Conference extends invitation to Natives.

GUELPH. ONT.

It's the "biggest national gathering of white ideas around stewardship ever," is how one organizer describes a gathering of land trusts representatives who will meet at the University of Guelph in June to discuss protecting species at risk. Even so, an Elder from Six Nations in Ontario, a representative of the Haida Gwaii Marine Resources Group, a member of the Qikiqtaaluk Wildlife Board in Iqaluit and a couple more Native people are on the roster of presenters, and there is an effort now by the hosting university to draw in more.

Original plans did not involve consultation with specifically Native groups. But according to one of the Guelph University conference organizers, Peter Mitchell, Wildlife Canada brought it to their attention they should try to include Aboriginal people and he was happy Windspeaker called him so he could get the word out.

The conference, "Caring For Our Land: Stewardship and Conservation in Canada," will be held June 3 to 6. Program themes are land trusts and community groups in conservation; working with private landowners; stewardship policies and programs; legislative and securement tools; applying science, local and traditional knowledge; building networks and partnerships; and sustaining your organization.

Although federal and provincial government ministries and departments are prominent among sponsoring partners in the university's registration package, "It's not at all a government event," according to Mitchell. "The main focus is to bring [together] the groups that call themselves land trusts and nature conservancies -- these are small, local groups that are popping up now all over the country." He added there are about 100 such groups in Canada.

The call for participation issued by Environment Canada states the three main, goals of the conference are "to bring people together who share the common goal of caring for the land, particularly the groups working at the community level, non-government organizations, and land trusts; ... to identify the needs and support required for success in conservation and stewardship at the municipal, provincial, and federal government levels with regard to legislation, policies, programs, and funding; ... [and] to develop new visions and new forms of organization and partnership; to promote and sustain land conservation and stewardship in Canada."

A March 13 letter from Jill Watkins, Aboriginal liaison for species at risk at Environment Canada's Canadian Wildlife Service, states the conference organizers want Aboriginal people to be "meaningfully involved" but "do not know who to approach." Her letter stated that was why she was circulating the call for participation with university contact information. Watkins pointed out, however, that her own department is not involved in arranging the conference and that she would not be providing the organizers with the "species at risk Aboriginal distribution list," which she characterized as "confidential."

Mitchell explained the conference came about because of something called the "land owner contact process."

He said it involves a lot of little groups that are working with some government funding, "where the government has identified some areas of natural and scientific interest, or some special areas that they want preserved, have identified those by municipal regulation or just generally on maps, and all the biologists and botanists and zoologists just want to figure out how to protect these areas. So they have been using a process, which I guess started in the 70s and 80s, where they identify all the private land owners who own within that boundary, and usually train young university students to go out [on behalf of the stewardship groups and ask] the land owners ... were you aware there are some endangered or special species on your property ... would you be willing to protect, just on a handshake basis, this area?"

Mitchell adds the land owner contact process has been "significantly" funded across the country by Wildlife Habitat Canada. The board of directors of that organization last year decided to review how well the process was working so they funded a research project at Guelph University to find out. Mitchell was the research associate on the project.

He contacted the small local groups, some identifying themselves as land trusts, and eventually suggested they meet this year. Mitchell underlines the original intention of the gathering was to bring these groups together in one place and "the root of it was not initially at all to involve or engage First Nations or Aboriginal people."

But when they started to fundraise for the project, Mitchell said, people in the Canadian Wildlife Service of Environment Canada pointed that because of the wording being used, such as "caring for our land, stewardship and conservation in Canada," it was a good idea to involve Aboriginal people.