Indigenous Climate Justice, Nature Based Solutions and Self-Determined Futures

Deborah McGregor (York University)

SERIES DESCRIPTION

In the past year and a half, race and racism have been at the forefront of many people’s minds because of widespread Black Lives Matter protests and the disproportionately negative impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on certain racialized communities. But the underlying phenomenon is not only recent. For centuries, racialized communities across North America have faced social and environmental injustices.

Each year, the Rotman Institute of Philosophy and the Department of Philosophy at Western University organize a public lecture series in partnership with the London Public Library. The theme for this year’s lecture series is race & racism.

Oct 7 - Quayshawn Spencer: What is Race?
Oct 14 - Meena Krishnamurthy: When Racial Passing Becomes Racial Fraud
Oct 21 - Carolyn McLeod, Kharissa Edwards & Sinéad Osivwemu: Race, Distrust, and Vaccine Hesitancy
Oct 28 - Deborah McGregor: Indigenous Climate Justice, Nature Based Solutions and Self-Determined Futures

Join us online each Thursday in October from 7:00 - 8:30 pm. Visit our website to view talk abstracts and speaker profiles, and to register.

TALK ABSTRACT (OCT 28)

What does it mean to “live well” with the Earth in face of climate/ecological crisis? What considerations are foundational for achieving Indigenous climate justice and planetary health?  Indigenous legal and knowledge systems inform Indigenous derived solutions in support all of all life.  I will explore how nature based solutions informs Indigenous climate leadership that in turn informs our collective and sustainable future.

SPEAKER PROFILE

Deborah McGregor (Anishinaabe) is from Whitefish River First Nation, Birch Island, Ontario. At York University, she is joint faculty with Osgoode Hall law and Environmental Studies & Urban Change and is Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Environmental Justice. Professor McGregor’s research has focused on Indigenous knowledge systems and their various applications in diverse contexts including environmental and water governance, environmental justice, health and environment, climate change and Indigenous legal traditions. She remains actively involved in a variety of Indigenous communities, serving as an advisor and continuing to engage in community-based research and initiatives and has been at the forefront of Indigenous environmental justice and Indigenous research theory and practice. She is co-editor of Indigenous research: Theories, practices, and relationships, Indigenous Peoples and Autonomy: Insights for a Global Age, the Anishinaabewin conference proceedings series. Her current projects focus on “Indigenous Environmental (In)Justice: theory and practice” and “Indigenizing self determined climate change futures”.  Her work has been shared through the IEJ project website https://iejproject.info.yorku.ca/and UKRI International Collaboration on Indigenous research https://www.indigenous.ncrm.ac.uk/.