On June 26th to 28nd, 1992, the founding meeting of the Indigenous
Peoples Caucus of the Canadian Environmental Network will be held
in Winnipeg. This event is being organized with supporting
efforts from across the country from both the Indigenous Community
and the member groups of the Canadian Environmental Network.
The themes of the meeting are outlined in the accompanying
document. The creation of a caucus to channel native people's
participation is the culmination of many past efforts to forge
links between indigenous communities and environmental activists
with a shared concern for the survival and integrity of the land.
Most importantly, the Caucus aims to assist participants in
efforts within the indigenous communities to develop sustainable
initiatives.
Caucus members will participate with the development and
implementation of sustainable initiatives on regional, national
and international levels. The indigenous community in North
America offers traditional knowledge and wisdom as a tool to these
kind of environmental initiatives. Equally important to the
indigenous community are technical and scientific resources that
the environmental community can offer for self- realisation of
survival strategies. From an international perspective there are
also many potential opportunities and needs. There is a need to
receive information from an international perspective and at the
same time an opportunity for supporting efforts to an
international community of indigenous peoples.
Participants at the upcoming meeting will be very interested in
receiving information and views from a variety of sources for
their decision-making and to determine the most productive
direction for their efforts. Furthermore, this organising will
create future opportunities to reach the grassroots in the
indigenous community.
The whole process of organizing within the Indigenous Peoples
Caucus will be very organic. A commitment has been made not to
preset the agenda in order that all participants have an
opportunity to be involved in the decision-making. Support from
many people and sectors will be the way that the longterm efforts
of this organizing will be realised.