Indigenous sovereignty

Indigenous sovereignty "consists of spiritual ways, culture, language, social and legal systems, political structures, and inherent relationships with lands and waters" that "exist through Indigenous peoples regardless of what a colonial state does or does not do and "arises from each community's Indigenous Traditional Knowledge." -Indigenous Environmental Network

Indigenous sovereignty is recognized by the Canadian government; that both Canada and Indigenous Peoples maintain their own sovereign states. "Sovereign states indicate that they are two separate governing states residing on the same land."

Idle No More is an Indigenous-led movement that calls on all people to join in a peaceful revolution which honours and fulfills Indigenous sovereignty and protects the land, water, and sky; it is the resistance of Indigenous peoples in response to ongoing settler colonialism. - Idle No More

What does sovereignty mean to Indigenous Peoples?

Non-interference	International Law says that Nation states must not interfere with the internal affairs of other Nation States (such as Indigenous Nations). To do so would be a violation of recognized sovereignty. The Two-Row Wampum covenant demonstrates the principle of non-interference and mutual respect being foundational of every Treaty signed between European (or Canadian) and Indigenous Nations.
Land back	"What must be reconciled is the Crown’s assertion of sovereignty with the pre-contact sovereignty of Indigenous Nations." -Stephen John Ford Reconciling and reparations, therefore, must include a redistribution of wealth, land and jurisdictional power within the Settler State.
Asserting Indigenous ways of life	Asserting sovereignty can be as simple as exercising an Indigenous right, such as hunting, fishing or gathering.

Understanding why Indigenous sovereignty is necessary for climate justice

Indigenous sovereignty halts capitalist resource extraction

The violation of Treaty Relationships by settlers has enabled for the continuation of capitalist extraction, one of the major systems driving climate change (see anti-capitalism). These agreements, meant to facilitate peace and coexistence, have continued to be violated by settler states like so-called Canada, while disregarding Indigenous sovereignty and the role it has in safeguarding 80% of global biodiversity By asserting their sovereign land rights, Indigenous communities pose a significant threat to the settler state and have the potential to halt destructive resource extraction (e.g. Standing rock and the TMX resistance)

Indigenous-led resistance movements have historically been the most effective against the climate crisis

We describe several successful intersectional climate justice campaigns on our wiki page: How we Win! Summary of findings on successful climate justice campaigns in North America. In the last 20 years, you'll notice that a good number of the campaigns/resistance movements we covered were Indigenous-led!

If you have any suggested revisions or additional resources to share related to the above content, please email them to kenzie@lehub.ca.

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