Dialogue session on the environment and climate change

BACKGROUND

• We are at a crossroads.
• Our commitment to the current federal government is coming to an end.
• The period after October 2019 remains uncertain.
• The climate crisis is only accelerating.
• The Advisory Committee on Climate Action and the Environment (ACACE) is reviewing priorities for the coming years.

CLIMATE CRISIS

• Our elders tell us that Mother Earth is facing a climate crisis.
  • They talk about changes in species migration, temperatures, and irreversible impacts on our land.

• The Pan-Canadian Framework (PCF) aims to achieve a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030.
  • Despite this, Canada’s response remains insufficient and puts us on track for 4°C warming.

• A recent national report indicates that Canada’s climate has warmed and will continue to do so at a rate approximately twice the global average.

Climate change optics

• The Climate Change Lens helps clarify how climate change is accelerating existing challenges (such as biodiversity loss).
• A healthy environment is linked to everything around us: our health, our homes and infrastructure, our water, our food security, etc.
• Our survival is threatened if our environment is endangered.
• Solutions must incorporate the perspectives of First Nations.

RESOLUTIONS

• The mandate of the AFN is based on resolutions.
• A few resolutions concerning the environment that will be tabled at this AGM:
  • Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
  • Support for the study on food, environment, health, and nutrition among children and young people (AESNEJ)
  • Support for First Nations custodians
  • First Nations Climate Emergency Declaration
  • Respect for the inherent and constitutional rights of First Nations in the list of projects in Bill C-69