An Ocean of Opportunity: Indigenous law and co-governance of marine spaces Georgia Lloyd-smith Twitter: @WCELaw @GeorgiaLLS Web: www.wcel.org www.protectthegreatbearsea.org
INDIGENOUS LAW
“Being Tsimshian is not simple. Being Tsimshian is complicated – we have laws for everything.” - Elder from Gitga’at First Nation
“[ When we tip a canoe] we may lose some of our possessions.... Eventually we will regain our possessions [but] they will not be the same as the old ones .” - Mi’kmaq Elder Stephen Augustine
1. Accessing Indigenous law through stories 2. Developing contemporary Indigenous law instruments through deliberation & community engagement 3. Implementation & Enforcement
Yinka Dene All Clans Gathering on the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline April 2014 Chief Tsodih , Nak’azdli: “It’s important for the Canadian government, and the public in BC and Canada, to know that our people act according to principles and responsibilities in our own system of law and governance… This gathering of our clans, for our leaders and elders to give reasons for the rejection of the Enbridge pipeline in an assembly according to our laws, affirms that our ban on the Enbridge pipeline isn’t a preference, it’s a determination under law.”
Indigenous Project Assessments
Enforcement of Indigenous Laws
Central Coast: Dungeness Crab Closures
10% by 2020: What counts?
Indigenous Protected Areas “In effect, because of their attachment to, and dependence on the land, Indigenous peoples have been establishing their own protected areas for millennia.” - Taking Action Today Report
Co-governance of Protected Areas • Equal power sharing • Indigenous laws and governance upheld – How are decisions made? – What laws are being applied? • 2-eyed seeing • Adequate funding
Indigenous Guardian network
“We consider the river an ancestor and always have” – Gerrard Albert
Georgia Lloyd-smith Twitter: @WCELaw @GeorgiaLLS Web: www.wcel.org www.protectthegreatbearsea.org
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