(Lheidli T’enneh Territory, Prince George, BC) – The BC Assembly of First Nations (BCAFN) and Regional Chief Terry Teegee are calling on world leaders gathered at COP26, including Canada and BC, to urgently scale up climate action and bridge commitments to actions beyond the Paris Agreement. BCAFN is also concerned with the lack of Indigenous Peoples’ participation at COP26, and warning that without Indigenous Peoples’ significant and meaningful participation at all levels of international climate negotiations, including decision-making, climate justice will not be realized.
“We need to move from rhetoric to action,” stated Regional Chief Teegee. “Our leaders have good talking points about the urgency in reducing GHG emissions and adapting to a warmer planet. However, very few governments — including Canada and BC — are pursuing the systemic changes needed to address the roots of the climate crisis. To halt human-caused global emissions, the world needs to move away from the use of fossil fuels and replace it with sustainable energy sources, not increase oil and gas production as we are planning to do here in Canada.”
Furthermore, Indigenous Peoples are not a priority for world leaders or the negotiations, despite the unique lessons that Indigenous Peoples can share to help shift the systems and behaviours that have led the world to this climate crisis. “Despite the promises from Canada and B.C. about taking their Nation-to-Nation relationships to First Nations seriously, we don’t see that in practice with respect to international climate negotiations,” said Regional Chief Terry Teegee. “There is a noticeable failure to include First Nations while negotiating the collective future of our planet internationally and locally.”
Regional Chief Teegee continues, “Canada’s and BC’s climate change plans do not represent the point of view of First Nations and are not aligned with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples or BC’s Declaration Act. That can change, but it requires listening to First Nations’ concerns and priorities. Government commitments must include the time and resources to meaningfully include First Nations in planning and decision-making, and to have clear mechanisms of accountability to measure progress towards these goals. Without this, governments will continue to revert back to their colonial mentality and ways of approaching problems.”
About the Conference of the Parties
COP26 is the United Nations’ 26th Climate Change Conference of the Parties, and is running from October 31st to November 12th, 2021. Leaders from across the world are meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, negotiating the ‘next’ climate agreement to guide international commitments for climate response. The COP (Conference of the Parties) stands as the decision-making body of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) representing all signatory Parties to the UNFCCC. This year, COP26 is focusing on climate markets and more ambitious efforts to limit warming to 1.5oC. Many world leaders are calling for a new agreement to take us beyond the Paris Agreement, and more importantly, to address the failure of most countries to actually deliver on their prior commitments. This applies to Canada as well.