Watch: Canada’s Indigenous Guardian program continues to grow

The ranks of First Nations’ Indigenous Guardians have grown from 30 programs to more than 170 over the past decade. These experts manage protected areas in Canada, working to restore wildlife and plant populations, testing water quality and monitoring development. They have also been among the crews called in to fight wildfires burning across Canada this spring.

“They’re developing strategies (and) mitigating and implementing, in some cases, nature-based climate solutions, whether that is reforestation or carbon management projects, management of waterways, bringing back the practice of cultural burning to reduce the fuel load,” Valérie Courtois, executive director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, told Global News.

Watch Courtois discuss the work of Indigenous Guardians below.