The changing climate will exacerbate the various health and socio-economic inequities already experienced by Indigenous people in Canada, according to a new report from the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health.
The report, which reviews climate change-related health risks for all Canadians, focuses on Indigenous health in its second chapter, noting that First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in Canada are “uniquely sensitive” to climate change because they often inhabit areas experiencing rapid climatic changes and tend to have a “close relationship to and depend on the environment.”
One major area of concern is the impact of climate change on the existing health inequities experienced by these communities. A warming climate will worsen food and water security, air quality, personal safety, and mental well-being, and access to livelihood options, among others. The report importantly highlights that health impacts are not experienced evenly within and between Indigenous communities, demonstrating that solutions must respect “cultures, geography, local contexts, and the unique needs of these communities.”
Increased hazards and extreme weather events resulting from climate change can also result in short or long-term evacuations and displacement from traditional territories, which threatens ways of life and may disrupt cultural cohesion of Indigenous groups.
As the policymakers consider the urgent threat of climate change across Canada, they must pay particular attention to the needs of such communities. In addition, solutions must take into account the vast knowledge base that exists among Indigenous Peoples, who have been “actively observing and adapting to changing environments in a diversity of ways since time immemorial.”
The report also reminds policymakers that First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples are rights holders, and so climate change risk mitigation and adaptation requires that Indigenous Peoples’ rights, responsibilities, and ways of life are “respected, protected, and advanced” via Indigenous-led adaptation, policy, and research.
This inclusive and consultative approach is all the more important following the recent spate of climate disasters in Canada, including last summer’s devastating wildfires in British Columbia, which caused “extraordinarily high” stress among impacted Indigenous communities, according to the academic head of the center which released the report, Dr. Margo Greenwood. Concerns about accumulated trauma among Indigenous communities, especially those who live outside urban centers and therefore may lack access to things like cooling centers during increasingly common heat waves, demand “clear” strategies from all levels of government in Canada.
Unfortunately, as we noted in a previous Spotlight article, the Government of Canada has historically not done enough to address climate change, despite warnings that such inaction would be catastrophic, and would pose a particular risk to Indigenous Peoples. The Trudeau government will need to embark on a bold platform of dramatically reducing emissions and providing significantly increased assistance to groups that are particularly vulnerable to climate change risks like displacement. But such policies should be accompanied by provincial and local strategies, and all of it must include Indigenous Peoples, and other vulnerable groups, from the start.
South of the border, it is expected that flood risks in the United States will not only increase over time, but will shift to regions where Black populations are higher. Both the US and Canada will need to take urgent and significant steps to ensure their historically marginalized populations are not left further behind and put at greater risk as climate change impacts worsen.