UNEA-7 was a powerful reminder that environmental leadership is not new to Indigenous Peoples, it is ancestral. I entered the UN Environment Assembly grounded in Dechen Jedilhtan, our laws and teachings that guide us to live in balance with the land and to care for future generations. These teachings shaped how I showed up in every space, from youth coordination meetings to Indigenous-led gatherings.
One of the most meaningful moments at UNEA-7 was witnessing Indigenous Peoples collectively host a high-level event for the first time in UNEP’s 53-year history. This moment reflected Lhajid gwet’anughuldil gulish – the strength to face difficult issues with resilience. Indigenous Peoples protect many of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems, yet our voices are still too often left out of environmental decision-making. Seeing Indigenous paving into leadership in this space affirmed that climate justice cannot exist without Indigenous rights, knowledge, and leadership.
UNEA-7 also reinforced that youth are not just the future of environmental action, we are the present. Guided by Gwaxežitan (respect) and ?Elhelh deni ts’ilin (strong relationships and sharing), Indigenous youth are stepping into global spaces with purpose and responsibility. My hope is that Canadians and young people understand that meaningful environmental solutions are built through relationship, to land, to community, and to generations yet to come.
Igwedil?anx ?eyi beghad ?aghit’ilh — We learn so that we may teach, and carry these teachings forward.
