Gaining Momentum - A National Network for Indigenous Guardians
The Indigenous Leadership Initiative (ILI) is promoting a federally funded, Indigenous-led National Indigenous Guardians Network in Canada. This network would support the development and employment of guardians across the country. It has generated broad support, including from the Assembly of First Nations which passed a resolution in 2015 calling for a national guardians program.
The movement to create a National Indigenous Guardians Network gained ground when the government of Canada included an initial investment in the network of $25 million over 5 years in the 2017-2018 federal budget. While this investment will not enable new guardian programs to be established immediately, it will help develop the national network and prepare Indigenous Nations and communities to launch their own Indigenous Guardians Programs.
ILI is dedicated to facilitating the strengthening of Indigenous nationhood to fulfill Indigenous cultural responsibility to lands and the emergence of new generations of Indigenous leaders. ILI is also committed to helping communities develop the skills and capacity they will need as they continue to become fully respected and equally treated partners in Canada’s system of governance and its economic and social growth.
Learn more here.