On December 17, 2025, the Honourable Julie Dabrusin, Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature, announced an investment of over $4.5 million for 47 First Nations-led Guardians initiatives through the Indigenous Guardians program for 2025-2026. These initiatives will help protect important ecosystems, build and maintain local economies, and sustain Indigenous ways of life.
Project title: Whitefish (Goodfish) Lake Guardians Program First Nation
Recipient: Whitefish Lake First Nation #128
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative addresses burdock infestation, an invasive species threatening the Nation's well-being. Partnering with the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and engaging Elders and youth, the initiative will develop an invasive species management plan, build local capacity, and lay the foundation for future environmental stewardship and self-determined planning.
Project title: Chipewyan Prairie First Nation Woodland Caribou Habitat Monitoring Program
Recipient: Chipewyan Prairie First Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative develops a Guardian program to monitor and protect woodland caribou habitat in Treaty 8 territory. Rooted in Western and Indigenous Knowledge, it pairs youth with Elders to implement culturally grounded monitoring. Through storytelling and land-based engagement, the program tracks environmental changes affecting caribou, an animal deeply tied to the Nation's identity.
Project title: Duncan's First Nation Guardians Initiative
Recipient: Duncan's First Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative develops a formal Guardians program to strengthen the Lands Department's capacity against industrial activity, climate change, and wildlife decline. It will establish a Nation-led stewardship approach to protect culturally significant areas, monitor key species/habitats, and support informed decision-making. Rooted in Dene language and traditions, it engages Elders and youth in land-based learning.
Project title: Fortifying the Fort McKay Environmental Guardians Program
Recipient: Fort McKay First Nation
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This initiative expands Fort McKay First Nation's community-led Environmental Guardian program. It enhances wildlife, air, and water quality monitoring in Fort McKay/Moose Lake, addressing challenges like algal blooms and dust. The program will increase its team to three Guardians, focusing on enhanced surface/groundwater monitoring, new camera/dust stations, and a food security project with a greenhouse, bolstering Fort McKay First Nation's land and water protection capacity.
British Columbia
Project title: Kwikwasut'inuxw Haxwa'mis First Nation Guardians Program
Recipient: Kwikwasut'inuxw Haxwa'mis First Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative establishes a Guardian program to protect and manage Kwikwasut'inuxw Haxwa'mis First Nation territory from recreational overuse, industry, and environmental change. Guardians will monitor fishing, hunting, and tourism; promote responsible recreation; and support salmon stream recovery and species monitoring. The program aligns with preserving culture, food security, ecological health, and community well-being, including youth involvement and cultural education.
Project title: Skwah First Nation Guardians Viability
Recipient: Skwah First Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative explores developing a community-led Skwah Guardians program, grounded in ancestral teachings and the Nation's vision of stewardship. It aims to assess program viability to empower members to care for and monitor traditional territory, protecting culturally/ecologically significant land and water. Rooted in Indigenous Knowledge, the program supports inherent responsibilities, strengthens community connections, and lays groundwork for long-term environmental governance.
Project title: Stz'uminus Lands Department Guardians Program
Recipient: Stz'uminus First Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative strengthens stewardship of Stz'uminus traditional territory against environmental pressures. It focuses on environmental monitoring, data collection, and land and water presence, blending Traditional Knowledge with Western science. Emphasizing technical research, community engagement, and youth involvement, the program supports long-term environmental health and Nation-led decision-making for co-management.
Project title: Songhees Nation Guardian Program
Recipient: Songhees Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative, rooted in Songhees laws and Traditional Knowledge, protects lands, waters, and cultural sites while strengthening community, especially for youth. It will have one full-time Land Guardian and one full-time Marine Guardian involved in food harvesting, cultural monitoring, and restoration, supporting Treaty Rights, environmental stewardship, and community pride.
Project title: Xatsüll First Nation Guardians Program
Recipient: Xatsüll First Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative revitalizes the Xatsüll First Nation Guardian program, hiring one full-time Guardian and a summer student. Guardians will monitor culturally and environmentally significant areas impacted by industrial activity, focusing on land/water stewardship, cultural resource protection, and community engagement. Emphasis will be on Secwepemc language, culture, and Elder-youth knowledge-sharing to maintain land presence and advance Indigenous rights.
Project title: Homalco (Xwémalhkwu) First Nation - Guardian Implementation Plan - Protocols, Development of Guiding Laws, and Knowledge
Recipient: Homalco (Xwémalhkwu) First Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative deepens land knowledge by bringing Elders and youth on to the territory, focusing on food sovereignty through increased fishing efforts. Guardians will patrol, monitor, conduct shellfish testing, water sampling, and wildlife counts, teaching youth traditional harvesting. Guided by senior Guardians and Elders, it preserves Homalco cultural knowledge and prioritizes collaboration with sister Nations in overlapping territories.
Project title: Malahat Sovereignty, Self-Governance and Cultural Resilience through Qe' (Water) and Tumuhw (Land) Stewardship
Recipient: Malahat Nation
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This one-year initiative strengthens Malahat Nation's stewardship by bringing Elders, Guardians, and youth onto the territory to share cultural teachings and support food sovereignty through renewed fishing activities. Guardians will conduct patrols, wildlife counts, and water and shellfish sampling, involving youth directly in land- and water-based monitoring. Collaboration with sister Nations across overlapping territories will further support shared stewardship and cultural continuity.
Project title: S'ólh Téméxw Stewardship Alliance's S'ólh Téméxw Guardians
Recipient: S'ólh Téméxw Stewardship Alliance
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This initiative expands hotspot monitoring, digital reporting, and youth engagement to strengthen stewardship in S'ólh Téméxw. Guardians will support education programs, contribute to Collaborative Stewardship Forum projects, and assist with biodiversity and habitat assessments. Ongoing cultural protocol training will ensure Guardians have the skills and cultural grounding needed to carry out their work effectively.
Project title: Tseshaht Guardian Initiative
Recipient: Tseshaht First Nation
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This initiative expands Tseshaht First Nation's Guardian program to strengthen territory stewardship and uphold traditional values. It will add two Guardians, retaining all staff year-round to significantly increase capacity for salmon run monitoring, water quality testing, wildlife patrols, environmental cleanups, and community education on sustainable resource use. This creates employment and deepens cultural/environmental connections.
Project title: Tsartlip Stewardship Department and Guardians
Recipient: Tsartlip First Nation
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This initiative supports the Tsartlip Guardians in implementing the Tsartlip Stewardship Department's vision. Rooted in WSÁNEĆ laws, Guardians will work on land and water to protect, restore, and assert jurisdiction over terrestrial and marine territories. Their work includes environmental monitoring, resource protection, and cultural revitalization, utilizing SENĆOŦEN language and traditional practices to advance community-based resource management and strengthen leadership.
Project title: T'Sou-ke SṈE₭E Guardians
Recipient: T'Sou-ke First Nation
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This initiative supports the SṈE₭E Guardians in stewardship across T'Sou-ke marine and terrestrial territories. Managed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, two Guardians will assist with marine mammal/traffic monitoring, parks management, tourism, and land/marine use planning. Rooted in T'Sou-ke values, the initiative strengthens local capacity, elevates expertise, and provides youth training, advancing self-determined stewardship and governance.
Project title: Xaxli'p Community Forest Corporation
Recipient: Xaxli'p Community Forest Corporation
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This initiative, the Xaxli'p Range Riders, protects and revitalizes the cultural/ecological integrity of the 31,000-hectare Xaxli'p Survival Territory. The initiative reinforces sustained Indigenous presence, supports Ntsuwa7lhkálha Tlákmen (our way of life), and reclaims Úcwalmicwts language. Range Riders maintain on-the-ground presence, often on horseback, collaborating with the Xaxli'p Community Forest to reassert Xaxli'pmex authority.
Project title: Dena Kayeh Institute
Recipient: Dena Kayeh Institute
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This initiative supports long-term ecological and cultural monitoring for Daylu Dena Council. Activities include water/wildlife monitoring, climate data, mine oversight, invasive species management, and cultural education for youth/Elders. Integrating Traditional Knowledge with science, it strengthens Kaska presence, fosters partnerships, informs land management, and will expand with the Kaska Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area.
Manitoba
Project title: Chemawawin Cree Nation Guardians Program
Recipient: Chemawawin Cree Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative restores land/water connections and care responsibilities. It will develop a Guardians Wildlife Monitoring Plan, guided by Elders for cultural values. Monitoring includes moose, caribou, muskrat, and birds using trail cameras/automated recording units. It also integrates Cree language/teachings and place names, empowering youth as land caretakers.
Project title: Black River First Nation Guardians Initiative
Recipient: Black River First Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative aims to hire and support a permanent Land Guardian to increase on-the-land presence and participation in projects. The Guardian will monitor, observe, and record land conditions, balancing Traditional Knowledge and Western science. They will collaborate with Elders to integrate community values and build stronger relationships with neighboring Guardian programs for a future regional network.
Project title: Marcel Colomb First Nation Guardians
Recipient: Marcel Colomb First Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative builds Marcel Colomb First Nation Guardians' stewardship capacity through community-led monitoring of black sturgeon and impacted shoreline areas. Elders and Knowledge-Holders will guide youth and Guardians in land-based training, species monitoring, and habitat assessment, using both Indigenous Knowledge and Western science. Community workshops and knowledge-sharing will support transparent decision-making and strengthen cultural revitalization.
Project title: Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation Guardians Initiative
Recipient: Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative is a community-led environmental stewardship program grounded in Cree values, focusing on Baldock Lake. Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation Guardians will conduct a fisheries assessment to collect baseline data on species, habitat, and environmental indicators using scientific methods. Guided by Elders and involving youth mentorship, this work supports establishing an Indigenous/National Park and strengthens Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation's capacity to steward lands/waters according to Cree Knowledge.
Project title: Keeseekoowenin - Anishinaabe of Riding Mountain Indigenous Guardian
Recipient: Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative launches the Anishinaabe of Riding Mountain Indigenous Guardians program in partnership with Parks Canada. It focuses on monitoring and protecting culturally and ecologically significant areas within Riding Mountain National Park and Clear Lake Indian Reserve 61A, engaging and training Indigenous youth in stewardship, cultural protection, and environmental monitoring rooted in Anishinaabe values.
Project title: Mosakahiken Cree Nation Guardians Program
Recipient: Mosakahiken Cree Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative lays the foundation for a community-led Guardians program focused on protecting Moose Lake and revitalizing Cree cultural Knowledge. It will support intergenerational knowledge sharing via a Culture Camp, build local leadership and stewardship skills, and develop terms of reference for future governance.
New Brunswick
Project title: Mi'gmaw Guardian Initiative
Recipient: Keki'namuanen Msit Wen Wlo'tmnen Nmaqami'kminu Inc.
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative develops stewardship plans for newly secured lands and National Parks/Historic Sites via an agreement with Parks Canada. A new Guardian program is essential for implementing these plans and ensuring Mi'gmaq-led conservation for future generations.
Newfoundland and Labrador
Project title: Miawpukek First Nation Guardians Fund - MAMKA
Recipient: Miawpukek First Nation
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This initiative builds capacity for conservation and ocean governance through staff salaries, training, and equipment. Guardians will lead species monitoring, habitat mapping, invasive species removal, shoreline erosion, and climate tracking, collecting Indigenous Knowledge. The initiative aims to expand conservation, strengthen the Guardian program, and foster community stewardship of traditional waters.
Northwest Territories
Project title: Tthebatthie Dënésułıné Nation Guardians Program
Recipient: Tthebatthie Dënésułıné Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative represents Phase 1 of a Guardian program restoring the Nation's traditional land and water stewardship through Dene Ch'anie revitalization. It focuses on assessing and developing participants' skills, knowledge, and confidence for future Guardian activities, including leadership competencies and land-based skills through intergenerational knowledge transfer.
Project title: Norman Wells Renewable Resource Council Guardians Initiative
Recipient: Ɂehdzo Got'ı̨nę Gots'ę́ Nákedı
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This initiative strengthens the Norman Wells Renewable Resource Council Guardian Monitoring Program in the Níto Nę P'ęné region. It enhances on-the-ground capacity to address climate change, encroachment, and resource extraction in shared mountain homelands. By integrating biocultural Indigenous Knowledge with science, the program supports informed community decision-making and advances Níto Nę P'ęné goals of conservation, governance, and Dene well-being.
Ontario
Project title: Whitefish River First Nation Guardians Program
Recipient: Whitefish River First Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative launches a Guardians program to strengthen land relationships and stewardship. It focuses on turtle conservation, walleye and fisheries monitoring, and shoreline and water quality monitoring. The program aims to reconnect community, especially youth, with land, culture, and language, with a vision for a regional network.
Project title: Batchewana First Nation
Recipient: Batchewana First Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative begins the development of a stewardship plan for the original reserve to establish principles for resource activities and a framework for community law application. This is key to informing strategic planning, supporting sustainable resource management, and asserting the Nation's role in protecting cultural/ecological integrity. The initiative focuses on planning and community engagement.
Project title: Couchiching First Nation Guardians Program
Recipient: Couchiching First Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative develops a new Guardians program integrating Anishinaabemowin revitalization, cultural education, and conservation. It will reconnect youth and Elders by documenting fluent speakers, sharing intergenerational teachings on traditional medicine, fishing, and harvesting, and protecting culturally significant sites like wild rice beds. This lays the foundation for long-term, community-led stewardship.
Project title: Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation Land and Water Guardians Initiative
Recipient: Three Fires Group - Anishinabek Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative develops a community-led program grounded in Anishinaabe Knowledge to protect, monitor, and steward Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation lands, waters, and cultural resources. It will train Guardians as caretakers and monitors, focusing on restoring ecosystems, sustainable land management, leading cumulative effects studies, and upholding inherent rights. Elders will guide the work, youth will be mentored, and language integrated.
Project title: Wunnumin Lake First Nation Guardians Program
Recipient: Wunnumin Lake First Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative aims to protect the Nation's lands, waters, wildlife, and cultural knowledge through community-led stewardship. Key activities include forming a working group, delivering a land-based youth workshop, and gathering Elder Knowledge to inform a strategic plan for a future Tier 2 Guardians program focused on youth training, environmental governance, and long-term stewardship.
Project title: Eagle Lake First Nation Guardians Program
Recipient: Eagle Lake First Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative employs a Community Elder to lead foundational planning for a full Guardians program. The Elder will assess risks, identify priority areas, articulate traditional values, and facilitate knowledge sharing with youth. They will also support staff in drafting the program framework, ensuring it reflects Eagle Lake First Nation traditions and Maanachi Totaa-aki, laying groundwork for a lasting program.
Project title: Mushkegowuk First Nations Guardians Initiative
Recipient: Mushkegowuk Council
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative supports the launch of Guardians programs across Omushkego First Nations, building youth capacity and revitalizing Traditional Knowledge. It will establish governance structures, training pathways, and a long-term sustainability plan to protect culturally and ecologically significant lands, like the Hudson Bay-James Bay Lowlands, through Indigenous-led conservation and climate action.
Project title: Matachewan First Nation Guardians Initiative
Recipient: Matachewan First Nation
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative strengthens capacity to address mining, forestry, climate change, and biodiversity loss impacts. It focuses on land-based monitoring, data collection, and community engagement. Improved knowledge of local ecosystems, wildfire, and water systems will better inform leadership and decision-making for sustainable management.
Project title: Asubpeschoseewagong Anishinabek Land Access and Use Project
Recipient: Grassy Narrows First Nation
Funding amount: $137,500
Project description: This initiative supports Grassy Narrows First Nation in restoring access to key bush roads, portages, and trails that have deteriorated since provincial maintenance stopped, limiting the community's ability to hunt, fish, gather, and carry out cultural practices. The Guardians program will expand staff capacity, build skills in access route maintenance, and provide the tools needed to keep important travel routes open. Guided by Elders, the initiative will also create opportunities for youth to learn Traditional Land-Use Knowledge and practices. Together, these efforts strengthen land connection, cultural continuity, and the community's long-term vision for stewardship and self-determination.
Project title: Deshkan Ziibiing Indigenous Guardians
Recipient: Chippewas of the Thames First Nation
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This initiative continues to build the Deshkan Ziibiing Indigenous Guardians program, launched in 2022, focused on reconnecting Chippewas of the Thames First Nation to the land through Anishinaabe'adziwin. Building on initial youth training and Traditional Land-Use interviews, Guardians now strengthen ties with Anishinaabe Knowledge Keepers, offer seasonal land-based programming, and collaborate with other Guardian programs to build a strategy grounded in community priorities and Indigenous Knowledge.
Project title: Bkejwanong Guardians
Recipient: Walpole Island First Nation
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This initiative builds Indigenous-led conservation capacity by recruiting and training Guardians for habitat protection, research, and stewardship. It focuses on healing and empowering through Traditional Knowledge sharing, fostering sovereignty, and addressing environmental threats. Key activities include recruiting Lead Guardians, training staff and at-risk community members, mentoring youth and adults, and developing a Guardians Network for future funding and inter-Nation collaboration.
Project title: Moose Cree Land Guardians
Recipient: Moose Cree First Nation
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This initiative establishes a Land Guardians program to monitor and protect Moose Cree territory from mining, forestry, and resource exploitation. Guardians will collect data on land use, environmental health, and wildlife, including caribou and river systems. They will support water/marine conservation along James Bay, providing community-led insights to inform leadership and strengthen Indigenous stewardship.
Project title: Wahnapitae First Nation's Guardian Fund
Recipient: Wahnapitae First Nation
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This initiative supports ongoing education and community-based monitoring to protect and manage traditional lands. It funds staff training, workshops, and Traditional Knowledge sharing, enhancing land/water stewardship capacity. The program also engages community and students in wildlife and water quality monitoring, fostering local knowledge and leadership. The initiative will strengthen Wahnapitae First Nation's ability to address concerns and assert territory stewardship.
Quebec
Project title: Initiative des gardiens pour la transmission la relève de Gespeg (Guardians' Initiative for Transmission and Next Generation of Gespeg)
Recipient: Nation Micmac de Gespeg
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative supports two resources across three priority areas. It focuses on transmitting hunting and fishing traditions from Elders to Gespeg youth, training future Guardians, and ensuring species and territory health for sustainability. Finally, it promotes reconciliation through communicating Migmaq traditions and territory sharing with non-Indigenous people.
Project title: Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach Guardians Program
Recipient: Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative develops a community-led Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach Land Guardian program, fostering intergenerational knowledge transfer. It focuses on regularly monitoring and sampling biodiversity-rich areas, sacred places, traditional hunting routes, and vital lands and waters. The program aims to increase Naskapi technical capacity through scientific and traditional training, empowering Naskapis as active Land Guardians.
Project title: Food Sovereignty and Land and Language Preservation for the Algonquins of Barriere Lake
Recipient: Algonquins of Barriere Lake
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative establishes a Guardians program for land and wildlife stewardship. Guardians will collect Indigenous Knowledge on wildlife, habitats, hunting, and environmental health. It also preserves language and cultural heritage through land-based activities, youth engagement, and collaboration with educational institutions to strengthen environmental and cultural resilience and promote sustainable practices.
Project title: Gardiens du Ndakina de la communauté d'Odanak (Ndakina Guardians of the Odanak Community)
Recipient: Conseil des Abénakis d'Odanak - Bureau Environnement et Terre
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This initiative supports the Ndakina Guardians of Odanak, protecting traditional practices and strengthening Abenaki capacity in natural resource management. Guardian work includes food sovereignty, wildlife and plant inventories, land stewardship, and exercising ancestral rights. Activities will conserve culturally important, at-risk species through research and education, involving Elders and youth for cultural continuity and land reconnection.
Project title: Bureau Environnement de Wôlinak (The Odanak Land and Environment Office)
Recipient: Première Nation des Abénakis de Wôlinak
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This initiative, led by the Environment Office, focuses on territory conservation, restoration, and enhancement, supporting traditional practices. Structured around six components, the program gathers knowledge on wildlife and plants, conducts environmental monitoring, and engages in land planning, food security, cultural protection, and capacity building. The program also supports leadership decision-making, fosters interorganizational knowledge sharing, and enhances community growth.
Project title: Gardien de la Nation Wendat (Guardian of the Wendat Nation)
Recipient: Nation Huronne-Wendat
Funding amount: $175,000
Project description: This initiative strengthens the Wendat Nation's Territorial Guardian program, building on past capacity. Guardians will focus on collecting data on culturally and ecologically important species, conduct territory surveillance, and promote sustainable practices. They will also support members in responsible traditional activities, safeguarding land, resources, and culturally significant sites while assisting community connection to the Nionwentsïo.
Saskatchewan
Project title: Athabasca Denesuliné Né Né Land Corporation
Recipient: Fond du Lac, Black Lake, and Hatchet Lake First Nations
Funding amount: $50,000
Project description: This initiative launches a community-driven land monitoring program to protect barren-ground caribou (etthen) and their habitat in Nuhenënë. Rooted in the Etthën Relationship Plan, it will train and employ six Guardians to monitor and observe caribou harvest practices and environmental changes, guided by Elders and Dene traditions, laying groundwork for a larger program.
