Climate change in Indigenous and Northern communities
Supporting Indigenous climate leadership and co-developing solutions with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples is central to advancing reconciliation and self-determination.
Feature stories
- Northern teaching farm takes crops out of the cold
- Biomass clean energy projects help Northern communities to address climate change
- Winter is coming… and the NRC is getting ready to take advantage of it
- Studying the stars, nurturing the Earth: wildfire management at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory
Northern and Indigenous communities are:
- identifying opportunities to build local capacity to help understand and reduce the physical risks of changing climate conditions
- gaining understanding of long-term trends and impacts of climate change by combining newly collected data with traditional knowledge to make relevant and pertinent decisions
- assessing and responding to the direct impacts of climate change
- developing locally appropriate renewable energy options to assist in the reduction of carbon-intensive emissions from diesel generators
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) provides funding to support these activities through 5 programs in support of a low-emissions energy future and focused on building stronger, healthier and more resilient Indigenous communities. Since 2016, CIRNAC funding has supported hundreds of projects in northern and Indigenous communities for initiatives such as monitoring pattern shifts in flora and fauna, assessing the impacts of coastal erosion, permafrost thaw and ice melt and offsetting diesel fuel use with clean energy projects such as wind, biomass and solar.
Services and information
Northern REACHE (Responsible Energy Approach for Community Heat and Electricity) Program
Funding for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, as well as related capacity building and planning in the North.
Climate Change Preparedness in the North Program
Funding climate change adaptation projects in Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Nunavik and Nunatsiavut
First Nation Adapt Program
Funding for First Nation communities located below the 60th parallel to assess and respond to climate change impacts on community infrastructure and disaster risk reduction.
Indigenous Community-Based Climate Monitoring Program
Funding to support Indigenous peoples in the design, implementation, or expansion of long-term community-based climate monitoring projects
Engaging Indigenous Peoples in Climate Policy Program
Supports engagement on policy discussions as it related to the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change.
Related links
- Climate Change and Health Adaptation Program (Indigenous Services Canada program)
- Canada's partnership with Indigenous Peoples on Climate
- Indigenous Climate and Environment Funding
- Clean Energy in Indigenous, Rural and Remote Communities
- A Northern moment (video series)
- Canada's Changing Climate Report
- Climate Change in Canada | Climate Atlas of Canada
- Climate action map
- National Adaptation Strategy