How Indigenous Guardians Protect the Planet and Humanity | Valérie Courtois | TED

(In Ilnu-aimun: Hello).

I’m Valérie Courtois

and I’m from the Ilnu community of Mashteuiatsh,

located in Pekuakami or Lac Saint-Jean,

the heart of what is now known as Québec.

It is an honor to be here with you tonight.

A good friend and colleague of mine, the Honorable Ethel Blondin-Andrew,

the first Indigenous woman to be elected to Canada's parliament

and to serve in cabinet,

shared with me some wisdom she received:

“A mark of a good leader

is if they leave a room filled with more hope

than when they first arrived.”

I'm here with you tonight to attempt to fulfill that aspiration.

To leave you with hope.

We need it now more than ever.

Our home, our shared beautiful mother,

our planet is experiencing ecological turmoil.

We humans are transforming it to a point

where we are risking the survival of millions of species.

And as a result, our societies are also experiencing a parallel turmoil

as we struggle to adapt to the unnatural pace

and scale of change.

My homelands, known as Nitassinan, are also experiencing these changes.

It is a harsh, but strikingly beautiful part of the boreal forest.

Nitassinan is at its best when it is cold.

Yet, we are seeing extreme changes in ice and in key species such as caribou.

When I first drove into Labrador two decades ago,

I had to stop on the Trans-Labrador Highway for hours

as the George River caribou herd crossed.

There were hundreds of thousands in the herd then.

Now, there are only 8,000 left.

I've seen firsthand the devastating impact of climate change

and the loss of biodiversity in my homeland of Nitassinan

and all across what is now known as Canada.

But I’ve also seen something else,

something that gives me hope.

It’s not a technology from a lab.

It’s not a policy made in Ottawa or DC.

It is the fundamental understanding that is expressed by our knowledge,

by our elders and knowledge keepers this way:

If we take care of the land, the land takes care of us.

Let me say it again.

If we take care of the land, the land takes care of us.

This is about a relationship,

a mutual love story.

(Applause)

It's not an accident that 80 percent of the world's remaining biodiversity

are located on lands managed and loved by Indigenous peoples.

We have been in relationships with the plants and animals

of our territories and waters for millennia.

We care for each other.

The Innu people have loved and sustained

and been in harmony with our landscapes for nearly 10,000 years.

Surely we have values, insights, strategies and knowledge to offer

to the rest of the global community with respect to how to be a part of

and care for our environment.

This knowledge is essential right now.

It can help people and the land heal from ecological crises and colonization.

It can help restore the planet

and it can help save us all.

By fully respecting and acknowledging Indigenous-led approaches to the land,

we can help create a better future for all.

What does it look like?

It looks like Indigenous Guardians.

So, you've heard of the "Guardians of the Galaxy?"

Well, these guardians are doing a much more important job right here on Earth,

just without the soundtrack.

(Laughter)

Guardians are trained experts who work on behalf of their Indigenous nations.

They're our eyes and ears on the land.

They monitor water quality,

care for Indigenous-protected and conserved areas,

conduct research on climate impacts

and help restore species like caribou, salmon and moose.

Their work is rooted in Indigenous and Western sciences

and their training includes everything from GIS mapping

to spending time with elders and knowledge keepers.

We need this now more than ever.

Guardians also do something more personal.

Time and again,

I've heard people say that being a guardian has changed their lives.

I think of the young Jarett Quock,

a young man from the Tahltan First Nation

in what is now known as British Columbia.

Jarett used to be a heavy-equipment operator

working on job sites far from his community.

He faced racism from non-Indigenous peoples

and non-unrelated,

unfortunately, he struggled with addictions.

So when a job opened up with a Tahltan Wildlife Guardians,

he decided to take it.

He said,

"Being a guardian helped get me through the tough times in my life.

Being connected to the land and talking with elders

helped me overcome my addictions.

It brought pride to me.

And at the end of the day, I could walk away with the pride

of being First Nations."

(Applause)

I know what he means.

As a person who's been a witness to

and felt the intergenerational trauma from the colonial experience

and the horrors of residential schools or institutions,

where Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their homes

and sent to so-called "schools"

to be indoctrinated into the dominant Canadian society,

I've found no better strategy to healing

than nurturing our relationship with our place.

I've seen the healing powers of the land in action countless times.

The land heals

and I wish that experience for anyone who has experienced and lives with trauma.

Ethel Blondin-Andrew, the leader I mentioned before,

runs training camps for guardians in the Northwest Territories.

She says,

"Residential schools cause great grief and intergenerational trauma

because they taught us that we are not worthy of love."

But we are worthy of love.

The kids in our camps get it.

They know that being on the land is where they are the best human beings

that they can be.

Researchers have documented the impacts of guardian programs.

They can reduce incarceration and increase health and well-being.

People's health improves on the land because they're on the land,

because they're physically active

and because they're happy.

And guardians gained increased skills,

higher incomes and pride in cultural knowledge.

In fact, one study in 2016 documented the impacts of those guardian programs

and showed that for every dollar invested, there's a return on that investment

of 2.5 dollars in social, economic and environmental benefits.

With sustained funding,

that return on investment jumps to almost four dollars.

That's why that I believe that Indigenous programs could do more for healing

from the impacts of colonialism than any other individual program.

Guardians help honor our responsibility of the land

and they can create a better future for all.

Because guardianship isn't just good for guardians,

it's good for everyone

because the land is taking care of guardians

and guardians are taking care of the land.

Guardians help care for some of the healthiest,

most vibrant lands on the continent.

Many work in the boreal forest

which stretches from Alaska to Newfoundland.

It is one of the largest intact forests left on the planet.

Having guardians on the ground will help us sustain so many species

like caribou, salmon, moose, wolverine, lynx, songbirds,

medicinal plants and countless other species --

species that are unfortunately threatened in much of the rest of the world.

They also help protect some of the largest protected areas

on the planet.

You may not know this,

but some of the biggest, most ambitious plans to protect areas in Canada

are led by Indigenous peoples.

(Applause)

Many of them, they're creating Indigenous protected and conserved areas.

These areas that they create based on their own laws and cultures

and often in partnerships with Crown governments,

or Canadian governments, for the Americans in the room.

You know, in fact,

three of these areas alone in the Northwest Territories

span 50,000 square kilometers in size.

That's about the size of Costa Rica.

The Kaska Dena in northern British Columbia

are planning to create a protected area the size of Switzerland.

And in northern Manitoba,

four Dene and Cree nations are coming together

to protect the Seal River Watershed,

home to caribou, belugas, polar bears

and thousands of songbirds.

It will be nearly five times the size of Yellowstone National Park.

(Applause)

There are dozens of protected areas in the works right now,

right across Canada.

Many of them will protect some of the largest carbon storehouses

of any terrestrial ecosystem on the planet.

Remember when I said that my homeland is at its best when it was cold?

Well, its ability to capture and store carbon over centuries

is insured by that cold,

because when organic matter and litter fall to the ground,

it decomposes extremely slowly in its very deep soils.

In fact, the boreal forest holds twice as much carbon

as the world's tropical forests per hectare.

(Applause)

Yeah, go boreal!

(Laughter)

This is why I'm here.

(Laughter)

That protected area in the Seal River Watershed I mentioned,

it holds 1.7 billion tons of carbon

equivalent to eight years’ worth of greenhouse-gas emissions alone --

in Canada alone.

Protecting the watershed will help keep that carbon in place.

These are the kind of lands that guardians are caring for.

They also help heal and restore places.

The Innu guardians, for example,

they help care for and monitor the largest nickel mine in the world

at Voisey's Bay in Labrador.

Guardians help ensure that when development occurs,

it happens with the informed consent of our nations.

That projects do not have an adverse effect on our rights and titles.

And that our nations and communities can benefit or maximize those benefits

from those development activities.

Whether they are monitoring the largest nickel mine in the world

or sustaining giant carbon storehouses,

guardians are helping honor our responsibility to the land.

And the benefits, they ripple far and wide.

As Gloria Enzo, a Ni Hat’Ni Dene guardian from the Northwest Territory says,

"We are sustaining our traditional territories

not only for us,

but for the whole world."

By honoring and respecting Indigenous-led approaches to the land,

we can create a better future for all.

You know, there's a role for everyone in this model.

Every person, family, community, nation is essential to dealing with the crises

that we're facing as peoples and as a planet.

All actions, big and small,

that contribute to addressing these challenges

will help us get closer to that goal.

In fact,

I'd like to ask you to join Indigenous peoples

in helping protect and create a better future,

one where we are ensuring our collective futures

as peoples on this planet.

There is so much that we can do together.

Specifically,

study the history of Indigenous nations with traditional territories

in the places where you live and work.

Talk with non-Indigenous friends about Indigenous leadership on the land.

Create space for Indigenous voices and uplift them.

Hold up our communities and respect our knowledge systems.

Make sure that you are using your political voices

and voting for leaders who support this vision,

because Indigenous guardians can ensure

that we all have the future on this planet that we deserve and want,

so that we can all continue to have an evolving love story

with our lands, with our waters that we call home.

We can all heal the planet

by drawing on the knowledge of our ancestors

and blending them with the best tools of the modern world.

If we take care of the land,

the land will take care of us forever.

(In Ilnu-aimun: Thank you).

(Applause)