sovereignty, as appropriate.

Nurturing Healthy, Respectful Relationships

Parks Canada commits to maintaining healthy relationships that support Indigenous Peoples in exercising their rights, conducting traditional activities, and fulfilling their stewardship responsibilities. To this end, we will strive to maintain positive relationships with all Indigenous governments and communities and to develop and implement approaches to Indigenous stewardship that remove barriers and facilitate access to Places. We commit to respecting Indigenous protocols, processes, legal orders, and Natural Laws. At its foundation, this requires acknowledging the different capacities and interests of Indigenous governments - meeting them where they are and where they are going - and ensuring that capacity-building is supported, where appropriate and as requested. We recognize that these relationships will evolve and adapt over time, and we commit to moving with them.

We also recognize that colonial legacies have in some places eroded Indigenous systems and protocols for engaging with each other and contributed to the complexity of historic and ongoing relationships between Indigenous governments. In instances where Indigenous governments are in dispute over stewardship responsibilities, where appropriate, we will take an approach based on the recognition of responsibilities held by each community while also recognizing that historic and ongoing responsibilities to place may not necessarily be the same. Parks Canada will approach these instances with openness and will invite dialogue through Indigenous processes and protocols as appropriate. By maintaining strong and respectful relationships we will strive to foster spaces that allow for both concurrence and disagreement.

Ensuring Continuity of Indigenous Culture and Language

Parks Canada acknowledges that Indigenous stewardship is place-based and distinct. We recognize that co-developed approaches for operationalizing Indigenous stewardship will be shaped by the local context centering Indigenous Knowledge Systems, protocols, and approaches. We will respect Indigenous Peoples' local histories, laws, governance, cultures, worldviews, and ways of knowing and, wherever possible, will support the intergenerational passing of knowledge and learning opportunities to contribute to the continuity of culture and language.

5. Indigenous stewardship

Parks Canada has embarked on a process of renewal, centered around a vision of Place management and governance that is respectfully aligned with Indigenous ways of stewarding lands, waters, and ice. The intent of this work is to advance reconciliation and support implementation of the UN Declaration through a distinction-based approach that ensures the unique rights, interests, and circumstances of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit are upheld. Parks Canada’s current understanding of the work to be done is represented in the Indigenous Stewardship Framework, which will be implemented through this policy. The Framework reflects Indigenous perspectives on what is needed to support Indigenous (re)connections with lands, waters, and ice within traditional territories, treaty lands, and ancestral homelands. It includes seven interconnected elements that can guide and support how the conservation goals of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples and Parks Canada’s mandate can be accomplished together.

To successfully support Indigenous stewardship, Parks Canada must create the necessary conditions for success. These conditions will require shifts in the culture of Parks Canada, and a broadened understanding and awareness of the ongoing roles and responsibilities of Indigenous Peoples as stewards, both internally, and amongst visitors to Places. There are three elements that address the necessary foundation for Indigenous stewardship and will need to be continually tended to ensure the success of implementing changes as a whole:

Acknowledgements, Apologies, and Redress — includes a commitment to pursue processes and make space for telling and hearing the truth about past and ongoing injustices and working together to address these, while also supporting Indigenous partners in sharing stories and histories that have been muted or intentionally silenced.

Relationships — includes an ongoing commitment to long-term relationships with Indigenous partners that evolve and grow over time informed by a principle of equality in relationships rather than dominance of one over the other.

Learning and Understanding — encompasses the efforts that Parks Canada commits to undertake to build and enhance cultural competencies amongst team members, as well as efforts to work together with Indigenous partners to build understanding amongst team members and visitors about the historic and contemporary relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples, including the distinctive and specific relationships that First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples have to lands, waters, and ice.

From this foundation, Parks Canada can support Indigenous partners in exercising their stewardship responsibilities.

The remaining elements of the Indigenous Stewardship Framework are:

Shared Governance — refers to the roles of Indigenous Peoples in decision-making. Shared governance entails a shift from current models of collaborative management to arrangements that more fully reflect Natural Law, Indigenous legal orders, and rights and responsibilities for lands, waters, and ice that Indigenous Peoples have stewarded for millennia.

Cultural Continuity — encompasses the ways Indigenous Peoples maintain and are revitalizing relationships and active connections to traditional territories, treaty lands, and ancestral homelands, through their laws, language, culture, and stewardship practices that sustain and express Indigenous rights and responsibilities.

Exercising continuity in Places often includes:

• ceremony
• language sharing
• Indigenous conservation activities
• place-based learning and knowledge-sharing between Elders, youth, knowledge-keepers, and community members
• and harvesting for food, medicinal, and other purposes

Economic Opportunities — emphasizes the many ways Parks Canada operations can offer tangible benefits to the social and economic wellbeing of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous livelihoods and economies pre-date establishment of Places that Parks Canada has a role in administering, and restoring and strengthening economic opportunities is an important way of recognizing ongoing relationships to traditional territories, treaty lands and ancestral homelands and upholding Indigenous rights and responsibilities.

Indigenous Knowledge Systems — includes Indigenous knowledge and knowledge systems. The maintenance of Indigenous knowledge and knowledge systems is dependent on enabling cultural continuity and the health of lands, waters, and ice.

This policy recognizes that Indigenous stewardship already happens in a variety of ways in Places where Parks Canada operates. It acknowledges that approaches to implement this policy will be tailored to the unique Places and partners involved.

6. Application and expected results

6.1. This policy applies to:

6.1.1. All Places that Parks Canada has a role in administering.

6.1.2. All Parks Canada National Office Directorates ^{Footnote 4}.

6.2. The objectives of this policy are to provide direction on the implementation of the Indigenous Stewardship Framework and create conditions that support cultural continuity of Indigenous Peoples in accordance with the values and principles stated in the sections above.

6.3. This policy intends to complement and enhance existing agreements and guide future relations, agreements, and mutual understandings.

6.4. The expected results of this policy are as follows:

6.4.1. Responsible parties from Parks Canada and representatives identified by Indigenous communities will produce a co-developed, scalable Stewardship Plan at each Place.

6.4.2. The process and approach for the co-development of Stewardship Plans will be determined locally with Indigenous partners.

6.4.3. Plans will implement the Indigenous Stewardship Framework and the priorities in each Stewardship Plan will be identified by Indigenous partners and Parks Canada team members. They may consider the interconnected Indigenous stewardship elements (Learning & Understanding, Acknowledgements, Apologies, and Redress, Relationships, Economic Opportunities, Cultural Continuity, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Shared Governance) and other connected priorities identified by partners (e.g. Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, etc.).

6.4.4. Stewardship Plans will consider and reflect existing or emerging community priorities or plans.

6.4.5. At Places where Parks Canada works with multiple Indigenous partners, Parks Canada will look to partners to determine whether to develop bilateral plans or a Stewardship Plan that encompasses multiple Indigenous partners.

6.4.6. National Office Directorates will develop strategies that outline implementation of the Indigenous Stewardship Framework with the collaboration and review of the Indigenous Affairs Branch and the Indigenous Stewardship Circle.

6.4.7. All plans and strategies will have a jointly determined life cycle and be subject to periodic review.

6.5. Annual reporting approaches for Stewardship Plans will be determined in conjunction with Indigenous partners and will be aligned with reporting requirements of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and other Parks Canada reporting processes, as applicable.

6.6. Reporting protocols back to Indigenous communities will be co-developed and determined by Indigenous partners.

7. Authorities

7.1. This policy affirms section 5 ^{Footnote 5} of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and will take precedence over existing policies, guidelines, and directives where they may not be consistent with the Act.

7.2. This policy affirms the ongoing role of the Indigenous Stewardship Circle to provide oversight and guidance to Parks Canada on the implementation of Indigenous stewardship and this policy.

7.3. This policy applies to Parks Canada team members and is not to be inferred as transferring responsibility to Indigenous communities, governments, and organizations.

7.4. This policy must be read and applied in conjunction with relevant legislation, regulation, policy instruments and agreements entered into by the Government of Canada and other Crown governments, including modern and historic treaties and other constructive agreements.

7.5. This policy must be read in conjunction with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Inuit Nunangat Policy, and the Collaborative Modern Treaty Implementation Policy.

7.6. This policy must respect Indigenous authorities in its implementation.

8. Roles and responsibilities

Parks Canada and Indigenous partners each have roles and responsibilities in the implementation of this policy. Indigenous partners will define their roles and responsibilities. This section speaks to Parks Canada’s approach.

8.1. The Minister responsible for Parks Canada has a responsibility to:

8.1.1 Uphold the objectives of this policy, supporting all action plan measures implicating Parks Canada in the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, and advancing the recognition of Indigenous stewardship roles and responsibilities across government.

8.1.2. Approve this policy, in consultation and cooperation with the Indigenous Stewardship Circle.

8.2. The President & Chief Executive Officer, in consultation and cooperation with the Indigenous Stewardship Circle, must ensure that the objectives of the Indigenous Stewardship Policy are met.

8.3. The Indigenous Stewardship Circle, in collaboration with the President & Chief Executive Officer, is responsible for ceremonial renewal of the policy.

8.4. The Vice-President of Indigenous Affairs and Cultural Heritage (IACH), and the Senior Vice-President Operations must work with the Indigenous Stewardship Circle to review efforts to implement Indigenous stewardship across Parks Canada and provide annual updates on progress.

8.5. The Vice-President IACH, in consultation and cooperation with the Indigenous Stewardship Circle, must ensure the objectives of the Indigenous Stewardship Policy are met and is responsible for:

8.5.1. Providing functional leadership in the advancement of legislative and policy initiatives related to the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

8.5.2. Providing strategic advice, expertise, and support to other Directorates in the advancement of their approaches to the implementation of this policy, including the development of Stewardship Strategies.

8.5.3. Ensuring all Parks Canada team members receive appropriate training on Indigenous stewardship and this policy.

8.6. The Senior Vice-President Operations, in consultation and cooperation with the Indigenous Stewardship Circle, is responsible for:

8.6.1. Ensuring Stewardship Plans are co-developed at each Place by Parks Canada and Indigenous partners.

8.6.2. Ensuring Stewardship Plans are implemented and reported through a method and schedule that meets the objectives of Indigenous partners and Parks Canada.

8.7. The Vice-President of Human Resources and Employee Wellness, in collaboration with the Vice-President of IACH and in consultation and cooperation with the Indigenous Stewardship Circle, is responsible for developing guidance on cultural competency elements in hiring, and on cultural competency learning programs.

8.8. The Vice-President of Strategic Policy, Business and Digital Services Directorate and the Vice-President of IACH, in consultation and cooperation with the Indigenous Stewardship Circle, are responsible for the development of a performance management indicator for the implementation of this policy.

8.9. All Parks Canada Agency Vice-Presidents are responsible for:

8.9.1 Developing Stewardship Strategies that outline Directorate implementation of this policy.

8.9.2 Ensuring their Directorate’s Stewardship Strategy is reviewed and affirmed by the Indigenous Stewardship Circle.

9. Review period

This policy will be reviewed every five years.

The policy and its related Stewardship Plans and Stewardship Strategies will be adaptive and responsive to the evolving and changing needs of Indigenous partners.

10 Definitions

Cultural continuity

This concept encompasses the ways Indigenous Peoples maintain and are revitalizing relationships and active connections to traditional territories, treaty lands, and ancestral homelands, through language, culture, and stewardship practices that sustain and express Indigenous rights and responsibilities. Exercising cultural continuity in Places often includes creating culturally safe spaces for ceremony; language sharing; learning from place and knowledge-sharing between Elders, youth, knowledge-keepers, and community members, and harvesting for food, medicinal, and other purposes.

Cultural competency

There is no universally accepted definition of the concept of cultural competency, and this has yet to be defined for Parks Canada in the context of this policy. Work is being undertaken with the Indigenous Stewardship Circle to define this term.

In the interim, this policy points to existing definitions, including the definition developed by the University of Toronto that defines cultural competency as the ability “to work effectively with Indigenous partners and in cross-cultural settings with Indigenous Peoples in the workplace". There are often organizational level and individual level understandings of this concept. This definition is a placeholder and will be replaced with the definition developed by the Indigenous Stewardship Circle.

Ethical Space

Ethical Space creates a framework that respects the integrity of all knowledge systems and other basic values and principles. It enables the application of holistic understanding and cross-cultural work across worldviews, which is often expressed in different, culturally specific terms across the country. By committing to creating an Ethical Space, a venue for collaboration can be established wherein people of diverse knowledge systems and perspectives can work together under a basis of mutual recognition and respect. Ethical Space is not static and must be nurtured and it must be founded on agreed upon principles. The concept of Ethical Space has been supported by Indigenous scholars and Elders Dr. Willie Ermine and Dr. Reg Crowshoe.

Places

This is an inclusive term that refers to all land, submerged lands, waters, and ice that Parks Canada has a role in administering, including in a national historic site, national park and park reserve, national marine conservation area and reserve, and more.

Shared governance

Shared governance refers to the sharing of authority through making decisions collectively. It is an umbrella term to encompass many kinds of arrangements distinguished by the degree to which authorities and responsibilities are shared. In the past, Parks Canada has used the terms “cooperative” and “collaborative management” to describe this approach. Other government departments have used the term “co-management”.

Consultation and cooperation

This concept is outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, which references the statutory obligation to consult and cooperate with Indigenous Peoples. This language is drawn from Articles 18 and 19 of the UN Declaration and should be understood as needing to be undertaken with representative institutions chosen by Indigenous Peoples “in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.” Consultation and cooperation is an ongoing process and is not confined to a single stage of working together. It does not refer to, impact, or replace the Government of Canada duty to consult and accommodate of impacts to potential or established Aboriginal or treaty rights.

11. References

The following references have informed our thinking, including in acknowledging the documents from which we need to learn in order to move forward.

• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act
• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan
• Canada’s Collaborative Modern Treaty Implementation Policy
• Inuit Nunangat Policy
• Canada National Parks Act
• Canada National Marine Conservation Areas Act
• Parks Canada Agency Act
• Historic Sites and Monuments Act
• Indian Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. I-5)
• Reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
• Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
• Principles respecting the Government of Canada's relationship with Indigenous Peoples
• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, United Nations (2007)
• We Rise Together: Achieving Pathway to Canada Target 1 through the creation of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas in the spirit and practice of reconciliation. The Indigenous Circle of Exports’ Report and Recommendations