By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
(ANNews) – A new report says Canada can advance Indigenous sovereignty by fostering respectful nation-to-nation relationships rooted in co-existence and non-interference, and giving Indigenous laws equal weight to Canadian law.
The report, Honouring Indigenous sovereignty towards a future of collective prosperity, is the fifth and final edition of international consultancy firm Deloitte’s series that asked Indigenous youth leaders for their perspectives on various aspects of reconciliation beginning in 2022.
The Indigenous youth leaders interviewed for this edition identified four priorities, which the report is divided into: Indigenous Peoples and Land, Self-Governance, Nationhood, and Truth-telling and Learning.
Byron Jackson, the former CEO of Piikani Nation in Treaty 7, is Deloitte Canada’s director of nation building services.
He told Alberta Native News that while there were some “collective agreements” among the youth leaders interviewed, the report reflects how the “notion of sovereignty has really shifted.”
A major point of agreement, said Jackson, was how participants viewed sovereignty “through the land and the relationship that Indigenous Peoples have within that land.”
The report notes how the youth participants collectively defined Indigenous sovereignty as “taking responsibility for their relations to the land, to animate and inanimate beings and to each other.”
“Sovereignty involves having freedom to self-express and live one’s cultural identity without encroachment, with the necessary resources and spaces to do so,” the report continues.
“Finally, sovereignty means an ability to set and have those boundaries respected. This ability manifests in having authority on what happens on their traditional lands, to their community, to their relatives (human and non-human), and to oneself.”
Jackson noted how this definition contrasts with the traditional definition of sovereignty as a “supreme authority or dominant power.”
Paris Pepin, 27, of Sagkeeng First Nation in Treaty 1, one of the Indigenous youth leaders involved in the report, emphasized how land is a “huge part of our sovereignty.”
“So much of our language and our culture is based on the land. it gives us everything that we need,” she said in an interview.
One way governments and business leaders can facilitate Indigenous sovereignty, the report notes, is by simply recognizing it. This can take the form of adopting relevant Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which has been adopted by the federal government, as well as subnational governments in Quebec, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.
The report links to the City of Edmonton’s Indigenous Framework as an example of “[r]ecognition of Indigenous sovereignty in action.”
Another recommendation is for governments, businesses and landowners to establish “reciprocal relations” with Indigenous communities on the land in which they operate through land-sharing agreements and co-management protocols.
“If such land decision-making arrangements are not tenable, resource revenue sharing may be an option for parties as mutual compromise,” the report adds.
The Treaty Land Sharing Network, which launched in parts of Alberta in July 2024, is presented as a case study in land sharing, in which landowners, farmers and ranchers open their land to Indigenous people to engage in traditional practices.
The report, Jackson added, also examines the role of “culturally rooted” Indigenous governance structures, the need for Indigenous relationships with federal and provincial governments based on “mutuality and reciprocity, rather than hierarchy,” and taking control of the narrative about Indigenous Peoples.
Pepin said her major takeaway from the report is the need for a “mindset shift” among both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities to counter misperceptions about Indigenous Peoples and their governance structures.
“From an Indigenous perspective, a lot of us have been so misled before when we’ve tried to bring forth our ideas of sovereign nations, so that disheartens a lot of communities,” she said.
“And then too with non-Indigenous [people] there might be some underlying remains and vestiges of that paternalistic outlook, where it’s like, [Indigenous people] don’t know how we should conduct things.”
To correct misconceptions, the report proposes a policy of “Indigenous narrative sovereignty,” presenting the federally funded Indigenous Screen Office, which distributed $11.9 million to 236 Indigenous filmmakers in 2023, as a case study.
The positive impact of respecting Indigenous self-determination isn’t limited to Indigenous people.
Citing Canadian government data from 2016, the report notes that self-governance agreements increased scores on the community well-being index by four points for Indigenous community members and five points for all residents.
“Indigenous ways of knowledge can benefit us all, like the land benefits us all, the air, the water,” said Pepin.
Be the first to comment on "New report focuses on how to achieve Indigenous sovereignty and shared prosperity"