Community and Climate Risk

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First Nations Infrastructure and Climate Change

We often think of infrastructure as physical objects built from concrete, steel, and timber, like roads, buildings, water treatment plants or energy networks. These are the physical systems, buildings, structures, and facilities that help us carry out our daily activities. They are designed and developed by humans to make our lives easier, more efficient, and generally to improve quality of life.

"When I think of infrastructure and the people here, I think of the capacity that is built not just in a physical infrastructure, like a building, but the capacity that is built with knowledge, the capacity that's built with the lived experiences of being on the land and the water. It's that unseen infrastructure that's most important to us. Those sets of infrastructures that have been built through knowledge are what's most important, not so much the physical infrastructure that you would normally think of."

- William Housty, HIRMD (Heiltsuk Integrated Resource Management Department), Bella Bella

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Hikila

Taking Care

In the Heiltsuk (Haíɫzaqv) Nation, community-led infrastructure projects such as clam gardens and the Big House enhance community resilience. This film explores how values, traditions, and the principle of “Looking Back to Look Forward” guide the creation of climate-resilient, culturally relevant infrastructure. It shares the intergenerational wisdom of the Haíɫzaqv Nation on climate change and community infrastructure.

Video

North Shore

Climate Risk Assessment

The North Shore Tribal Council, together with Sagamok Anishinawbek, Batchawana First Nation, and OFNTSC, is preparing infrastructure for climate impacts using the First Nations Infrastructure Resilience Toolkit (FN-IRT). This approach combines technical expertise with community knowledge to support adaptation planning for infrastructure and cultural resilience.

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Relationships for Change

Shawn Bailey and Lancelot Coar are trying to change the way architecture students think about the connection between climate change, Indigenous Knowledges, and design. Associate Professors in the Department of Architecture at the University of Manitoba, Bailey and Coar guide students on their journey to becoming practicing architects. Every year Coar and Bailey teach a design course for 4th year architecture students and, increasingly, they are trying to break the mold of what and how students are learning.

In recent years, students have taken on designs that address climate change, while incorporating different ways of knowing into their approach. “Through long and sustained partnerships with communities, we use this studio as an opportunity to expand our own understanding of what's important.” Coar explains. The course teaches students that architecture is more than simply designing buildings. It challenges students to consider architecture from a more holistic lens, exploring questions of why and how buildings are designed, and for who. Respecting perspectives of community and land in the process of design, students are encouraged to think on “How can we be better allies, and assist in the way of supporting Indigenous voices, the Indigenous ways of thinking that can enhance the way that we understand how design works.”

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First Nations Communities and Planning for Climate Change

Climate change is a global issue that is experienced at the local level. Extreme climate-related events like heatwaves, flash floods, high winds, and drought affect the people and buildings in communities, and the land and wildlife found around them. Communities are at the front lines of climate change, and this first hand experience means they understand its impacts on their way of life.

Climate change planning needs to be done by community, for community. That’s what Elmer Lickers believes is the key to success. Elmer Lickers is Mohawk, a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation. He is also a senior advisor at the Ontario First Nations Technical Service Corporation (OFNTSC). Lickers and his team work with communities on a program called the First Nations Infrastructure Resilience Toolkit (FN-IRT), a First Nations specific approach to climate change risk assessment for infrastructure and asset management.