“The Journey So Far” is highly recommended for anyone interested in how First Nations worldviews and perspectives can be aligned with natural asset initiatives. This groundbreaking document was developed collaboratively by Bill J. Bear, the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region (WMR) and the (recently renamed) Natural Assets Initiative.
This concise and insightful document:
- touches on some of the key aspects of First Nations history in Canada
- unflinchingly speaks to some of the past and ongoing impacts of that history on Indigenous peoples, and
- shows how First Nations worldviews and perspectives rooted and related to in nature can provide a basis for the needed paradigm shift among all peoples to move forward constructively in a context of climate change.
This document highlights the fundamental First Nations beliefs that land, water and other natural resources are shared assets to be used and cared in ways that consider the needs of the next seven generations. It also illustrates how these beliefs can be aligned with practices of inventorying and assessing natural assets in a given geographic area to inform efforts to protect and invest in the maintenance and restoration of these assets to help manage the effects of climate change.
“The Journey So Far” speaks to how the integration of community data and cultural perspectives has contributed to developing practical tools for identifying areas suited to nature-based solutions in the WMR. Ultimately, it is hoped these tools will guide land use and investment decisions to help the project partners build community resilience in the face of climate change.
As it states, “The Journey So Far” only provides “a snapshot of the process at this point in time” but it is an inspiring example of how natural asset planning and management can be greatly enhanced when municipalities and First Nations collaborate in meaningful ways.