Environment Sector
The Environment Sector provides advice, guidance, and recommendations to the Leadership Council (LC) and Chiefs of Ontario on water, natural resources, energy, species at risk, traditional knowledge, environmental assessments, mining, climate change, and others.
There are currently several areas where the Environment Unit has undertaken initiatives to safeguard First Nations rights and interests. This has entailed engagement with the federal and provincial governments on matters related to drinking water safety; working with the COO Health Unit to streamline efforts to develop the tools and instruments to address environmental health; and, more recently, working to deliver training on a First Nation Environmental Assessment Toolkit that would assist communities as they assert jurisdiction over their territories’ lands and resources.
Since 1975, when the Chiefs of Ontario (COO) was first established, numerous environmental resolutions have been passed by the Chiefs in Assembly. The resolutions address the four elements of water, air, land and energy. In regards to the environment, we often see these key issues and general themes reoccurring:
- The failure of governments and private industry to consult, accommodate and otherwise obtain the free, prior and informed consent of First Nations;
- That in making Treaties First Nation peoples did not give up their rights to manage the lands, the waters and all beings in their territories;
- First Nations being the first to feel the effects of policy decisions that often leads to the contamination of either lands, air or water; and
- A lack of resources to adequately deal with the environmental issues faced by First Nations.
- These challenges persist primarily because of the longstanding failure of governments to recognize and respect our Treaties.
The Chiefs of Ontario Environment Department is designed, in part, to meet these challenges. The Unit was formally created in 2005 at the 31st Annual All Ontario Chiefs Conference in Eagle Lake First Nation.
Water Protection
Elder & Youth Gatherings
Climate Change
Species
at Risk
Forestry
The
Far North
Drinking Water Safety
Land Declaration
Traditional Knowledge
Contact the Environmental Sector
Kathleen Padulo
Director of Environment
Kathleen.Padulo@coo.org
(416) 597-1266
Toll-Free: 1-877-517-6527
THE LATEST FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL SECTOR
Updates
Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare Releases Statement in Honour of World Water Day
(Toronto, Ontario – March 22, 2024) Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare has released the following statement today on World Water Day,
Chiefs of Ontario File a Judicial Review Calling on the Federal Government to Alleviate Burden of Carbon Pricing on First Nations
(November 30, 2023 )– Chiefs of Ontario (COO) is releasing the following statement regarding a judicial review it has filed today
COO Environment Newsletter – Fall & Winter 2023
Please find attached the Fall & Winter 2023 Edition of the COO Environment Newsletter for your information and reading. In this
Request for Proposals: COO Environment Sector: Strategic Services
You are invited to submit a proposal to the Chiefs of Ontario to provide strategic services and communications support to the
DOWNLOADS FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL SECTOR
Resources
COO Environment Newsletter – Spring 2023 Edition
COO Environment Newsletter – October, November, and December 2022
COO Environment Newsletter – June, July, and August 2022
COO Environment Quarterly Newsletter - 3rd Edition
Chiefs of Ontario - First Nations Emergency Management Summit January 2019
Environment Quarterly Newsletter - Apr/May/June 2021
Environment Quarterly Newsletter - Winter 2021
Taking Care of Each Other Taking Care of Mother Earth
Late Jake Swamp - Water Voices
- 1
- 2