Canada commits $800 million to support Indigenous-led conservation projects

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government will spend up to $800 million to support four major Indigenous-led conservation projects across the country covering nearly one million square kilometres.

Trudeau made the announcement today at the Biosphere environment museum in Montreal accompanied by Indigenous leaders and federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault as a UN meeting on global biodiversity, known as COP15, gets underway today in the city.

Trudeau says each of the four projects being funded is unique because they are designed by the communities in question.

Among the projects to be funded is a marine conservation and sustainability initiative in the Great Bear Sea along British Columbia’s north coast, championed by 17 First Nations in the area.

There will be protections for boreal forests, rivers, and lands across the Northwest Territories spearheaded by 30 Indigenous governments.

Funds will also go to an Inuit-led project involving waters and land in Nunavut’s Qikiqtani region and to a project in western James Bay to protect the world’s third largest wetland, led by the Omushkego Cree in Ontario.

— This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Dec. 7, 2022