Climate change in Indigenous and Northern communities

Supporting Indigenous climate leadership and co-developing solutions with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples is central to advancing reconciliation and self-determination.

Northern and Indigenous communities are:

• identifying opportunities to build local capacity to help understand and reduce the physical risks of changing climate conditions
• gaining understanding of long-term trends and impacts of climate change by combining newly collected data with traditional knowledge to make relevant and pertinent decisions
• assessing and responding to the direct impacts of climate change
• developing locally appropriate renewable energy options to assist in the reduction of carbon-intensive emissions from diesel generators

Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) provides funding to support these activities through 5 programs in support of a low-emissions energy future and focused on building stronger, healthier and more resilient Indigenous communities. Since 2016, CIRNAC funding has supported hundreds of projects in northern and Indigenous communities for initiatives such as monitoring pattern shifts in flora and fauna, assessing the impacts of coastal erosion, permafrost thaw and ice melt and offsetting diesel fuel use with clean energy projects such as wind, biomass and solar.