What it looks like when Indigenous people take control of climate stewardship on their land

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This week:

B.C.'s Tsleil-Waututh nation is slowly restoring the health of its local waters, after decades of industry and development in the Burrard Inlet.

"We've cleaned salmon-bearing streams, we've replanted eelgrass and bull kelp, and that has to do with climate change too — giving the shade enough for the small fish to come back," said Charlene Aleck, a Tsleil-Waututh councillor. "And the herring are coming back for the first time in 50, 60 years."

She said the key to this success is a stewardship policy, based on Tsleil-Waututh traditional laws, that gives the nation authority over their land that they didn't previously have. They are also working with Environment Canada to implement the policy.

The nation has spent years doing clean-ups, creating protected areas and monitoring species numbers and water quality. 

Now, the herring are laying their eggs, which brings in bigger fish, which brings in seals, which brings in orcas. Aleck says all those connections are coming back now, and there's still work to be done but she's so happy.

"We can't go back to the same system that crushed and severed our existence with the land," said Aleck.

"Going back to our old ways is going to set us up for success, and when we do this work it's not just for Tsleil-Waututh people. It's for the land, water, air and everybody who calls this area home."

Reviving culture and tradition can help the climate

Known as the "land back" movement, it calls for the acknowledgement and return of Indigenous sovereignty over traditional territories. 

It's also important to climate policy, says Deborah McGregor, who is Anishinaabe from the Whitefish River First Nation and Canada Excellence Research Chair in Indigenous Ways of Climate and Water Sustainability for Planetary Health and Well-being.

McGregor, based at the University of Calgary, wants more First Nations to create their own climate policies, based on their traditional laws and climate changes they are witnessing on their lands.