Documentation of Indigenous Peoples’ relationship to the land is occurring across multiple streams in Canada. Indigenous-led and community-based academic research has expanded substantially in recent years, producing methodologically rigorous, place-specific scholarship on Indigenous-land relationships. Indigenous Guardians programs, now operating across more than 200 First Nations and communities, document and monitor Indigenous lands through a combination of Indigenous knowledge and Western science. The federal Indigenous Guardians Pilot Program ($25 million over four years) and the 47 First Nations Guardians initiatives funded for 2025-2026 support this work, alongside long-standing programs including the Innu Nation Environmental Guardians (since 1992), Lutsel K’e Ni Hat’ni Dene (since 2008), Haida Gwaii Watchmen, and the Coastal Guardian Watchmen Network.
On the education half of the Call, Indigenous-led education of policy makers, industry, and Canadians is occurring at federal, post-secondary, and industry levels but unevenly. The Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) Indigenous Learning Series (since 2016) and Indigenous Learning Business Line (since 2019) deliver Indigenous-led education to public servants, with mandatory uptake at the Public Health Agency of Canada (since 2020), Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and Indigenous Services Canada (15 hours mandatory annually since 2024-2025), and other departments. Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) launched its Indigenous Education Protocol in 2014 and is in the tenth-anniversary review and renewal process initiated at the 2024 National Indigenous Education Symposium. Industry-side Indigenous-led education is delivered through the Mining Association of Canada Towards Sustainable Mining Protocol, the Mining Industry Human Resources Council Indigenous Inclusion Training Standard, the Indigenous Workways Toolkit, and Indigenous-owned consultancies including Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. and Bridging Concepts (covered in detail in the parallel assessments of Calls 30 and 31).