Decolonizing Canada's Climate Policy

The document critiques the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change and the 'A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy' plan for failing to engage Indigenous peoples beyond tokenism. It asserts that these policies entrench settler colonial relations and exclude Indigenous rights holders from decision-making processes. The author emphasizes that meaningful climate action requires repairing relationships with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people, respecting generational knowledge, and shifting toward Indigenous-led policy initiatives.

• The 2016 Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change and the 2020 'A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy' plan failed to provide adequate Indigenous inclusion, consultation, and accommodation.
• Indigenous peoples were structurally excluded from the working groups that developed the Pan-Canadian Framework, and the engagement process was characterized by insufficient time for meaningful responses.
• Government engagement with Indigenous political bodies, such as the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and the Métis National Council, is insufficient because it does not constitute a nation-to-nation relationship at the community level and does not include these bodies as decision makers.
• Federal climate plans fail to acknowledge the fossil fuel industry as a primary driver of climate change and a violator of Indigenous rights that contributes to the vulnerability of Indigenous communities, lands, and food systems.
• Meaningful climate policy requires a shift from an extractive approach to the land and knowledge toward a decolonized framework that respects Indigenous generational knowledge and oral histories as valid evidence, equivalent to western scientific data.
• To move toward Indigenous-led climate policy, an Advisory Council of Indigenous experts has been created based on Canada's five biomes to ensure solutions are land-focused and transcend political or treaty boundaries.

APA

Canadian Climate Institute (2021). Decolonizing Canada's Climate Policy. https://climateinstitute.ca/publications/decolonizing-canadas-climate-policy/

Chicago

Canadian Climate Institute. Decolonizing Canada's Climate Policy. 2021. https://climateinstitute.ca/publications/decolonizing-canadas-climate-policy/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Canadian Climate Institute |title=Decolonizing Canada's Climate Policy |date=22 October 2021 |url=https://climateinstitute.ca/publications/decolonizing-canadas-climate-policy/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{canadianclimateinstitute2021decolonizing, author = {{Canadian Climate Institute}}, title = {{Decolonizing Canada's Climate Policy}}, institution = {Canadian Climate Institute}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {https://climateinstitute.ca/publications/decolonizing-canadas-climate-policy/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }