Leadership of the Nlakaʼpamux Nation pose for a picture at the commissioning of the quA-ymn Solar Facility near Logan Lake, B.C.
Photo: Aaron Hemens / The Narwhal
More and more First Nations in British Columbia are leading the charge towards renewable energy. Here’s what we learned at this week’s panel discussion
Before I recap this week’s inspiring panel discussion on Indigenous-led clean energy projects, an exciting update: we’re more than 80 per cent of the way to reaching our goal to welcome 400 new members this month!Can you help us reach the finish line?
Member support allows us to invest in stories like Leah Borts-Kuperman’s months-long investigation into contamination on Canadian military bases, which staff say is making them sick. Leah’s work on that story was just named one of three finalists for the George Brown Award for Investigations by the prestigious National Newspaper Awards.
“When you grow up in an Indigenous community, it’s your whole world. And you really feel like, I don’t know, Avengers — like you’ve survived all of this and you’re going to keep surviving,” Santana said at the webinar.
But in small communities, clean energy champions are often isolated. These gatherings let people know they’re not alone, Santana said, and give space to “recharge and to go back to their territories to continue on that work.”
“If you want to be an ally to Indigenous-led initiatives, it’s really just rethinking a project — and maybe it won’t make sense to you,” Santana said. “Like my colleagues here are saying, not everything needs to be revenue-generating.”
“It’s something that makes a big impact for the aunties, the matriarchs or the people who use wheelchairs. So supporting Indigenous-led initiatives sometimes just requires listening and not judging at first glance.”
I hope you’ll agree that Santana has done The Narwhal a great favour by lending us her skills and perspectives this year — and I look forward to what she shares with us next!
This is a 10-month fellowship for an early-to-mid career BIPOC reporter, generously funded by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. (As per The Narwhal’s editorial independence policy, no foundation or outside organization has editorial input into our stories.)
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