Keyword Culture

Joanasie Karpik is one of Nunavut’s most respected Elders on climate change. In 2017, youth and Elders gathered together at Sannirut, a popular camping spot near the community of Pangnirtung, for a video and storytelling workshop. Joanasie shares, “I’ve lived two worlds now”, speaking to the changes he has seen to the weather pattern over nearly 80 years of observation in Cumberland Sound. These unprecedented changes are outside of local knowledges of Elders and Joanasie shares, “today, because of climate change, we can’t use their knowledge in the same way.” We must work together to rise to the challenge of this new weather system.

For decades, Silla Watt-Cloutier has been a strong voice for communities and geographies on the frontlines of climate change. The Inuit author and advocate emphasizes the importance of understanding climate change as a human rights issue. “As Inuit, we rely on the cold, the ice, and snow,” Watt-Cloutier explains. “That is our life force... It isn’t just about the ice itself, it’s what the ice represents.” For her people, the Arctic’s cold and ice is at the centre of culture, transportation, safety, health, and education. Climate change is a threat to their entire way of life. But Watt-Cloutier is hopeful that “we can find solutions to this planet in peril.”

The circumpolar North is on the frontlines of climate change: the land, lakes, and lifeways of human and non-human species are rapidly changing. François Paulette, a Denesuline and member of Smith’s Landing Treaty 8 First Nation, has been a witness to these changes across his homeland. Through relationship building, trust, and balance between traditional knowledge and science, Paulette believes that important climate solutions are possible.

Rose Roberts grew up on her family’s trapline, learning traditional knowledge from her Elders through observation and practising their traditional ways of living. Because of her close connection to the land as a trapper, she has experienced and witnessed the drastic impacts of climate change. She also has a PhD, which allows her to “live in both worlds” and speak about climate change from two different ways of knowing.

The unique and rich knowledge of Métis people is linked to their history, homeland, and holistic experience and understanding of the environment. With intergenerational insights regarding resilience and adaptability, Métis people are sharing these teachings and thereby contributing meaningful solutions and hope in a warming world.

Métis people have a deep connection to the ecosystems within their homeland that endures. With climate change, the Métis are seeing impacts on animals, medicines, water, and extreme events that affect the health and wellness of communities. Conserving and sustaining species and territories in an era of climate change is a responsibility that is critically important to Métis citizens. From renewable projects and land-based education to Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs), Métis are leading the way on climate action.

Like many Métis communities, hunting, trapping, and fishing are a way of life for the people of St. Laurent. But with climate change making winters shorter and ice less reliable, their season for ice fishing is shrinking, disrupting their land use and livelihoods. These Métis experiences demonstrate that both climate and culture are changing along the shores of Lake Manitoba.

With the existential threat of climate change, it’s only natural to feel overwhelming emotions of anxiety, fear, or anger. But at the same time it is critically important to find sources of hope that can allow us to imagine a better future and work towards it. In this video, author and expert Dr. Elin Kelsey explains the importance of being hopeful and offers tips on where to look for motivation in difficult times. For Kelsey, hope is a “brave political act” that requires courage and commitment in the face of uncertainty.

For many years, the community of Lubicon Cree Nation has gathered on the land for a culture camp, which brings people together to share leadership, traditional knowledge and skills like drying meat and drum and bow and arrow making. Land-based education and teachings strengthens the community’s connection to their territory, ancestors, culture, and Indigenous values in the face of a changing climate. “It’s a type of re-empowerment and reconnection to who we are as Indigenous people,” says community member Melina Laboucan-Massimo.