Tackling the Climate Crisis: Indigenous Laws and Science

The Gitanyow people of British Columbia developed the Wilp Sustainability Assessment Process (WSAP) and a specific Climate Test to evaluate the climate impacts of major projects on their territory. This Indigenous-led impact assessment (ILIA) emerged from dissatisfaction with colonial processes, which the Gitanyow argue often use a "scale trick" to minimize emissions impacts and ignore Indigenous interests. The revised Climate Test, finalized in 2023, employs 13 criteria and a scoring rubric to inform decision-making. It has been applied to three projects, including the Eskay Creek mine, which received mostly "good" and "fair" scores, and the Ksi Lisims LNG project, which received predominantly "poor" scores. The process exemplifies legal pluralism in Canada, where Indigenous laws operate alongside provincial and federal legal orders to advance reconciliation and environmental stewardship.

• The Gitanyow established the Wilp Sustainability Assessment Process (WSAP) in 2020 to protect their rights and interests regarding major project development on their 6,200 square kilometre territory in northwest British Columbia.
• The Gitanyow Climate Test was developed to address failures in colonial impact assessments, specifically the "scale trick," a method that compares a project's emissions to a jurisdiction's total emissions to make the project's impact seem insignificant.
• The revised Gitanyow Climate Test, expanded in 2023, utilizes a three-step process: initial scrutiny, a criterion-by-criterion assessment using 13 specific criteria and a scoring rubric, and the production of a climate impact report.
• The 13 criteria of the Climate Test cover diverse dimensions including project design, adherence to the mitigation hierarchy, climate lock-in, Scope 3 performance, distributional inequities, and the proponent's Environment-Social-Governance (ESG) history.
• Application of the Climate Test to the Eskay Creek mine resulted in nine "good" and four "fair" scores, with a "good" score for Comparison to Peers due to low GHG intensity and a "fair" score for Scope 3 Performance due to unclear emissions estimates.
• The Ksi Lisims LNG project, evaluated using public information because proponents declined to participate in the WSAP, received one "good", five "fair", and seven "poor" scores.

APA

Joseph, C. (2026). Tackling the Climate Crisis: Indigenous Laws and Science. Canadian Climate Institute. https://climateinstitute.ca/publications/gitanyow-climate-test-tackling-climate-crisis-indigenous-laws-and-science/

Chicago

Joseph, Chris. Tackling the Climate Crisis: Indigenous Laws and Science. Canadian Climate Institute, 2026. https://climateinstitute.ca/publications/gitanyow-climate-test-tackling-climate-crisis-indigenous-laws-and-science/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Joseph |first1=Chris |title=Tackling the Climate Crisis: Indigenous Laws and Science |publisher=Canadian Climate Institute |date=9 June 2026 |url=https://climateinstitute.ca/publications/gitanyow-climate-test-tackling-climate-crisis-indigenous-laws-and-science/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{joseph2026tackling, author = {Joseph, Chris}, title = {{Tackling the Climate Crisis: Indigenous Laws and Science}}, institution = {Canadian Climate Institute}, year = {2026}, month = jun, url = {https://climateinstitute.ca/publications/gitanyow-climate-test-tackling-climate-crisis-indigenous-laws-and-science/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }