Canada Spotlights Indigenous Climate and Health Leadership at UN Permanent Forum

Canada's delegation to the United Nations' 25th Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues emphasised Indigenous-led solutions to climate change and health disparities, with Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty joined by Governor General Mary Simon, Senator Margo Greenwood, and First Nations, Inuit and Métis elders and leaders. The forum, which opened on April 22 in New York, brings together governments and Indigenous organisations from around the world for two weeks of plenary sessions and side events.

Canada used the opening day to reaffirm a set of commitments that the federal government has made over the past year, most notably the $3.8 billion A Force of Nature strategy announced in late 2025 to support Indigenous-led conservation, biodiversity, climate adaptation and sustainable economies. Alty's remarks paired those financial commitments with a broader argument about the role of Indigenous knowledge in addressing what she called 'overlapping crises' of climate, biodiversity loss and public health.

What Canada announced at the forum

Alty highlighted Indigenous-led solutions as a central pillar of Canada's climate and health strategies, pointing to programs that put decision-making authority with First Nations, Inuit and Métis governments. Those programs include Indigenous Guardians initiatives in the North, land-based healing programs, conservation economies in British Columbia and the Prairies, and Inuit-led Arctic monitoring partnerships with federal scientific agencies.

A particular focus of Canada's intervention was the linkage between environmental and health outcomes. Senator Margo Greenwood, a leading scholar on Indigenous child and community health, chaired a Canadian-hosted side event on how the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples supports health protections. The panel convened Indigenous leaders, public health experts and government officials to discuss how implementation of the declaration at the national level translates into concrete outcomes in areas such as clean water, mental health, and access to primary care.

Canada's delegation also stressed the continuing importance of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action, implementation of the United Nations Declaration Act, and work with Indigenous peoples on priorities identified at the national level. Officials said that each of those frameworks is being used as a reference point during forum discussions.

Governor General Mary Simon's role

Governor General Mary Simon, Canada's first Indigenous vice-regal representative and a longtime Inuit leader, attended the forum as part of a broader engagement with international Indigenous advocacy. Her presence gave Canada's delegation an unusually visible profile at the opening day, drawing attention from other member-state delegations and from Indigenous participants from around the world.

Simon's background includes decades of work with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and Inuit Circumpolar Council, and she has used her position as governor general to foreground Indigenous perspectives on climate, mental health and language preservation. At the forum, her role was largely ceremonial, but her presence served as a reminder of how much the composition of Canada's delegations to such events has shifted over the past two decades.

Indigenous participants at the forum from other countries said Canada's high-level representation stood out. Representatives from Australia, Brazil and several African states made similar points about the importance of visible high-level engagement, though they also pressed Canada on specific areas where advocacy groups say progress has been slower, including drinking-water advisories in First Nations communities and the treatment of unceded territories in provincial resource development.

The $3.8 billion A Force of Nature strategy

Canada's A Force of Nature strategy is a multi-year, multi-department initiative that brings together funding for Indigenous-led conservation, biodiversity restoration, clean energy transition and sustainable economies. The strategy pools commitments made in successive federal budgets and wraps them into a single framework that places Indigenous governments and communities in the driver's seat.

Elements of the strategy include expanded support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, increased funding for Indigenous Guardians programs in the territories, and partnership funding for Indigenous-led renewable energy projects that reduce dependence on diesel in remote communities. Several First Nations in northern Ontario, the Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories have already received approval for projects under the strategy, and additional announcements are expected throughout 2026.

Federal officials at the forum said the strategy's longevity is a key feature. By committing funding across multiple years, Ottawa intends to give Indigenous governments the planning stability required for large environmental, health and infrastructure projects. That structure addresses a long-standing critique from Indigenous leaders that stop-start federal programming has hampered their ability to make durable investments.

Why Indigenous leadership on climate matters

Indigenous-led approaches to climate change have been increasingly recognised by researchers and international organisations as essential to effective policy. Indigenous territories overlap with some of the most biodiverse landscapes on the planet, and Indigenous knowledge systems carry generations of ecological expertise. In Canada, First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities are on the front lines of climate impacts, from melting sea ice in the Arctic to increasingly severe wildfires in the boreal forest.

Grist and other publications reporting on the forum highlighted Indigenous leaders' argument that human health cannot be separated from the health of the land. That principle, central to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, frames Indigenous-led conservation not only as an environmental priority but as a public health strategy. The Canadian delegation echoed that framing in its remarks.

Health workforce issues also came up. The Hill Times reported this week that rural and remote regions, including many Indigenous communities, continue to face the steepest shortages of health-care workers in Canada. Indigenous leaders at the forum argued that expanding Indigenous health workforces would deliver both health and self-determination benefits, a combination that federal officials said they support through training and recruitment programs.

Tensions that remain

Despite the positive tone of the opening day, real disagreements exist between Canada and Indigenous leadership on important files. Implementation of the United Nations Declaration Act has been slower than many Indigenous governments would prefer. Manitoba First Nations recently rejected a federal-provincial impact-assessment deal and demanded a seat at the table for any future project assessments. British Columbia's debate over DRIPA suspension exposed ongoing tensions in the province most often cited as a leader on reconciliation.

Clean drinking water remains a particularly stubborn area of concern. Although Ottawa has lifted most long-term boil-water advisories on-reserve over the past decade, a small number remain, and several Inuit communities in Nunavut have faced multi-month water emergencies. Gjoa Haven, for instance, recently ended a four-month boil-water advisory that coincided with a winter power outage.

Housing, policing, child welfare and gender-based violence are other areas where advocacy groups continue to press Ottawa for faster and deeper action. The forum is one of the venues where those concerns get raised both diplomatically and publicly.

What it means for Canadians

The themes of the forum matter far beyond the conference hall. For Indigenous Canadians, federal engagement with global Indigenous bodies can produce tangible gains, from funding to program design to political support. The more visible Canada's participation, the more seriously Indigenous priorities are taken inside the federal apparatus. The forum also helps connect Canadian Indigenous leadership with counterparts from around the world who are navigating similar challenges.

For non-Indigenous Canadians, the forum is a reminder that reconciliation is not only a domestic issue. Canada's reputation on Indigenous rights is now part of the country's international standing, and that reputation is being actively shaped by the actions of the federal, provincial and territorial governments. Successful implementation of programs such as A Force of Nature and the United Nations Declaration Act strengthens that reputation; missteps, such as the recent DRIPA controversy in British Columbia, weaken it.

Canada's climate and biodiversity goals are also increasingly dependent on Indigenous leadership. Federal commitments to protect 30 per cent of Canada's land and waters by 2030 lean heavily on Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, and meeting carbon reduction targets often involves partnerships with Indigenous-led clean energy projects. Those facts bind the environmental future of the country to the success of reconciliation.

Provincial and territorial engagement

The provinces and territories do not have formal delegations at the UN forum, but several sent observers or supported Indigenous-led delegations from within their jurisdictions. Leaders from the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Métis National Council and regional organisations were part of the broader Canadian presence.

Premiers have weighed in on parts of the broader conversation. British Columbia's David Eby, whose government recently reversed a controversial proposal to suspend parts of DRIPA, has faced pressure from within his own caucus to recommit to the province's reconciliation framework. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec each handle Indigenous policy differently, and those differences shape the composition of Indigenous delegations that travel to New York.

What's next

The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues continues for two weeks. Canadian participants are expected to speak in multiple thematic panels, from climate adaptation in the Arctic to Indigenous youth leadership, violence prevention, and health equity. Canada's delegation will also engage with other member-state governments in bilateral and multilateral meetings.

At home, Alty's office has indicated that new programming announcements are coming throughout 2026 under the A Force of Nature strategy, including for conservation projects, Indigenous-led clean energy, and land-based healing. The federal budget expected later this spring will also include Indigenous-specific measures shaped in part by engagement at events such as the UN forum.

Canada's message at the forum's opening was that Indigenous leadership is central to how the country addresses climate, biodiversity and health challenges. That message will be tested over the coming months by the quality of implementation on the ground. For now, the forum has given Canadian officials a prominent platform to make the case, and Indigenous leaders a venue to press for further action.