tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/first-nations-26289/articlesFirst Nations – The Conversation2024-03-27T20:52:22Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2236172024-03-27T20:52:22Z2024-03-27T20:52:22ZUpdated U.S. law still leaves Indigenous communities in Canada out of repatriations from museums<p>A new amendment to the United States’ <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/13/2023-27040/native-american-graves-protection-and-repatriation-act-systematic-processes-for-disposition-or">Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)</a> came into effect in January 2024. The amended law now has some teeth to penalize museums who have thus far been <a href="https://theconversation.com/museums-are-returning-indigenous-human-remains-but-progress-on-repatriating-objects-is-slow-67378">very slow to engage</a> with Indigenous communities. It puts pressure on them to create and share inventories of the remains and artifacts they hold.</p>
<p>NAGPRA regulates the repatriation of Native American human remains, funerary and sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony from federally funded agencies to lineal descendants, Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian Organizations. </p>
<p>Museums must now get prior and informed consent from Indigenous communities before displaying and studying cultural objects. They must also <a href="https://theconversation.com/kennewick-man-will-be-reburied-but-quandaries-around-human-remains-wont-59219">incorporate Native American traditional knowledge</a> in the storage, treatment and handling of remains and cultural items. The act now gives museums and other federal agencies five years to “<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/13/2023-27040/native-american-graves-protection-and-repatriation-act-systematic-processes-for-disposition-or">consult and update inventories of human remains and associated funerary objects</a>.”</p>
<p>NAGPRA is an important step in a long history of Indigenous Peoples’ struggle to govern their heritage. However, its authority stops at the U.S. border.</p>
<p>We are First Nations historians and professors working in Canada. Our communities are also impacted by the loss of cultural patrimony to museums in the U.S. and the laws covering repatriation. Mary Jane Logan McCallum is a member of the Munsee Delaware Nation and Susan M. Hill is a Haudenosaunee citizen and resident of the Grand River Territory.</p>
<p>The U.S. law provides Indigenous communities in lands claimed by Canada no legal or financial support to repatriate human remains, funerary and sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony held in U.S museums. These institutions <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/object-lives-and-global-histories-in-northern-north-america-products-9780228003984.php">hold many items</a> purchased or obtained by anthropologists and others from communities north of the border.</p>
<h2>NAGPRA</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.doi.gov/ocl/nagpra">NAGPRA became law in 1990</a>, after decades of lobbying from hundreds of Indigenous communities. The law states that museums and institutions receiving federal funding must produce detailed inventories of their collections and notify Native American tribes regarding items connected to their communities.</p>
<p>While those who called for the legislation were undoubtedly aware of the daunting task it would mandate, it is unlikely any would have predicted the extremely slow pace at which it has progressed in the three decades since.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, some museums have unilaterally decided to <a href="https://www.amnh.org/about/statement-new-nagpra-regulations">cover or close displays</a>. This is intended as a first step towards repatriation, however with ongoing limited resources, it is also a tactic to remain compliant with the law and avoid having funding cut.</p>
<p>The newly revised law still upholds inherent inequities in the relationships between Indigenous people and the agencies holding our materials. There is a lack of consistent and adequate funding for Indigenous communities wishing to repatriate items. There is also a lack of expert knowledge of the holdings of museums across the U.S. and human resources and infrastructure for long-term handling of repatriated objects. </p>
<p>In this context of ongoing inequity, museums can continue to hold Indigenous objects, but away from public view, and inadvertently create a narrative of history centred on white stories and white voices with little or no Indigenous content.</p>
<h2>Indigenous communities outside the U.S.</h2>
<p>For Indigenous communities outside of the U.S., the act does not compel museums and institutions to work in good faith to facilitate repatriations, regardless of how much evidence Indigenous communities are able to provide supporting the origins and sacredness of those items. </p>
<p>Indigenous communities in Canada are impacted by the law because these items are important to community-based research of material culture and its connection to intellectual, social and political histories of our nations.</p>
<p>Museums make platitudes about strong commitments to <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/article-as-museums-grapple-with-repatriation-a-cultural-historian-warns-of/">working with and educating about Indigenous Peoples and cultures</a>. However, they are still the ones choosing what gets displayed without consultation with Indigenous communities. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/repatriation-native-american-remains_n_64b97d77e4b0ad7b75f7dd15/amp">the burden is placed on tribes to make requests and pay for repatriation</a>.</p>
<p>As a result, the public loses important opportunities to learn about Indigenous Peoples and the colonial legacies that dispossessed them of the land upon which museums are built and the artifacts they house.</p>
<h2>Indigenous labour</h2>
<p>A further issue with NAGPRA is that it perpetuates an assumption that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7109072">Indigenous labour should be discounted or free</a> and reasserts the inequity faced by Indigenous people when dealing with government.</p>
<p>Small, piecemeal grants covering costs like transportation are available through NAGPRA, but are restricted to federally recognized tribes in the U.S. and Indigenous people are responsible for finding and applying for them.</p>
<p>In Canada, community-based Indigenous scholars can apply for federal funding from the <a href="https://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/index-eng.aspx">Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada</a>, however grant applications can be long and difficult, funds received are administered by universities and the grants often do not provide enough money.</p>
<p>Museums have full-time paid staff to make inventories and seek descendant individuals and communities. On the other hand, the Indigenous labour, knowledge and skill that goes into identifying and making meaning of lost cultural patrimony, often goes unpaid and unappreciated. </p>
<p>In addition, those doing this hard work <a href="https://histanthro.org/notes/decolonizing-or-recolonizing/">contend with the anti-Indigenous racism and white supremacy that dominate museums and other cultural institutions</a>. Some museums have prioritized hiring Indigenous staff, but they have not made structural changes that address ongoing systemic racism and colonialism nor made space for Indigenous people. As a result, several have left or <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/investigates/decolonizing-museums-museum-decolonization-part-2-investigations/">resigned in protest</a>. </p>
<p>In 2022, the <a href="https://museums.ca/uploaded/web/TRC_2022/Report-CMA-MovedToAction.pdf">Canadian Museums Association delivered a report</a> that acknowledged Indigenous cultural heritage professionals are often required to work for free or at a very low cost through one-off honorariums. It recommended that museums take on the legal and financial responsibility of new positions for those undertaking this work. We have yet to see this in practice. </p>
<p>The new U.S. regulations still do not address another form of theft from Indigenous people — this time not of Indigenous cultural patrimony, but of Indigenous labour. This should be considered by the <a href="https://osi-bis.ca/">Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools</a> as it considers a new federal legal framework that will govern the treatment of graves and burial sites.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223617/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>U.S. laws on the repatriation of Indigenous artifacts and remains still uphold inequities in the relationships between Indigenous people and the agencies holding their materials.Mary Jane Logan McCallum, Professor of History, University of WinnipegSusan M. Hill, Director of the Centre for Indigenous Studies; Associate Professor, Indigenous Studies and History, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2257922024-03-24T23:52:18Z2024-03-24T23:52:18ZWe have revealed a unique time capsule of Australia’s first coastal people from 50,000 years ago<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582751/original/file-20240319-18-jmngyk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C20%2C1649%2C1256&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">West coast of Barrow Island, overlooking the submerged northwestern shelf.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kane Ditchfield</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Barrow Island, located 60 kilometres off the Pilbara in Western Australia, was once a hill overlooking an expansive coast. This was the northwestern shelf of the Australian continent, now permanently submerged by the ocean.</p>
<p>Our new research, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379124000489">published in Quaternary Science Reviews</a>, shows that Aboriginal people repeatedly lived on portions of this coastal plateau. We have worked closely with coastal Thalanyji Traditional Owners on this island work and also on their sites from the mainland.</p>
<p>This use of the plain likely began 50,000 years ago, and the place remained habitable until rising sea levels cut the island off from the mainland 6,500 years ago. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/people-once-lived-in-a-vast-region-in-north-western-australia-and-it-had-an-inland-sea-219505">People once lived in a vast region in north-western Australia – and it had an inland sea</a>
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<h2>A unique time capsule</h2>
<p>The northwestern shelf and the submerged coastlines of Australia are immensely significant for understanding how and where <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379122003377">First Nations people</a> lived before and during the last ice age.</p>
<p>When the last ice age was at its coldest (24,000 to 19,000 years ago), sea levels worldwide were about 130 metres below current levels. As the ice melted, the sea rose rapidly, eventually flooding the connection between Barrow Island and the mainland.</p>
<p>Since Aboriginal people did not occupy the island after this time, the human archaeological record of Barrow Island is a time capsule, unique in Australia. Most other coastal occupation areas from this period are now beneath the sea, but these drowned landscapes were once vast and habitable.</p>
<p>The largest rock shelter on the island is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379117302640">Boodie Cave</a>, one of Western Australia’s oldest archaeological sites. Excavations here revealed evidence of Aboriginal occupation dating back at least 50,000 years.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cave-dig-shows-the-earliest-australians-enjoyed-a-coastal-lifestyle-77326">Cave dig shows the earliest Australians enjoyed a coastal lifestyle</a>
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<p>As sea levels fluctuated through time, the distance from Boodie Cave to the seashore varied significantly. Aboriginal people brought shellfish back to Boodie Cave even when it was many kilometres from the coast.</p>
<p>As the sea rose, people’s diets changed. The quantity of shellfish, crabs, turtles and fish consumed in the cave increased through time.</p>
<p>Aboriginal people here mainly used local, silica-rich limestone for crafting their stone tools. While this material was readily accessible, it blunted easily. Instead, people used thick and hard shells from large Baler sea snails to make knives for butchering turtles and dugong.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581911/original/file-20240314-30-7m01mt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man wearing a high vis jacket stands in a red rocky cave with archaeology tools in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581911/original/file-20240314-30-7m01mt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581911/original/file-20240314-30-7m01mt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581911/original/file-20240314-30-7m01mt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581911/original/file-20240314-30-7m01mt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581911/original/file-20240314-30-7m01mt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581911/original/file-20240314-30-7m01mt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581911/original/file-20240314-30-7m01mt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">One of the authors, Peter Veth, excavating a 7,000-year-old rich layer with shell knives, turtle, fish and wallaby remains.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kane Ditchfield</span></span>
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<h2>43,000 years of exchange</h2>
<p>In contrast to the cave deposits, the open-air archaeological sites present a different picture. Three years of systematic field surveys recorded over 4,400 flaked and ground stone artefacts from nearly 50 locations.</p>
<p>Excluding one limestone source, most of these stone tools represent geological sources not found on the island. This means they were made out of rocks more typical of the west Pilbara and Ashburton regions.</p>
<p>The artefacts we’ve found on Barrow Island show that Aboriginal people transported and exchanged stone materials from inland or places now under the sea for over 43,000 years.</p>
<p>We don’t yet know why the artefacts in the cave are so different to the ones found in the open air.</p>
<p>The numerous open sites leave a record of how Aboriginal people adapted to sea-level changes. Both the surface and cave records suggest that Aboriginal people used more local limestone and shell tools as rising sea levels cut off access to the mainland or drowned sources.</p>
<p>Imported stone tools were precious and therefore conserved and heavily used for grinding seeds, working harder materials such as wood, and likely for cutting softer materials such as skins and plant fibre.</p>
<p>While early Aboriginal people continued to use coastal resources, they maintained social networks and exchanges with the mainland. The open sites from Barrow Island provide one line of evidence connecting contemporary Aboriginal people to the now-drowned coastal plains, coastlines and continental islands.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583633/original/file-20240322-26-4nwr5g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A dark cavern with a single light source illuminating a rectangular excavation." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583633/original/file-20240322-26-4nwr5g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583633/original/file-20240322-26-4nwr5g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583633/original/file-20240322-26-4nwr5g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583633/original/file-20240322-26-4nwr5g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583633/original/file-20240322-26-4nwr5g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583633/original/file-20240322-26-4nwr5g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583633/original/file-20240322-26-4nwr5g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Researchers working at Boodie Cave.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kane Ditchfield</span></span>
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<h2>An ancestral connection for Thalanyji peoples</h2>
<p>Despite the distance of Barrow Island from the mainland for most of the last 6,500 years, Thalanyji knowledge holders refer to the use of the island from both historic-era fishing activities and as forced labourers in the early pearling industry.</p>
<p>They know the Sea Country between the islands, and the songline connections linking the mainland to the islands. Traditional Owners involved in our project see the artefacts as evidence of their ancestral connection to the island, old coastlines and now drowned coastal plain.</p>
<p>The Barrow Island open-air sites are a significant time capsule, offering unique insights into coastal Aboriginal lifeways over tens of thousands of years.</p>
<p>These sites, combined with the cave records, provide scientists and Traditional Owners with invaluable opportunities to understand and preserve Australia’s rich and deep history.</p>
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<p><em>The authors would like to acknowledge the Buurabalayji Thalanyji Aboriginal Corporation, recognised communally according to their cultural preference, as co-authors of this study.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225792/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Veth receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kane Ditchfield receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Kendrick was previously employed by the government of Western Australia, and assisted in implementation of the Barrow Island Archaeology Project throughout its field work period. He consults part time as a zoologist and ecologist to Biota Environmental Sciences.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David W. Zeanah and Fiona Hook do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Barrow Island off the coast of Western Australia holds a unique record of First Nations people. For millennia, they lived on vast plains that are now drowned by the sea.Peter Veth, Laureate Professor in Archaeology, The University of Western AustraliaDavid W. Zeanah, Professor, California State University, SacramentoFiona Hook, Adjunct associate, The University of Western AustraliaKane Ditchfield, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of Western AustraliaPeter Kendrick, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2256512024-03-21T05:40:53Z2024-03-21T05:40:53ZBuilding remote Indigenous homes well is hard, but they won’t cost $1.5 million each<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581458/original/file-20240313-30-ejjjpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=247%2C857%2C2129%2C938&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Liam Grealy</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At the remote Indigenous community of Binjari, south of Katherine in the Northern Territory last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a landmark <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/landmark-4-billion-investment-remote-housing-northern-territory-help-close-gap">A$4 billion</a> investment in remote housing across the Territory.</p>
<p>He said the ten-year commitment by the Commonwealth and Territory governments would deliver up to an extra 270 houses per year, a total of 2,700.</p>
<p>At the press conference, Albanese was told $4 billion for 2,700 houses worked out at about <a href="https://ministers.pmc.gov.au/burney/2024/press-conference-binjari-northern-territory">$1.5 million</a> each. He was asked whether each house could possibly cost that much to build.</p>
<p>While it is reasonable to examine the cost of construction, the inference that remote housing is unreasonably expensive is misleading.</p>
<h2>Significant, but less than what’s needed</h2>
<p>The $4 billion will deliver much more housing than is currently available, albeit not as much as is needed.</p>
<p>It is not as much as is needed because the prime minister says it will halve overcrowding in remote Indigenous communities. </p>
<p>The 2021 Census found the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Northern Territory living in overcrowded dwellings was <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/northern-territory-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-population-summary#:%7E:text=In%202021%2C%20just%20under%20half,adequately%20house%20the%20usual%20residents.">43%</a>, and Territory government data shows more than <a href="https://www.menzies.edu.au/page/Research/Indigenous_Health/Preventive_health/Healthy_Homes_Monitoring_and_Evaluation_Project">52%</a> of the remote community housing was overcrowded in 2022.</p>
<p>Halving these figures would still leave a significant proportion of the Territory’s remote Indigenous population living in overcrowded housing.</p>
<h2>$4 billion won’t mean $1.5 million per house</h2>
<p>It is true the houses will be expensive to build. Albanese points out that some houses will be in extremely isolated locations and each will have three bedrooms on average. As the ten-year program progresses, labour and materials costs will increase significantly. But the cost won’t average $1.5 million each.</p>
<p>That’s because a fair chunk of the $4 billion will be spent on things other than building houses for remote community residents. </p>
<p>In the most recent (five-year) national agreement, $200 million of the $1.1 billion was allocated to build <a href="https://ourfuture.nt.gov.au/about-the-program/government-employee-housing-for-local-recruits">employee accommodation</a>, for teachers, clinicians, and other workers. </p>
<p>As populations grow, and before building starts, leases need to be secured and land serviced with water, electricity, sewerage, and sometimes roads.</p>
<h2>Houses need maintenance</h2>
<p>The previous agreement allocated <a href="https://ourfuture.nt.gov.au/national-partnership-for-remote-housing-nt">$200 million</a> to repairs and maintenance. But this <a href="https://eresources.hcourt.gov.au/showCase/2023/HCA/31">wasn’t enough</a> to maintain houses at a reasonable standard.</p>
<p>An evaluation found the average spend per remote house was about <a href="https://theconversation.com/high-court-then-what-nt-remote-housing-reforms-need-to-put-indigenous-residents-front-and-centre-216908">$6,000</a> per year. That amount fell far short of the $10,000 per house spent by South Australia in the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands over the border.</p>
<p>The $4 billion also promises to do something else, in addition to building houses and properly maintaining them.</p>
<p>It promises to create local employment and support Aboriginal businesses, as part of the government’s <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/indigenous-affairs/employment/remote-jobs">Remote Jobs and Economic Development Program</a>.</p>
<p>This will be an investment in people, with the potential to build sustainable Aboriginal community-controlled organisations in remote contexts.</p>
<h2>What will matter will be the detail</h2>
<p>Perhaps the most promising things about the new Commonwealth-Territory agreement are its ten-year length and context.</p>
<p>The last time a ten-year agreement was drawn up in the mid-2000s, the so-called Northern Territory <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-29/what-was-the-northern-territory-emergency-response/101891110">Intervention</a> was underway, dismantling community control over housing.</p>
<p>The Indigenous-run <a href="https://theconversation.com/many-claim-australias-longest-running-indigenous-body-failed-heres-why-thats-wrong-209511">Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission</a> had been abolished, a for-profit <a href="https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUIndigLawRw/2007/23.html">consultancy’s report</a> had seriously criticised Indigenous-run Indigenous housing organisations, and the Coalition’s Indigenous affairs minister had described Aboriginal homelands as “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-12-09/vanstone-questions-future-of-indigenous-cultural/757866">cultural museums</a>”.</p>
<p>This agreement promises to rebuild rather than demolish Aboriginal control of remote Aboriginal housing. It is an opportunity to significantly reform the sector to increase self-determination. Key to this transition will be the form taken by the <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/landmark-4-billion-investment-remote-housing-northern-territory-help-close-gap">partnership agreement</a> still being drawn up.</p>
<p>It will include the Australian and Territory governments, the peak body for Aboriginal housing in the Territory, and <a href="https://ourfuture.nt.gov.au/national-partnership-for-remote-housing-nt/joint-steering-committee">four Aboriginal land councils</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/high-court-then-what-nt-remote-housing-reforms-need-to-put-indigenous-residents-front-and-centre-216908">High Court, then what? NT remote housing reforms need to put Indigenous residents front and centre</a>
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<p>Of chief importance will be ensuring remote houses are built to the latest energy <a href="https://www.healthabitat.com/news-policy-ministers-agree-to-new-minimum-building-performance/">efficiency standards</a>. A properly-funded preventive and cyclical maintenance program will also be <a href="https://www.ruralhealth.org.au/partyline/article/healthy-homes-remote-nt-communities">especially important</a>.</p>
<p>There is a lot to clarify, but the ten-year agreement provides the foundation for a pipeline of works, the employment of local staff and the development of local skills, including through apprenticeships. It is a historic opportunity to get remote Indigenous housing right.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225651/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liam Grealy receives funding from Aboriginal Housing NT for the project 'Investigating Options to Establish Aboriginal Controlled Governance for the Remote Housing System in the Northern Territory'. He receives funding from the NT Government for the 'Homelands Housing and Infrastructure Program Monitoring and Evaluation Project'. </span></em></p>Much of the $4 billion to be spent over ten years will go into maintenance and the preparation of blocks. It will also build Indigenous employment and Indigenous skills.Liam Grealy, Senior Research Fellow, Menzies School of Health ResearchLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2257422024-03-20T15:40:03Z2024-03-20T15:40:03ZIndigenous consultation is key to the Ring of Fire becoming Canada’s economic superpower<p>Many of the 30,000 attendees of the March 2024 <a href="https://www.pdac.ca/convention">Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention</a> harbour a “wild desire” to extract the mineral riches of <a href="https://www.wsj.com/story/fight-heats-up-over-canadas-ring-of-fire-where-67-billion-of-rare-minerals-is-buried-07f56a23">Canada’s $67 billion Ring of Fire</a>, in the words of Johnny Cash’s well-known song of the <a href="https://www.songfacts.com/lyrics/johnny-cash/ring-of-fire">same name</a>.</p>
<p>While some might be attracted by the desire to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/ring-of-fire-trillion-dollar-claim-1.6778551">make money</a>, others could be driven by concern for our planet and the belief that the region’s minerals can help reduce carbon emissions and support a <a href="https://www.pentictonherald.ca/spare_news/article_58422893-2145-5a9d-a077-b2410dee4b4a.html">just energy transition</a>.</p>
<p>As some Indigenous groups have pointed out, however, the construction of roads and mining in the Ring of Fire represents a significant disruption to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ring-of-fire-mining-may-not-benefit-first-nations-as-hoped-1.1374849">traditional ways of life and fragile ecosystems</a>. </p>
<p>Some environmental groups have argued that mining activities in the region could result in a net increase of carbon emissions due to the removal or severe degradation of the vital <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/canada-mining-push-puts-major-carbon-sink-and-indigenous-lands-in-the-crosshairs/">carbon sinks sustained by peat lands and trees</a>. </p>
<p>Despite the significant economic and environmental impacts surrounding the development of the Ring of Fire, this focus overlooks another crucial issue: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14662043.2017.1422418">the potential for Indigenous/non-Indigenous conflict in northern Ontario</a>.</p>
<h2>The importance of Indigenous treaties</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2022.2157105">recent study</a> on the prospects for Indigenous/non-Indigenous conflict in relation to Québec’s <a href="https://www.environnement.gouv.qc.ca/communiques_en/2012/c20120205-nord.htm">Plan Nord</a> has compelling parallels with Ontario’s <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontarios-ring-fire">Ring of Fire</a>. </p>
<p>Both regions are located in the mineral-rich and ecologically sensitive northern reaches of the provinces that are home to numerous Indigenous Peoples. </p>
<p>Like Ontario, Québec’s Indigenous groups have a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/oka-crisis-timeline-summer-1990-1.5631229">fraught history with government interventions</a> and are often suspicious of plans to develop natural resources. </p>
<p>Our study reveals that if an Indigenous group has signed a modern treaty, there is a reduced risk of conflict related to proposed resource developments since there’s less uncertainty surrounding land tenure rights. Given the fundamental importance of land to Indigenous Peoples, threats to these rights — perceived or real — represent an understandable source of grievance that can spark conflict.</p>
<p>Although there will likely be procurement of services from local Indigenous communities and companies in the Ring of Fire region, the vast majority of its development activities will attract non-Indigenous workers and businesses to the area. </p>
<p>Our study also demonstrates that an influx of non-Indigenous workers can produce tensions with Indigenous groups that can rapidly escalate and lead to contentious interventions by the RCMP.</p>
<h2>Uncritical media coverage</h2>
<p>Given the potential economic windfalls associated with the development of the Ring of Fire, it’s easy to assume support among local residents. Politicians at all levels have called for the rapid development of the region as part of a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-ev-battery-materials-plant-1.6519260">broader investment strategy</a> to cast Canada as a critical minerals leader.</p>
<p>These political leaders highlight the dangers of climate change to encourage companies and consumers to embrace energy sources that reduce carbon emissions. In 2020, the Canadian government announced its <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/innovation/greening-government/strategy.html">Greening Government Strategy</a> aimed at achieving net-zero operations by 2050. </p>
<p>Reducing carbon emissions is also a key element of Canada’s <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/campaign/critical-minerals-in-canada/canadian-critical-minerals-strategy.html">Critical Minerals Strategy</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, media coverage of political pronouncements regarding mineral supply chains is often uncritical.</p>
<p>Another <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2021.2020663">recent study</a> of ours reveals that media coverage in Canada in both French and English rarely includes the perspectives of Indigenous people. Instead, reporters prefer to focus on the more sensational aspects of roadblocks and standoffs, which tend to marginalize the position of Indigenous Peoples.</p>
<p>Little consideration is given to assessing the complex impacts of natural resource development projects on Indigenous communities. </p>
<p>Take the case of the quip by Ontario Premier Doug Ford that “<a href="https://www.timminspress.com/news/local-news/you-will-see-me-on-that-bulldozer">you will see me on that bulldozer</a>” to underscore his government’s pledge to build road access to the Ring of Fire.</p>
<p>Although <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2021-0033">roads can certainly generate positive impacts for local communities</a> (for example, greater mobility and connectivity; better access to public services such as health care; lower prices for consumer goods), they can also lead to negative outcomes (for example, they can degrade the natural environment, they’re expensive to build and they can serve as a route for criminal networks). </p>
<p>Roads also lead to <a href="https://irpp.org/research-studies/affordable-safe-transportation-options-remote-communities/">greater inflows of people in these previously remote communities</a>. Federal and provincial environmental impact assessments of the proposed <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/northern-road-link-project">Northern Road Link</a> to the Ring of Fire are already underway, and there’s reason to believe that a regulatory green light could dramatically transform northern Ontario’s demographics — and thus increase probabilities for future conflict.</p>
<h2>Three recommendations</h2>
<p>What can be done to prevent conflict in the Ring of Fire? We propose three recommendations.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Respect existing treaties with Indigenous communities in the region. Where appropriate, negotiate side agreements that align with modern legal approaches to land use and property rights, thereby reducing uncertainty. Canadian governments could justify the investment in political capital to secure these agreements with Indigenous groups given the importance they’ve placed on promoting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (<a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/declaration/index.html#:%7E:text=The%20Action%20Plan-,The%20United%20Nations%20Declaration%20on%20the%20Rights%20of%20Indigenous%20Peoples,Assent%20and%20came%20into%20force">UNDRIP</a>) and <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/innovation/greening-government/greening-gov-fund.html">reducing carbon emissions</a> to facilitate a just energy transition.</p></li>
<li><p>The Ontario government should begin a new round of consultations with Indigenous communities and stakeholders that are inclusive, transparent, extensive and responsive. The previous round of consultations were <a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/ring-of-fire-first-nations-queens-park/">criticized for being rushed and perfunctory</a>. Truly consultative engagement would reduce grievances and signal to the world that sub-national governments can be global leaders in forging positive relationships with Indigenous Peoples.</p></li>
<li><p>Although the environmental impact of road construction is already mediated by regulatory <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/preparing-environmental-assessments">impact assessment legislation</a>, the effects of an influx of workers must be addressed. Federal and provincial governments — together with input from relevant Indigenous groups and municipalities — should revise existing <a href="https://wcsringoffire.ca/regional-planning-new/">urban planning</a> and <a href="https://wcsringoffire.ca/communities/">zoning by-laws</a> so that hamlets and small towns that are sure to grow do so in an economically, socially, and politically sustainable fashion. Incorporating all levels of governments in producing thoughtful urban planning measures would go a long way toward mitigating the negative impacts associated with increased migration to the region. </p></li>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-environment-minister-is-headed-for-trouble-if-ottawa-doesnt-correct-course-on-the-ring-of-fire-175616">Canada's environment minister is headed for trouble if Ottawa doesn't correct course on the Ring of Fire</a>
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<p>Critical minerals can serve as Canada’s <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781487522452/corporate-social-responsibility-and-canada-and-x2019s-role-in-africa-and-x2019s-extractive-sectors/">superpower</a>, generating economic benefits domestically and boosting its <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cag.12472">reputation as an environmental leader</a> in the just energy transition. </p>
<p>But if Canada fails <a href="https://opencanada.org/resources-and-canadas-first-nations/">in the governance</a> of the Ring of Fire, and ignores the real prospects for serious conflict around the projects, these critical minerals could become Canada’s kryptonite by jeopardizing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and tarnishing its <a href="https://opencanada.org/canadas-long-legacy-of-multilateral-sustainable-development/">reputation abroad</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225742/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Grant has received grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Badriyya Yusuf has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She is a fellow for the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) Digital Policy Hub.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dimitrios Panagos has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew I. Mitchell receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Ontario’s Ring of Fire could make Canada a minerals superpower, but Indigenous consultation is essential to ensure doing so does not harm reconciliation or Canada’s global reputation.Andrew Grant, Associate Professor of Political Studies, Queen's University, OntarioBadriyya Yusuf, PhD Candidate/Researcher in International Relations, Queen's University, OntarioDimitrios Panagos, Associate Professor, Political Philosophy, Memorial University of NewfoundlandMatthew I. Mitchell, Associate Professor, Political Studies, University of SaskatchewanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2257802024-03-18T23:20:44Z2024-03-18T23:20:44Z‘Care is in everything we do and everything we are’: the work of Indigenous women needs to be valued<p>It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group.</p>
<p>Working with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner’s office, we worked with <a href="https://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/caring-about-care">more than 100 Indigenous women across</a> Australia to talk about their interpretations and experiences of care. </p>
<p>“Mainstream” definitions and measures of care do not include the vast and complex ways care is defined by First Nations women. This includes care not only for people, but for communities, Country and culture. </p>
<p>It means important work goes unrecognised, uncompensated or misunderstood, leading to the marginalisation of this crucial work and the women who do it.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/definitions-are-often-very-western-this-excludes-us-our-research-shows-how-to-boost-indigenous-participation-in-stem-223465">'Definitions are often very western. This excludes us.' Our research shows how to boost Indigenous participation in STEM</a>
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<h2>Redefining the concept</h2>
<p>The Australian Human Rights Commission’s <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-social-justice/publications/wiyi-yani-u-thangani">Wiyi Yani U Thangani</a> report illuminates the crucial importance of the care provided by First Nations women. Our work follows and builds on this report.</p>
<p>An Indigenous woman from the East Kimberley told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Well, care for me, as an Indigenous person, is not just caring for your family, it’s caring for your Country.</p>
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<p>Another woman from the ACT told us care is a disposition, and a means of respecting culture and heritage: </p>
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<p>[Care is] enveloped in everything we do and everything we are and everything about where we are going and paying homage again to our ancestors and who’s come before us. That’s what care is.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This notion of care as a strength is an important insight from the women in this study. However, unpaid care is often unrecognised and undervalued in Australian policy, which while prioritising getting women into employment, has neglected funding and supporting the existing unpaid care work that women do. </p>
<p>What is evident from our study is that Indigenous women want more support for the care work they do, as well as better care services largely within Aboriginal community-controlled organisations to assist them in doing it.</p>
<h2>Care has consequences</h2>
<p>Women frequently linked their demanding care loads to ongoing colonisation, which continues to create damage to the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. A woman from greater Sydney said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s colonial […] It’s just not being able to do things in the way we should be doing them […] because of the colonial structure and things like that. </p>
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<p>This includes the impacts of colonisation on gender roles, child removals, incarceration rates, poor health, poverty, racism and more. </p>
<p>It also includes the impacts of state institutions set up to “care”, but which are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/sep/01/coalition-hails-success-of-cashless-welfare-card-and-says-kalgoorlie-will-be-next-site">often uncaring</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/first-nations-children-are-still-being-removed-at-disproportionate-rates-cultural-assumptions-about-parenting-need-to-change-169090">may be violent and harmful</a>.</p>
<p>Ultimately, this requires Indigenous people’s care to heal, adding extra demands on existing care loads. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/first-nations-women-dont-always-access-health-care-after-head-injuries-from-family-violence-heres-why-206084">First Nations women don't always access health care after head injuries from family violence. Here's why</a>
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<p>Many of the women interviewed in this study were also tired, and often carers needed care too. Some were in, or had been through, periods of utter exhaustion and illness due to trying to carry their stressful care load. A Central Australian woman told us:</p>
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<p>It’s hard. It’s draining. Every day just exhausted. Sometimes there’s days when I just can’t keep up with it. And I don’t want to listen, just go away. But those are days when they really need help. So yeah, it’s very exhausting.</p>
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<h2>Time is money, but no one gets paid</h2>
<p>Our research also included a time-use survey, which showed that all unpaid care activities accounted for, on average, 62% of our participant women’s time on a usual weekday (about 14.8 hours per day on average), with 48% of their time (around 11.5 hours) spent caring for others and/or caring for Country and culture specifically. </p>
<p>Because (lost) remuneration for this work was raised as a crucial point by Indigenous women during our interviews, we also calculated the approximate market value of this unpaid care work through using hourly award rates for corresponding care activities (sometimes called the replacement method, which understands the cost of this work in the paid market). </p>
<p>The estimated economic value of this work ranged between $223.01 and $457.39 per day (representing an estimated annual salary of between $81,175.64 and $118,921.40). This estimation is conservative as it does not include the multitasking of more than one care activity at the one time.</p>
<p>The estimation raises important questions as to what is owed to Indigenous women, not just because the economy free-rides on unpaid care, but also because much of this care work mops up the mess of colonisation. </p>
<p>Many of the women we spoke to also talked about how unpaid care and paid employment interact. </p>
<p>In addition to their unpaid care roles, most women in paid employment in this study had roles in the community sector which put them at the frontline of caring for community. They saw this work as part of their broader commitment to supporting their families, communities and advancing Indigenous peoples. It is therefore hard to draw a line for these women between paid and unpaid work, meaning it is rare to be able to “switch off”. </p>
<p>Often, employers didn’t realise the amount of unpaid care of this type women do in <a href="https://theconversation.com/during-naidoc-week-many-indigenous-women-are-assigned-unpaid-work-new-research-shows-how-prevalent-this-is-in-the-workplace-208454">their paid work roles</a>, even though this actually makes their paid employment successful. Women are also not paid adequately for these valuable skills.</p>
<h2>A new approach is needed</h2>
<p>Our research follows generations of Indigenous women who have long shown the strength of care, but also looks at how settler society makes this work harder. </p>
<p>This research underlines the importance of a new approach to supporting Indigenous women, in which their voices, ideas and needs are central, and where care is placed at the heart. This is different to just “fitting” Indigenous care into various settler models, policies and measures already in circulation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225780/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elise Klein receives funding from the Gender Institute at the Australian National University. She is a member of the Anti-Poverty Centre, the Accountable Income Management Network and a Co-Director of the Australian Basic Income Lab.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chay Brown receives funding from the Office of Gender Equity and Diversity at the Northern Territory Government. She is affiliated with ANU, Tangentyere Council, and Her Story Mparntwe. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kayla Glynn-Braun is a First Nation Wiradjuri Women whom is a project coordinator at The Equality Institute and Co-Foundered Her Story Consulting and lead on U Right Sis? project, Indigenous Knowledge</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janet Hunt and Zoe Staines do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To First Nations women, ‘care’ is more broad and all-encompassing than traditional definitions. We need a new approach to capturing, and appreciating, their work, paid and unpaid.Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National UniversityChay Brown, Managing Director, Her Story Consulting & Postdoctoral fellow, Australian National UniversityJanet Hunt, Honorary Associate Professor, CAEPR, Australian National UniversityKayla Glynn-Braun, Director of Her Story, project coordinator at The Equality Institute, lead on U Right Sis? project, Indigenous KnowledgeZoe Staines, Senior Lecturer, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2254432024-03-11T00:59:19Z2024-03-11T00:59:19ZTaking the Treaty out of child protection law risks making NZ a global outlier<p>Australia, Canada and New Zealand share similar colonial stories. Historically, New Zealand has been the most interested of the three in thinking about how the universal human rights of equality, dignity and culture might gradually challenge the colonial order.</p>
<p>Australia hasn’t traditionally taken such issues as seriously, as the defeat of last year’s <a href="https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/detailed-analysis-2023-voice-parliament-referendum-and-related-social-and">Voice to Parliament</a> referendum suggested. It struggles to address the consequences of its <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/stolen-generations">stolen generations</a> practices, while Canada struggles with the consequences of its <a href="https://nctr.ca/education/teaching-resources/residential-school-history/">residential schools</a> legacy. </p>
<p>Both nations’ policies were intended to “<a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47547227">breed out</a>” the original inhabitants of those lands. New Zealand used “<a href="https://www.nzcer.org.nz/system/files/Chapter%201%20Ranginui%20Walker.pdf">native schools</a>”, among other measures of assimilation.</p>
<p>Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) offers an alternative non-colonial vision, however. While always contested, it has sometimes made New Zealand a leader in Indigenous-state relations.</p>
<p>But in the past month, modest policy developments in Australia, and a significant constitutional development in Canada, have highlighted the extent to which New Zealand is becoming an outlier in international Indigenous policy thinking.</p>
<h2>Amending the Oranga Tamariki Act</h2>
<p>As part of their <a href="https://www.interest.co.nz/sites/default/files/2023-11/National_ACT_Agreement.pdf">coalition agreement</a>, the National and ACT parties will remove section 7AA from child protection agency Oranga Tamariki’s <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1989/0024/latest/whole.html">governing legislation</a>. </p>
<p>The section came into force in 2019, allowing “strategic partnerships” with iwi (tribes) and other Māori organisations to improve child care and protection. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/care-and-protection-or-containment-and-punishment-how-state-care-fails-nzs-most-vulnerable-young-people-224629">Care and protection, or containment and punishment? How state care fails NZ's most vulnerable young people</a>
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<p>In part, it was a response to successive <a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/news/tribunal-releases-report-on-oranga-tamariki/">independent reports</a> finding fault with Oranga Tamariki’s ability to care effectively for children at risk, especially Māori children. Last month, the <a href="https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/resources/children-care-complaints-ombudsman-2019-2023">Ombudsman reported</a> 109 “formal deficiencies” in the agency’s work between 2019 and 2023.</p>
<p>Some might argue section 7AA still gave the state too much power, especially when the agency continues to do such a poor job. But without the section, Māori will again be left without recourse within the act to challenge that state power.</p>
<h2>Australia and Canada change course</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, the Australian government has this year <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/next-steps-closing-gap-delivering-remote-jobs#:%7E:text=Quotes%20attributable%20to%20Prime%20Minister,hope%2C%20and%20ideas%20for%20change.">announced it will establish</a> a National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People. According to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Indigenous children are almost eleven times more likely to be in out-of-home care than non-Indigenous children. The National Commissioner will focus on working with First Nations people on evidence-based programs and policies to turn those figures around.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s a simple ambition that won’t change overall power relationships. And it doesn’t have the far-reaching implications of the <a href="https://www.scc-csc.ca/case-dossier/cb/2024/40061-eng.aspx">Supreme Court of Canada</a> finding Indigenous peoples have an “inherent right of self-government, which includes jurisdiction in relation to child and family matters”.</p>
<p>But the notion that evidence counts, and that Indigenous people have a say in what constitutes that evidence, provides a sharp contrast with the current New Zealand government’s plan to remove reference to the Treaty from the Oranga Tamariki Act.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/do-the-principles-of-the-treaty-of-waitangi-really-give-maori-too-much-power-or-not-enough-224728">Do the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi really give Māori too much power – or not enough?</a>
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<h2>NZ as outlier</h2>
<p>In Australia, some of the evidence Albanese referred to can be found in <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/12_2021/dess5016-national-framework-protecting-childrenaccessible.pdf">Safe & Supported: the national framework for protecting Australia’s children</a>. Developed by the federal and state governments, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives and the non-government sector, it sets out various policies and priorities.</p>
<p>These cover the primary role of families, communities and cultures in effective care, holistic support services, and addressing the causes of abuse and neglect. Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act aimed to foster the same things.</p>
<p>Like Australia and New Zealand, Canada retains its colonial outlook. But its acknowledgement of the right of self-government – with reference to the United Nations <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf">Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a> – shows New Zealand is increasingly out of step on Indigenous policy.</p>
<p>Canada says its <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/F-11.73/index.html">Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families</a> aims to contribute to the “implementation” of the UN declaration by offering a pathway to just and effective policy.</p>
<p>The province of Québec objected to this federal law on the basis it weakened its own powers. However, Canada’s Supreme Court found against Québec. The national <a href="https://afn.ca/all-news/bulletins/afn-bulletin-february12-2024-supreme-court-of-canada-ruling-on-an-act-respecting-first-nations-inuit-and-metis-children-youth-and-families/">Assembly of First Nations</a> said this paves the way to rebuild their role, as the people who preceded the modern state, in caring for children at risk.</p>
<h2>Right to self-determination</h2>
<p>The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007. Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States were initially the only UN members to vote against it (11 abstained).</p>
<p>Over time, however, all four countries have come to agree with the rest of the world that the declaration didn’t create any new or special rights. It simply recognised that human rights belong to Indigenous peoples as much as to anybody else. </p>
<p>When New Zealand changed its position in 2010, then National Party leader and prime minister <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/national-govt-support-un-rights-declaration">John Key said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>My objective is to build better relationships between Māori and the Crown, and I believe that supporting the declaration is a small but significant step in that direction.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-state-removal-of-maori-children-from-their-families-is-a-wound-that-wont-heal-but-there-is-a-way-forward-140243">The state removal of Māori children from their families is a wound that won't heal – but there is a way forward</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Yet in 2023, <a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/nzfirst/pages/4462/attachments/original/1700784896/National___NZF_Coalition_Agreement_signed_-_24_Nov_2023.pdf?1700784896">National’s coalition agreement</a> with NZ First confirmed the previous government’s <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/125621081/willie-jackson-announces-more-undrip-consultation-confirms-that-he-puapua-is-not-the-plan">rejection</a> of the 2019 <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018795469/what-is-he-puapua">He Puapua</a> report on how New Zealand might implement the UN declaration.</p>
<p>Importantly, the declaration is not binding on member countries. But its essential premise is that Indigenous peoples have the same right to self-determination as others.</p>
<p>By repealing section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act, and removing the requirement that Maori agencies are involved in decision making, the presumption that child care and protection policy should work equally well for Māori people is diminished.</p>
<p>This also weakens New Zealand’s commitment to the UN declaration’s insistence that Indigenous peoples have:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the collective right to live in freedom, peace and security as distinct peoples and shall not be subjected to […] violence […] including forcibly removing children of the group to another group.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Repealing section 7AA sets back New Zealand’s efforts to uphold those rights, at a time when similar countries are taking steps in the opposite direction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225443/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic O'Sullivan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While the New Zealand government removes reference to the Treaty in the Oranga Tamariki Act, Canada and even Australia are taking steps in the opposite direction on Indigenous children’s rights.Dominic O'Sullivan, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2227032024-02-29T18:44:21Z2024-02-29T18:44:21ZTransportation equity: First Nation communities urgently need solutions now<p>In the vast expanse of Canada’s diverse landscapes, a critical issue persists, impacting the lives of Indigenous Peoples: the lack of safe and accessible transportation. </p>
<p>This challenge is not merely about mobility. Intertwined with this narrative is <a href="https://highwayoftears.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Highway-of-Tears-Symposium-Recommendations-Report-January-2013.pdf">alarming rates of missing and murdered Indigenous women</a>, girls and two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual and all other sexual orientations and genders (MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ or MMMIWG2S+).</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/">The Reclaiming Power and Place</a></em> (RPP) report released in 2019 by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls shone a spotlight onto the pervasive violence and vulnerabilities disproportionately affecting Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit individuals. Among its 231 Calls for Justice was the call to immediately tackle limited mobility in rural and remote areas.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://actioncanada.ca/publications/improving-the-intercommunity-mobility-of-first-nation-peoples-in-canada-a-response-to-call-for-justice-4-8/">new report</a>, <em>Improving the Intercommunity Mobility of First Nation Peoples in Canada</em>, responds to this call.</p>
<p>I authored this report with my collaborators, Alexandra Nychuk, André Moreau, Dale Arcand-Morin and Deanna Starr. We are <a href="https://actioncanada.ca/community/#this-years-fellows">research fellows</a> and part of an all-Indigenous task force <a href="https://actioncanada.ca/about/">with Action Canada</a>, an independent, non-partisan and non-profit organization and charity. </p>
<p>Alongside the <a href="https://ppforum.ca/academy/action-canada-fellowship/">Public Policy Forum</a>, Action Canada delivers a 10-month leadership program that aims to enhance emerging leaders’ understanding of the country and public policy choices for the future. Our group is tackling the problem of MMMIWG2S+ and mobility because we see this as a pervasive issue — and we think the potential exists to influence real change.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-needs-a-national-public-transportation-system-heres-why-161786">Canada needs a national public transportation system — here's why</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Profound impacts</h2>
<p>A lack of mobility and transportation has a profound impact on the safety of Indigenous women and girls.</p>
<p>Transportation, or a lack of it, is a symbol of historical injustices. It is a continuation of the colonial legacy that sought to <a href="https://uofrpress.ca/Books/C/Clearing-the-Plains">expropriate Indigenous Peoples from land partly by</a> constraining their abilities to move freely.</p>
<p>In the case of First Nations communities, this is a structural issue. It’s deeply rooted in policies that threaten <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf">First Nations’ inherent rights</a>. The lack of transportation has far-reaching consequences, affecting access to essential services, economic opportunities, social-cultural ties and educational pursuits.</p>
<h2>Termination of Greyhound service</h2>
<p>The termination <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/greyhound-canada-1.6025276">of Greyhound Canada</a> that served communities for nearly a century was a turning point. </p>
<p>When the company closed, it cited financial losses and declining ridership. The closure left many rural and remote areas without a convenient and affordable transportation option.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-needs-a-national-public-transportation-system-heres-why-161786">Canada needs a national public transportation system — here's why</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It also affected <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/indigenous-rural-residents-left-more-isolated-after-greyhound-leaves-canada-1.5442354?cache=%2F7.634935">vulnerable and marginalized communities</a>, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7860104/greyhound-closure-disaster-communities/#">notably Indigenous populations</a>, exacerbating social and economic disparities.</p>
<p>One might wonder: Why is the absence of transportation a social justice issue? The answer lies in recognizing transportation as a fundamental right. When people are denied transportation and mobility, they are denied access to health care, education, employment opportunities and the basic ability to move safely from point A to point B. </p>
<p>The impact is particularly severe for Indigenous communities. Historical policies <a href="https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/indian-act-and-the-pass-system">like the Pass System restricted mobility</a> and hindered Indigenous Peoples’ economic participation, leaving lasting scars on the social fabric.</p>
<h2>Heightened vulnerability</h2>
<p>The absence of reliable and accessible transportation options exacerbates challenges related to MMMIWG2S+. </p>
<p>The vulnerability of Indigenous women and girls is heightened, <a href="https://doi.org/10.29173/cjs28261">rendering them more susceptible to exploitation and violence</a>. Limited mobility options impedes their ability to access support services, escape dangerous situations or seek refuge in times of crisis. </p>
<p>The lack of transportation further complicates the timely response of authorities and the conduct of thorough investigations, perpetuating a climate of impunity.</p>
<h2>Mobility justice, Indigenous agency</h2>
<p>The RPP report emphasizes the importance of “mobility justice,” a concept rooted in the belief that governments have a responsibility to provide adequate transportation so that all communities can access a safe, reliable and equitable transportation system. Governments have a responsibility to provide adequate transportation. </p>
<p>An <a href="https://www.cpha.ca/increasing-mobility-and-sustainability-demand-transit-service-powell-river-bc">innovative example comes</a> from Powell River, B.C., <a href="https://zungabus.ca/">where the Zunga Bus</a>, an app-based, on-demand transportation service, offers door-to-door service based on rider requests. </p>
<p>While this service was recently <a href="https://www.prpeak.com/in-the-community/zunga-bus-receives-reprieve-from-city-of-powell-river-council-8052966">threatened with being discontinued</a>, it has sought to address safety concerns associated with inadequate transportation. </p>
<h2>Indigenous-run services</h2>
<p>Importantly, the paradigm shift towards mobility justice calls for recognizing Indigenous agency and sovereignty. It also calls for countering paternalistic approaches imposed on Indigenous communities.</p>
<p>In Manitoba, <a href="https://www.krcrail.ca/">the Keewatin Railway Company</a> (KRC), owned by three partner Nations (<a href="https://www.mathiascolomb.ca/">Mathias Colomb</a> Cree Nation, Tataskweyak Cree Nation and the War Lake First Nation), stands as a beacon of hope. Following <a href="https://www.krcrail.ca/about-us">the closure of a mine</a>, the Nations collaborated to improve mobility in their communities. With support from the Government of Canada, KRC established a sustainable transportation line, creating jobs and boosting the local economy. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1548680537245630465"}"></div></p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.transportaction.ca/national-news/meeting-with-parliamentary-all-party-rail-caucus/">different levels of government discuss rail and other modes of transport</a>, the success story of the Keewatin Railway Company underscores the importance of community-led and self-determined solutions. Such solutions align with the principles of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s report and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.</p>
<h2>Recommendations</h2>
<p>To truly address this multifaceted issue, we propose recommendations that emphasize holistic action and recognize the lack of transportation as rooted in colonization.</p>
<p>These include: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>aligning with the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/sustainable-transport">UN’s definition of sustainable transport</a>, significantly investing in safe and affordable inter-community mobility, establishing measurable outcomes and conducting annual reviews to ensure progress.</p></li>
<li><p>addressing <a href="https://yellowheadinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/covid-19-and-fn-infrastructure.pdf">inadequate infrastructure</a>. We propose targeted federal funding initiatives tailored for First Nation communities. This includes establishing a grant funding call to create, sustain and monitor public transit. Calls should be considered using a gender-based analysis <a href="https://women-gender-equality.canada.ca/en/gender-based-analysis-plus/what-gender-based-analysis-plus.html">“plus” approach (meaning considering intersectional factors such as</a> disability, education, ethnicity, economic status, geography, language, race, religion and sexual orientation).</p></li>
<li><p>enhancing transportation data through a gender-based analysis plus approach, and conducting research led by community advocates. These are vital steps toward informed decision-making and appropriate funding allocations. <a href="https://ikwesaferide.wordpress.com/">Ikwe Safe Rides</a> in Winnipeg is a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-safe-ride-service-ikwe-1.4621212">community initiative</a>, led by women volunteers, which provides Indigenous women and children with transportation by donation. But we must also question as a society whether safe mobility should be the responsibility of volunteers — or a public service with governmental responsibility.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Road to justice</h2>
<p>The road to justice for First Nation communities in Canada requires a paradigm shift in how we perceive transportation. It is not just about moving people from one place to another; it is about restoring agency, dignity and safety. </p>
<p>By embracing community-led solutions rooted in principles of reconciliation <a href="https://afn.bynder.com/m/7f110fc9e906357e/original/National-Asset-Management-Virtual-Conference-Pathways-to-Sustainability-Draft-Report-March-8-10-2022.pdf">and self-determination</a>, we can build a road that leads to a more equitable and inclusive future for all Canadians. </p>
<p>It is time to break down barriers, build bridges and ensure that no one is left behind on the journey to justice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222703/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tiffany Dionne Prete and her colleagues receive funding from Action Canada who are funded by Indspire, Secrétariat Aux Relations Canadiennes Quebec Government, Power Corporation of Canada, Public Policy Forum, and The Government of Canada. </span></em></p>Improving the intercommunity mobility of First Nation Peoples is a road to more inclusive and safer futures. This calls for recognizing Indigenous agency and sovereignty when developing solutions.Tiffany Dionne Prete, Assistant Professor, Sociology Department, University of LethbridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2245202024-02-29T00:30:44Z2024-02-29T00:30:44ZAustralian writers festivals are engulfed in controversy over the war in Gaza. How can they uphold their duty to public debate?<p>A string of controversies are engulfing Melbourne Writers’ Festival, the Perth Festival’s Writers’ Weekend, the Sydney Opera House’s All About Women and Adelaide Writers Week. There’s a high-profile resignation, calls to cancel speakers and allegations of the spread of “historically untrue” facts and of normalising violence. </p>
<p>All, in one way or another, have been generated by divisions over the war in Gaza.</p>
<p>Writers’ festivals are in a fraught position. They navigate the frontier between social media’s echo chambers of outrage and the traditional public square’s conventions, where restraint, reason and tolerance in the face of opposing views are the basis for civilised debate.</p>
<p>How is it all playing out, and what are the consequences for the public exchange of ideas?</p>
<h2>‘Historically untrue’?</h2>
<p>At <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/gaza-conflict-engulfs-melbourne-writers-%20festival-as-leaders-quit-over-program-row-20240222-p5f757.html">Melbourne Writers Festival</a>, the deputy chair of the board, Dr Leslie Reti, has resigned over a poetry session that will involve Aboriginal and Palestinian poets reading their work.</p>
<p>The session is guest-curated by Koori-Lebanese writer Mykaela Saunders. It is based on the proposition Aboriginal and Palestinian people have a shared experience of having been colonised, becoming victims of atrocities by the colonising power. </p>
<p>Melbourne Writers Festival artistic director Michaela McGuire has confirmed the dispute is centred on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/feb/27/melbourne-writers-festival-deputy-chair-resigns-aboriginal-palestinian-solidarity-poetry-event-gaza-conflict">a line of program copy that reads</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Aboriginal and Palestinian solidarity has a long history, a relationship that is more vital than ever in the movement to resist colonialism and speak out against atrocities.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is a historically contentious proposition. Dr Reti, a retired Jewish clinician, said he respected McGuire’s curatorial independence, but described the material in the draft program as “historically untrue and deeply offensive”.</p>
<p>Prominent Aboriginal scholar Professor Marcia Langton, of the University of Melbourne, has also rejected proposed similarity between the experience of Aboriginal and Palestinian people, <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/gaza-conflict-engulfs-melbourne-writers-festival-as-leaders-quit-over-program-row-20240222-p5f757.html">saying</a>, “there is very little comparable in our respective situations, other than our humanity”.</p>
<p>Saunders was one of 132 Indigenous activists, artists and intellectuals who signed <a href="https://therednation.org/statement-of-indigenous-solidarity-with-palestine/">a petition released on October 27 last year</a> that claimed: “The past two weeks of horrific violence in Gaza resulted from 75 years of Israeli settler colonial dispossession”. </p>
<p>McGuire has defended her decision not to change the copy for Saunders’ event, titled Let it Bring Hope, saying “I completely support the right to self-determined programming”. </p>
<p>She <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/melbourne-mornings/melbourne-writers-festival-split-over-war-in-gaza/103512224">told ABC Radio on Monday</a>: “This entire event is about Aboriginal and Palestinian solidarity. It’s not for or about anyone who doesn’t subscribe to that, and so it doesn’t make any sense to not mention that in the event copy.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/gaza-conflict-engulfs-melbourne-writers-festival-as-leaders-quit-over-program-row-20240222-p5f757.html">Last year</a>, the Melbourne Writers Festival board decided “while writers should be free to express their views, the festival should not take a public position on the war”.</p>
<p>The Age <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/gaza-conflict-engulfs-melbourne-writers-%20festival-as-leaders-quit-over-program-row-20240222-p5f757.html">reported on Monday</a> that Fiona Menzies, the festival’s interim chief executive, also resigned over the festival’s program. But Alice Hill, chair of the board, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/feb/27/melbourne-writers-festival-deputy-chair-resigns-aboriginal-palestinian-solidarity-poetry-event-gaza-conflict">told the Guardian</a> that Menzies had resigned “for personal reasons, and would continue her relationship with the festival in a consultancy capacity”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-palestinian-authors-award-ceremony-has-been-cancelled-at-frankfurt-book-fair-this-sends-the-wrong-signals-at-the-wrong-time-215712">A Palestinian author's award ceremony has been cancelled at Frankfurt Book Fair. This sends the wrong signals at the wrong time</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Normalising violence?</h2>
<p>In Perth, the argument was over the inclusion of Jewish singer-songwriter Deborah Conway in the opening night of the Perth Festival’s Writers’ Weekend last week. In <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/radionational-breakfast/israel-gaza-arts-protests-deborah-conway/103231158">an interview on ABC Radio National</a>, she had questioned whether Palestinian children killed by the Israeli Defence Forces were really children. (“It depends on what you really call kids.”)</p>
<p>Conway contextualised her remarks to me this week, saying: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was trying to tell listeners, in the cut and thrust of a live interview situation, that when Hamas put guns in the hands of their adolescent sons to point at the enemy, Hamas steals their childhood, turns them into fighters & then turns them into casualty figures. It’s unbearably cruel. I wasn’t talking about babies or little children, nor was I defining what I think to be a child, it goes without saying that the deaths of innocents are always tragic.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In an <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfUvUWq0GLIbhstqVzFMsxguiWjawr__aTI-CeKuZQoZUfJng/viewform">open letter to the festival</a>, more than 500 writers and arts workers said that by including Conway, the festival was putting safety at risk and giving a platform to someone whose comments on the radio “seek to normalise the ongoing genocide enacted by the state of Israel against the Palestinian people”.</p>
<p>This provoked a response from Dr Nick Dyrenfurth, executive director of the John Curtin Research Centre, a left-of-centre think tank, in which he said Conway’s “crime of being Jewish” was the reason <a href="https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/festival-slammed-for-promoting-%20deborah-conway-after-palestine-comments,18359">this attempt was being made to “deplatform” her</a>.</p>
<p>In Sydney, a petition protesting against the appointment of the feminist author Clementine Ford as a co-curator of the Opera House’s <a href="https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/all-about-women">All About Women</a> festival has garnered about 6,700 signatures since it was started on 6 February. Ford has programmed three events at the festival.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.australianjewishnews.com/petition-against-%20opera-house-appearance/">petition alleges</a> Ford’s public communications since the attacks by Hamas on Israel on 7 October 2023 have made “a direct and harmful” contribution to the “hateful climate” that has developed in Australia since those attacks, exemplified by a <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/australian-jews-suffer-738-per-cent-spike-in-antisemitic-abuse/news-story/33ed1f60ff568d31ce399b325bbc03a2">738% increase</a> in anti-Semitic incidents, as recorded by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.</p>
<p>Ford has not called for violence against Jewish people.</p>
<p>The MP for the Sydney seat of Vaucluse in the New South Wales Parliament, Kellie Sloane, and some Jewish community leaders have raised their concerns about Ford’s curatorship, following her involvement in <a href="https://theconversation.com/doxing-or-in-the-public-interest-free-speech-cancelling-and-the-ethics-of-the-jewish-creatives-whatsapp-group-leak-223323">the alleged “doxing”</a> of about 600 Jewish writers, artists and academics. This involved the social media sharing of personal details, including names and professions, leaked from a WhatsApp group, without their consent.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/doxing-or-in-the-public-interest-free-speech-cancelling-and-the-ethics-of-the-jewish-creatives-whatsapp-group-leak-223323">Doxing or in the public interest? Free speech, 'cancelling' and the ethics of the Jewish creatives' WhatsApp group leak</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Daniel Aghion, <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/political-and-jewish-leaders-raise-clementine-ford-%20curatorship-red-flag-after-creatives-doxxing/news-story/aae6e8abdd09fb3393711c3c3c9bb544">was reported as saying</a> it was “baffling” someone who had caused this kind of harm should be appearing at one of Australia’s “most prestigious forums”.</p>
<p>Some Jewish leaders, including Anti-Defamation Commission chairman, Dr Dvir Abramovich, want Ford <a href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/jewish-leaders-have-called-for-clementine-ford-to-be-banned-%20from-adelaide-writers-week/news-story/8252b039c71c87c80afae3fe012d03f9%20So%20far,%20none%20of%20the%20protests%20have%20resulted%20in%20any%20of%20these%20people%20being%20banned.">banned from the Adelaide Festival’s Writers’ Week</a>, which starts this weekend, on 2 March.</p>
<p>Louise Adler, director of Adelaide Writers Week, <a href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/entertainment/adelaide-festival/adelaide-writers-week-2024-festival-hit-with-new-backlash-as-organisers-strongly-defend-program/news-story/c56fcae109190ffa206c55119d756b59">resisted calls to remove Ford</a> from the program, saying “I chose Clementine Ford because of her writing on contemporary Australian sexual politics and about her current book about marriage, which I thought was interesting.” She called her views on “other issues” on social media “immaterial”.</p>
<p>South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas <a href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/jewish-leaders-have-called-for-clementine-ford-to-be-banned-from-adelaide-writers-week/news-story/8252b039c71c87c80afae3fe012d03f9">declined to get involved</a>, saying he would not be a “premier that engages in censorship at arts festivals”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-calls-to-cancel-two-palestinian-writers-from-adelaide-writers-week-justified-200165">Are calls to cancel two Palestinian writers from Adelaide Writers' Week justified?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Freedom of speech challenged</h2>
<p>Each of these cases presents a challenge to freedom of speech, for different reasons and in different ways.</p>
<p>Writers’ festivals are opportunities for the public to see and hear from people who are presumed to have thought deeply about complex issues, and who have written about them. They are also forums for the writers themselves to challenge and be challenged on their points of view.</p>
<p>In a world conditioned by the emotive views and intolerant habits of social media, where those who hold opposing views are often seen as irredeemable and even illegitimate, it requires a demanding intellectual effort to adjust to the world of the public square.</p>
<p>There, by convention, opposing views are tolerated, even respected, and questions are decided by reasoned argument based on evidence – rather than emotive, sometimes insulting, rhetoric.</p>
<p>The current debates around these festivals show our society is a fair way from making this adjustment.</p>
<p>In the Melbourne case, the problem arises because of a contestable claim in the draft program that “Aboriginal and Palestinian solidarity has a long history, a relationship that is more vital than ever in the movement to resist colonialism and speak out against atrocities”.</p>
<p>Whether or not there is a long history of solidarity between Aboriginal and Palestinian people – which Professor Langton, for one, rejects – might be debated. But the wording of the draft program presents the debate as already decided in the affirmative. That might represent the view of curator Mykaela Saunders and some other First Nations people, but clearly not all of them.</p>
<p>In the Perth case, Conway’s statement questioning whether the children killed by the Israel Defence Forces are really children is, for the most part, demonstrably false, as we see nightly on the television news. This does harm. A falsehood pollutes the community’s information pool. </p>
<p>In the Sydney and Adelaide cases, Ford’s participation in the Whatsapp leak is likewise harmful. The leak violated people’s privacy and put people’s safety at risk. The harm principle sets the boundary at which the individual’s right of free speech gives way to the larger public interest in harm prevention.</p>
<p>The case in principle against Ford is particularly strong because of the obvious harm caused by the public dissemination of people’s private information. The fact that she is not programmed to speak about the war in Gaza at her events – she is speaking about her anti-marriage book in both <a href="https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/all-about-women/play-the-girl">Sydney</a> and <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/2024-writers-week/i-do-i-don-t/">Adelaide</a> – makes no difference to this point of principle. In practice, however, banning her would risk making her into a martyr. </p>
<p>None of these festivals have responded to public pressure to change their programs, speakers or even the wording of their copy. Better still, rather than banning speakers or changing programs, festivals could arrange to include challenges on these controversial actions and words. For example, someone in Ford’s position could be invited to make the case for the WhatsApp leak and be challenged on its violation of privacy principles.</p>
<p>That way, the festivals would do their job of promoting debate. A festival where the outcome is a foregone conclusion, or where the openmindedness of the organisers is in question, is just another echo chamber.</p>
<p>Against that, there is the question of public safety, which has been raised by those who wanted Conway banned in Perth and Ford in Adelaide. The exact threat to public safety is not spelt out, but the debate shows we urgently need to learn to better negotiate this frontier between social media and the world of flesh and blood.</p>
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<p><em>This article has been amended to clarify the context of Deborah Conway’s remarks during her earlier radio interview.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224520/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Denis Muller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Writers festivals navigate the fraught frontier between social media’s echo chambers of outrage and the civilised public debate of the public square. What’s the way forward in this heated atmosphere?Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2223892024-02-15T23:47:21Z2024-02-15T23:47:21ZIndigenous fathers help build stronger communities. Here’s how we can better support them<p>When approaching how to support the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, there is a tendency in favour of strengthening and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/1557988317735928?src=getftr">empowering mothers</a>, rather than fathers. </p>
<p>While this emphasis on maternal support is undoubtedly justified (in fact, there probably needs to be more supports that are culturally appropriate), it raises the question of why specialist assistance is not similarly prioritised for fathers. </p>
<p>For instance, within what is arguably the core Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy in Australia, <a href="https://www.closingthegap.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/national-agreement-ctg.pdf">Closing the Gap</a>, there is no mention of initiatives specifically for Indigenous fathers or men more broadly. </p>
<p>We analysed data from around 150 First Nations fathers about the support they needed. Here’s what they had to say. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/emu-men-a-new-way-to-recognise-and-celebrate-indigenous-fathers-211741">'Emu Men': a new way to recognise and celebrate Indigenous fathers</a>
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<h2>Doing away with negative stereotypes</h2>
<p>Western society can portray some groups of fathers in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/like-father-like-son-new-research-shows-how-young-men-copy-their-fathers-masculinity-203834">less favourable light</a> and offer limited support. </p>
<p>In Australia, there has been a particularly cruel characterisation of Indigenous fathers as deviant, distant, and/or drunkards. </p>
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<p>These harmful characterisations were reflected in a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-04/cartoon-an-attack-on-aboriginal-people,-indigenous-leader-says/7689248">2016 cartoon</a> by Bill Leak of an Aboriginal man unable to recall the name of his son. </p>
<p>These representations are not true of many Indigenous fathers. They are often disciplined, devoted and sober, and want to be positive role models for their children. A great example of this is in the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-06/indigenous-dads-counter-bill-leak-cartoon-with-stories/7697668">social media movement</a> that sprung up in the wake of the cartoon, called #IndigenousDads. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-studied-100-years-of-australian-fatherhood-heres-how-todays-dads-differ-from-their-grandfathers-166348">We studied 100 years of Australian fatherhood. Here's how today's dads differ from their grandfathers</a>
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<p>In light of this social climate, we wanted to know what Indigenous fathers need in order to enhance their experience of fatherhood. We drew the responses from data of 149 Indigenous fathers from the <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/about-the-department/longitudinal-studies/footprints-in-time-lsic-longitudinal-study-of-indigenous-children">Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC)</a>, a large Australian dataset administered by the Commonwealth Department of Social Services. That study asked them “if you could have something to make it easier to raise your child, what would it be?”. We analysed the results. </p>
<h2>More support needed</h2>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajs4.313">Our research</a> found more than 60% of Indigenous dads surveyed indicated needing further support. </p>
<p>There were several areas that came up most frequently. These were finances, social services, housing, and the ability to spend more time with their children. </p>
<p>Of the ten themes we observed across the comments from Indigenous fathers in response to this question, nearly all were related to socioeconomic and cultural factors. One of the fathers expressed frustration at the lack of available social services, wanting more support in general. Another father shared how finances affected his role, saying:</p>
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<p>I would like to have a decent paying job; I had to stop working to help and care for my children and partner.</p>
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<p>Other fathers mentioned wanting housing that was appropriately sized to accommodate a family, and not wanting to rent. Additionally, fathers wished they had the ability to invest more time in engaging in activities with their children. </p>
<p>Collectively, these desires are reflective of men striving to be involved and <a href="https://theconversation.com/emu-men-a-new-way-to-recognise-and-celebrate-indigenous-fathers-211741">nurturing fathers</a>, not deviant or distant, as illustrated in harsh stereotypes. This is highlighted in their courage in openly asking for help. </p>
<h2>What needs to be done?</h2>
<p>Our research shows policies about and for Indigenous men and fathers need to directly address the areas in which they’ve expressed the most need. This includes looking at their <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/social-determinants-of-health">social determinants of health</a>. This means examining the social and economic circumstances that can affect a person’s life, from their housing situation through to feeling included in society.</p>
<p>As we mentioned earlier, the <a href="https://www.closingthegap.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/national-agreement-ctg.pdf">Closing the Gap</a> strategy does not presently do this. It is important for this policy, and other relevant government strategies, to target these areas and concerns specifically. </p>
<p>Further, urgent attention is needed for greater research funding to support Indigenous dads and men more broadly. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1326020023000080?via%3Dihub">One study</a> shows the minimal amount of Indigenous-specific research funding awarded by Australia’s two central funding bodies. The Australian Research Council (ARC) has provided 1.46%, and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has given a concerning 0.29%. There is a pressing need for additional investigation into how best to support Indigenous fathers and Indigenous men. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/young-dads-are-painted-as-feckless-or-absent-but-theyre-working-to-change-perceptions-220555">Young dads are painted as feckless or absent – but they're working to change perceptions</a>
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<p>Giving Indigenous fathers the support they need is crucial in reducing the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-018-6093-2">well-documented</a> challenges experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men. There are also positive flow-on effects to others, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29025357/">as found</a> by researchers Lyndon Reilly and Susan Rees:</p>
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<p>If you have strong Indigenous fathers, you will have strong Indigenous families. By having strong Indigenous families, you will have strong Indigenous communities.</p>
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<p>As of 2021, Indigenous children are more than <a href="https://www.indigenoushpf.gov.au/measures/2-12-child-protection">ten times</a> more likely to be on a care or protection order than non-Indigenous children. Strengthening the role of Indigenous fathers not only makes financial sense for governments, but also contributes to Indigenous family and community wellbeing, reducing care and protection orders for Indigenous children. </p>
<p>We need to listen to First Nations fathers. If we do, we can deliver services that play to their strengths, rather than seeking to address perceived deficiencies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222389/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kootsy Canuto receives funding from National Health and Medical Research Council APP1175214 & MRFF APP2006564. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leonard Collard has previously received funding from organisations such as the Australian Research Council, state and federal as well as other funding bodies. Dr Collard is a member of the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Huw Thomas Peacock, Jacob Prehn, Michael A. Guerzoni, and Mick Adams do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>First Nations fathers are too often the subject of negative, often untrue stereotypes. We analysed data from around 150 dads about what they needed. Here’s what they said.Jacob Prehn, Associate Dean Indigenous College of Arts, Law, and Education; Senior Lecturer, Social Work, University of TasmaniaHuw Thomas Peacock, Research assistant , University of TasmaniaKootsy Canuto, Associate Professor in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Male Health & Wellbeing, Flinders UniversityLeonard Collard, Professor Emeritus in Aboriginal Studies, The University of Western AustraliaMichael A. Guerzoni, Lecturer in Criminology | School of Social Sciences, University of TasmaniaMick Adams, Senior Research Fellow, Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet , Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2233092024-02-13T03:35:45Z2024-02-13T03:35:45ZThe government is well behind on Closing the Gap. This is why we needed a Voice to Parliament<p>Another year, and another Closing the Gap report comes before the parliament and the Australian people. This year, however, the scene is somewhat different. The 2024 Closing the Gap report is the first since Australians <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-67110193">resoundingly rejected</a> the proposal to enshrine a First Nations Voice to Parliament in the Constitution.</p>
<p>That proposal would have given Indigenous peoples across this country a <a href="https://ulurustatement.org/the-voice/what-is-the-voice/">much greater say</a> in the decisions that affect us, and given us more control over our own affairs and in our own communities. But it failed at the ballot box. Every jurisdiction (bar the ACT) voted “no” to putting this idea into our Constitution, ensuring its longevity and stability, and allowing our input into our affairs to become mainstream.</p>
<p>With that in mind, it’s unsurprising that in this year’s Closing the Gap report, the government outlines that just four of the 19 targets are on track to be bridged. Yes, four out of 19. That’s a little more than one in five. Not only that, but four measures have got worse. Government is continuing to fail our communities. And we all had a chance to fix it.</p>
<p>The government has announced some welcome measures, including creating a National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People – a long overdue initiative. It’s also committed to building remote training hubs and improving community wifi services for around 20 remote communities. Small measures, but they don’t address the structural nature of our powerlessness.</p>
<p>While the referendum failed, there clearly remains a dire need in our communities for fundamental change. So what does the Closing the Gap Report this year represent for mob? How can the way government interacts with Indigenous people and communities be improved?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-can-the-albanese-government-show-muscle-in-indigenous-policy-one-test-is-coming-next-week-223090">Grattan on Friday: Can the Albanese government show muscle in Indigenous policy? One test is coming next week</a>
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<h2>‘What’s next?’ is the wrong question to ask</h2>
<p>Many people have asked since the failed referendum, “what’s next then?”, as if there were a litany of plans B through Z waiting in the wings to solve what is arguably the greatest social issue this country faces, that of Indigenous disadvantage. This question has become a staple of pundits and commentators trying to look smart following a referendum process during which they <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2023/december/megan-davis/truth-after-voice#mtr">fundamentally failed</a> on the civics, the politics and the journalism of Indigenous issues.</p>
<p>Before we ask about what comes next though, we must ask what has come already, and whether efforts at closing the gap over the past three years, since the agreement was overhauled by the Morrison government, have worked.</p>
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<p>The Productivity Commission, in a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/07/closing-the-gap-agreement-indigenous-outcomes-update-reforms">scathing</a>” report issued last week, was very clear that what this country is doing is not working, and without fundamental change to the government’s approach, never will.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/closing-the-gap-review/report/closing-the-gap-review-report.pdf">commission’s view</a> is that progress in implementing the priority reforms of the Closing the Gap Agreement has been “weak, and reflects tweaks to, or actions overlayed onto, business-as-usual approaches”. Its overarching finding was that “there has been no systematic approach to determining what strategies need to be implemented to disrupt business-as-usual of governments”, and “fundamental change is needed”. The commission noted:</p>
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<p>The Agreement requires government decision-makers to accept that they do not know what is best for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.</p>
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<p>The commision’s view on what has gone wrong not just in the past three years of the Closing the Gap Agreement, but also more fundamentally what has gone wrong in the past three centuries of policy towards Indigenous people in this country is one shared by our communities. There is a reason our communities <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/the-referendum-for-a-voice-to-parliament-failed-but-what-outcome-did-most-indigenous-voters-support/i2reavyqn">voted “yes”</a> in the referendum by overwhelming margins. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/closing-the-first-nations-employment-gap-will-take-100-years-205290">Closing the First Nations employment gap will take 100 years</a>
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<h2>Closing the Gap in 2024</h2>
<p>The one thing to understand about the gap in outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples is that it is not something that ever needed be this way. It is not a natural phenomenon. As the Productivity Commission <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/closing-the-gap-review/report/closing-the-gap-review-report.pdf">found</a>, “it is a direct result of the ways in which governments have used their power over many decades”.</p>
<p>There are some good things in this year’s announcments: $707 million to help create jobs in our communities over the next three years, and a replacement of the much-maligned Community Development Program (CDP), and which includes a $185 million Community Jobs and Business Fund for local and community-owned businesses. </p>
<p>There is also the National Skills Agreement, which includes a dedicated stream of funding for closing the gap to support community-controlled registered training organisations. There is also more funding to expand Indigenous ranger programs for our youth.</p>
<p>These things are good, but what is needed more is a reset to the government’s approach. </p>
<p>Acting Lead Convenor of the Coalition of Peaks, Celeste Liddle, has rightly <a href="https://nit.com.au/09-02-2023/4931/progress-on-closing-the-gap-patchy-and-not-in-line-with-commitments-from-government-coalition-of-peaks-responds-to-latest-review">noted</a> that “implementation of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap has been patchy and governments have been too slow to deliver the commitments and promises they have made.” The Productivity Commission has echoed this view, saying “business-as-usual must be a thing of the past”. </p>
<p>How do we overcome these barriers? For too long government has ignored our people’s views and positions on the issues that affect us. Our self-determination and control of our own agendas has been absent from the discussion. The Voice to Parliament would have been one way for that to start to be mended, but the Liberal/National Coalition decided they weren’t ready for that.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/following-the-voice-failure-indigenous-politicians-are-calling-for-the-uns-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples-to-be-implemented-what-is-it-and-what-would-it-mean-219695">Following the Voice failure, Indigenous politicians are calling for the UN's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to be implemented. What is it and what would it mean?</a>
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<p>So, what indeed comes next? Governments need to prioritise Indigenous peoples and communities in decision-making. That means meaningful transformation, capacity-building, and genuine co-design, not half-hearted “consultation” on policies for which the government merely wants consent. It likely means the implementation of the <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf">UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)</a>, and all that that provides. These are just starting points, but they will get us somewhere. </p>
<p>Also, next time you run into one of the many MPs and shadow ministers who campaigned against a Voice to Parliament, ask them what <strong>their</strong> plan is to close the gap and empower Indigenous peoples and communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223309/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Blackwell is a Member of the Uluru Dialogue at UNSW.</span></em></p>The latest Closing the Gap report reveals just four of the 19 targets are on track to be achieved. It comes after years of failing to give First Nations people a say over their own lives.James Blackwell, Research Fellow (Indigenous Diplomacy), Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2226162024-02-08T03:13:07Z2024-02-08T03:13:07ZFirst Nations people must be at the forefront of Australia’s renewable energy revolution<p>Australia’s <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003242499-10/getting-right-katie-quail-donna-green-ciaran-faircheallaigh">plentiful</a> solar and wind resources and proximity to Asia means it can become a renewable energy superpower. But as the renewable energy rollout continues, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people must benefit. </p>
<p>Renewables projects can provide income and jobs to Aboriginal land owners. Access to clean energy can also help First Nations people protect their culture and heritage, and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667095X23000296#bbib0060">remain on Country</a>. </p>
<p>This is not a new idea. Policies in the United States and Canada, for example, actively seek to ensure the energy transition delivers opportunities to Indigenous people.</p>
<p>The Australian government is developing a <a href="https://www.energy.gov.au/energy-and-climate-change-ministerial-council/working-groups/first-nations-engagement-working-group/first-nations-clean-energy-strategy">First Nations Clean Energy Strategy</a> and is seeking comment on a <a href="https://consult.dcceew.gov.au/first-nations-clean-energy-strategy-consultation-paper">consultation paper</a>. Submissions close tomorrow, February 9. If you feel strongly about the issue, we urge you to have your say.</p>
<p>We must get this policy right. Investing meaningfully in First Nations-led clean energy projects makes the transition more likely to succeed. What’s more, recognising the rights and interests of First Nations people is vital to ensuring injustices of the past are not repeated.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-juukan-gorge-how-first-nations-people-are-taking-charge-of-clean-energy-projects-on-their-land-213864">Beyond Juukan Gorge: how First Nations people are taking charge of clean energy projects on their land</a>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A video by author Adam Fish exploring the Eastern Kuku Yalanji community of Wujal Wujal in Queensland and their struggle for renewable energy..</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Good for business, and people</h2>
<p>Indigenous peoples have recognised land interests covering around <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2021/may/17/who-owns-australia">26% of Australia’s landmass</a>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-can-aboriginal-communities-be-part-of-the-nsw-renewable-energy-transition-181171">Research</a> shows Aboriginal land holders want to be part of the energy transition. But they need support and resources. </p>
<p>This could take the form of federal grants to make communities more energy-efficient or less reliant on expensive, polluting diesel generators. Funding could also be spent on workforce training to ensure First Nations people have the skills to take part in the transition. Federal agencies could be funded to support grants for First Nations feasibility studies of renewable energy industry on their land.</p>
<p>As well as proper investment, governments must also ensure First Nations people are engaged early in the planning of renewable projects and that the practice of free prior and informed consent is followed. And renewable energy operators will also need to ensure they have capability to work with First peoples. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.firstnationscleanenergy.org.au/first_nations_can_help_australia_respond_to_the_united_states_inflation_reduction_act">First Nations Clean Energy Network</a> – of which one author, Heidi Norman, is part – is a network of First Nations people, community organisations, land councils, unions, academics, industry groups and others. It is working to ensure First Nations communities share the benefits of the clean energy boom.</p>
<p>The network is among a group of organisations calling on the federal government to invest an additional A$100 billion into the Australian renewables industry. The investment should be designed to benefit all Australians, including First Nations people.</p>
<p>In Australia, the Albanese government has set an emissions-reduction goal of a 43% by 2030, based on 2005 levels. But Australia’s renewable energy rollout is not happening fast enough to meet this goal. Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen has <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/get-to-yes-or-no-as-quickly-as-possible-bowen-wants-fast-decisions-on-renewables-20240111-p5ewmj.html">called for</a> faster planning decisions on renewable energy projects.</p>
<p>To achieve the targets, however, the federal government must bring communities along with them – including First Nations people.</p>
<p>As demonstrated by the US and Canada, investing <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003242499-10/getting-right-katie-quail-donna-green-ciaran-faircheallaigh">meaningfully and at scale</a> in First Nations-led clean energy projects is not just equitable, it makes good business sense.</p>
<h2>Follow the leaders</h2>
<p>The US Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 made A$520 billion in investments to accelerate the transition to net zero. <a href="https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=123806">Native Americans</a> <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629623003845">stand</a> to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Inflation-Reduction-Act-Tribal-Guidebook.pdf">receive</a> hundreds of billions of dollars from the laws. This includes funding set aside for Tribal-specific programs.</p>
<p>Canada is even further ahead in this policy space. In fact, analysis <a href="https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ICE-report-ENGLISH-FINAL.pdf">shows</a> First Nations, Métis and Inuit entities are partners or beneficiaries of almost 20% of Canada’s electricity-generating infrastructure, almost all of which is producing renewable energy. In one of the most recent investments, the Canadian government in 2022 invested <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1481305379258/1594737453888">C$300 million</a> to help <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544222031735?casa_token=SXoJWgJwAikAAAAA:aQrTM16T_OPLQEgVk31foMzZt79T5YxOz9k3v2CEsWe8fIPPneIBw6Q0DRWIHQPzqzHNbZ0">First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples</a> launch clean energy projects.</p>
<p>Policymakers in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629623003031?casa_token=oA-q7QLSoi0AAAAA:ERC46yk_BCTFm5BnyPv9Nn2jFiFrc7XjRw_H0GKPRI_HsBq_0l8mZqxlYbim7l1zcQPAskA">both</a> <a href="https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/er-2018-0024?casa_token=H26U1EGKnakAAAAA%3ALnTYxXudwDujnWnyWqUbK9Mo4R9ekhETvW7g8dthacWDox3TFSi-Jm4B4A5qpIIo1KaWEpaCU2k">countries</a> increasingly realise that a just transition from fossil fuels requires addressing the priorities of First Nations communities. These investments are a starting point for building sustainable, globally competitive economies that work for everyone.</p>
<p>As the US and Canada examples <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X22004316">demonstrate</a>, the right scale of investment in First Nations-led projects can mean fewer legal delays and a much-needed social licence to operate.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/renewable-projects-are-getting-built-faster-but-theres-even-more-need-for-speed-221874">Renewable projects are getting built faster – but there's even more need for speed </a>
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<h2>Dealing with the climate risk</h2>
<p>First Nations people around the world are on the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652620306429?casa_token=AAadBFs9XWUAAAAA:eFX4w39-yt7SjqNVXgIbHF-bCGiHu-v4UyyEF6k7Fsl_wt85KdjFXkTYBGhvA6prSPD3DnU">frontline of climate change</a>. It threatens their homelands, food sources, cultural resources and ways of life.</p>
<p>First Nations have also experienced chronic under-investment in their energy infrastructure by governments over generations, both in <a href="https://theconversation.com/many-first-nations-communities-swelter-without-power-why-isnt-there-solar-on-every-rooftop-204032">Australia</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629621002280">abroad</a>.</p>
<p>Investing in First Nations-led clean energy projects <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/22/9569">builds climate resilience</a>. This was demonstrated by the federal government’s Bushlight program, which ran from 2002 to 2013. It involved renewable energy systems installed in remote communities in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland.</p>
<p>Bushlight’s solar power meant that communities were not dependent on the delivery of diesel. So they still had power if roads were closed by flooding or other climate disasters.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-can-aboriginal-communities-be-part-of-the-nsw-renewable-energy-transition-181171">How can Aboriginal communities be part of the NSW renewable energy transition?</a>
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<h2>Australia must get moving</h2>
<p>The Biden government’s Inflation Reduction Act prompted a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-eyes-over-14-bln-green-transformation-spending-govt-2023-08-23/">swift</a> <a href="https://www.esade.edu/faculty-research/sites/default/files/publicacion/pdf/2023-05/The%20EU%20Response%20to%20the%20U.S.%20Inflation%20Reduction%20Act.pdf">reaction</a> from governments around the world. But after 15 months, Australia is yet to respond or develop equivalent legislation. </p>
<p>We must urgently <a href="https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/labor-pushed-to-create-100b-australian-inflation-reduction-act-20230907-p5e2y7">develop our response</a> and seize this unique opportunity to become world leaders in the global renewables race. That includes ensuring First Nations participate in and benefit from these developments.</p>
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<p><em>The First Nations Clean Energy Strategy consultation paper can be found <a href="https://www.energy.gov.au/energy-and-climate-change-ministerial-council/working-groups/first-nations-engagement-working-group/first-nations-clean-energy-strategy">here</a>. Feedback can be provided <a href="https://consult.dcceew.gov.au/first-nations-clean-energy-strategy-consultation-paper">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222616/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Fish volunteers research for the First Nations Clean Energy Network.
He received funding from the Digital Grid Future Institute at the University of New South Wales.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heidi Norman receives funding from Australian Research Council and James Martin Institute. </span></em></p>Australia lags the US and Canada when it comes to involving Indigenous people in projects on their land. With the growth of renewable energy we have an opportunity to make a fresh start.Adam Fish, Associate Professor, School of Arts and Media, UNSW SydneyHeidi Norman, Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2221642024-01-30T06:34:20Z2024-01-30T06:34:20ZA Victorian bookshop owner has called for ‘a substantial shift’ in ‘woke’ Australian publishing – but we still need diverse books<p>The owner of independent Victorian bookshop chain Robinsons has come under fire for a series of (since deleted) social media posts on X, including a list of “books we don’t need”.</p>
<p>“What’s missing from our bookshelves in store? Positive male lead characters of any age, any traditional nuclear white family stories, kids picture books with just white kids on the cover, and no wheelchair, rainbow or indigenous [sic] art, non indig [sic] aus history,” read one post from Robinsons’ chief executive Susanne Horman.</p>
<p>Horman’s list of books we don’t need includes “hate against white Australians, socialist agenda, equity over equality, diversity and inclusion (READ AS anti-white exclusion), left wing govt propaganda”. She called this “the woke agenda that divides people”.</p>
<p>Robinsons has since <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/robinsons-bookshop-owner-apologises-amid-backlash-over-white-kids-comments-20240128-p5f0mh.html">made an official apology</a>, claiming <a href="https://www.facebook.com/robinsonsbooks/posts/pfbid0joKEX5X68CFzQL4vFUsQ7o8z3ZB9E11pCBooC3uqN5C7aNfKr6EaYZEoJ8sUjtNbl">Horman’s comments had been</a> “taken out of context” and “misrepresented”. Horman’s X account has been deleted. Horman later told The Age her bookshops “fully support and encourage stories from diverse voices, minorities, and we are most definitely stocking these important topics and the authors that write them”.</p>
<p>Ironically, her earlier call on social media for <em>less</em> diversity comes as many librarians are calling for <a href="https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-122/the-need-for-diverse-book-collections/">more diverse books</a> in Australian bookshops and libraries. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-20-years-of-award-winning-picture-books-non-white-people-made-up-just-12-of-main-characters-147026">In 20 years of award-winning picture books, non-white people made up just 12% of main characters</a>
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<p>Last year, a <a href="https://www.vu.edu.au/about-vu/news-events/news/research-confirms-lack-of-cultural-diversity-in-published-literature">study</a>, looking at the cultural identity of the authors of 1,531 books published here in 2018, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/fewer-than-1-in-10-aussie-books-published-by-people-of-colour-report-finds-20221013-p5bpj4.html">found</a> authors of colour were “dramatically underrepresented” in Australia. Books by Indigenous authors accounted for 3%. (3.2% of Australians identified as Indigenous in the 2021 census.) </p>
<p>Only 7% of books were written by non-Indigenous people of colour (defined as non-European backgrounds). In 2021, nearly a quarter of Australians (22.8%) <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/cultural-diversity-australia">reported using</a> a language other than English at home. Of the 284 picture books in the sample, eight were by First Nations authors and eight were by people of colour. </p>
<p>Horman had complained of “way too many indigneous [sic] books coming out. Remember you need to publish for the other 97% and listen to those who said no to the #Voice.”</p>
<p>Yet a <a href="https://creative.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/readers_survey_summary_final_v-592cf39be2c34-1.pdf">major survey of Australian readers</a> in 2017 found 63% believed “books written by Indigenous Australians are important for Australian culture” and 42% were interested in books and writing about Indigenous Australia.</p>
<p>In relation to positive male lead characters, in April 2019, I examined <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-looked-at-100-best-selling-picture-books-female-protagonists-were-largely-invisible-115843">the 100 bestselling picture books at Australian book retailer Dymocks</a>. In their bestsellers list, 46% of books had male protagonists, while only 17% had female ones (32% had no lead character). There were only seven female-led books in the top 50, compared to 26 male-led books.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-looked-at-100-best-selling-picture-books-female-protagonists-were-largely-invisible-115843">I looked at 100 best-selling picture books: female protagonists were largely invisible</a>
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<p>Last year, Natalie Kon-yu, chief investigator on the project researching the cultural identity of authors, known as the First Nations and People of Colour Count, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/fewer-than-1-in-10-aussie-books-published-by-people-of-colour-report-finds-20221013-p5bpj4.html">told The Age</a> she suspects there’s been a positive shift towards diversity and inclusion since 2018. “There’s certainly an awareness that there’s a problem and I think people are acting in that way, which is good”. </p>
<h2>‘Traditional nuclear white family stories’</h2>
<p>While Horman claimed “traditional nuclear white family stories” were “missing” from Robinsons’ bookshelves, such households are commonly portrayed in Australian picture books. (Yes, more family types are now being explored, but white, two-parent families are far from missing.) </p>
<p>When I conducted a study at my local library in 2018, I found that of the children’s picture books with families in them, 78% of their collection showcased “traditional” families, while 22% were diverse in structure (not nuclear).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572084/original/file-20240130-19-1x1ork.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two mums with a baby on a couch" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572084/original/file-20240130-19-1x1ork.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572084/original/file-20240130-19-1x1ork.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572084/original/file-20240130-19-1x1ork.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572084/original/file-20240130-19-1x1ork.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572084/original/file-20240130-19-1x1ork.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572084/original/file-20240130-19-1x1ork.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572084/original/file-20240130-19-1x1ork.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Diverse families are not the norm in children’s picture books.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-family-looking-at-the-screen-of-a-mobile-phone-7078832/">Kampus Production/Pexels</a></span>
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<p>Approximately <a href="https://theconversation.com/mum-dad-and-two-kids-no-longer-the-norm-in-the-changing-australian-family-88014">1.1 million Australian children</a> live with only one biological parent; approximately <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en/pride-month-2023-9-of-adults-identify-as-lgbt">2.3 million Australians</a> identify as LGBTQ+; and <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples">167 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages</a> are spoken in homes. </p>
<p>Australian booksellers’ peak industry body, Book People, <a href="https://twitter.com/bookpeopleau/status/1751810547400810777">posted on X</a> yesterday: “We stand with bookshops that celebrate inclusivity”. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/empathy-starts-early-5-australian-picture-books-that-celebrate-diversity-153629">Empathy starts early: 5 Australian picture books that celebrate diversity</a>
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<h2>Not ‘missing from the mix’</h2>
<p>Robinsons is a chain of seven bookshops across suburban Melbourne. In another of Horman’s now-deleted posts, she wrote: “I am advocating for a substantial shift in the focus of Australian publishers to be in line with public opinion and requests for books and for what is GOOD!” </p>
<p>Its subsequent apology, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=robinsons%20bookshop">posted on Facebook</a>, said in part:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>While some genres are overflowing on the shelves, others are noticeably bare. Positive stories with men and boys as the hero are almost missing from the mix. Neither Susanne Horman, nor Robinsons Bookshop are making a value judgement on this observation. Susanne apologises if people have taken this comment as a negative reflection on an excellent range of diverse books.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ironically, Robinsons’ list of current new releases on its website does not seem to corroborate this, nor Horman’s claims of white exclusion. </p>
<p>In all of Robinsons’ new release categories for January 2024 (children’s, young adult, fiction, non-fiction), white characters outnumbered people of colour. Likewise, while <a href="https://robinsonsbooks.wordpress.com/2024/01/19/january-new-release-picture-books-kids-fiction/">picture book and children’s novel</a> releases did not have much in the way of human representation, there were still an equal number of male and female characters on the covers. </p>
<p>Only Robinsons’ young adult releases had all-female leads (with one male co-protagonist) featured on the covers and this is in keeping with the genre. Young adult books are the only genre of children’s literature where female protagonists are more common than male ones. (Girls <a href="https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/items/31f97bd8-db3e-4643-a286-f9050c23e7a4">are far more likely than boys</a> to read a variety of books, crossing perceived gender boundaries.)</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/white-female-and-high-rates-of-mental-illness-new-diversity-research-offers-a-snapshot-of-the-publishing-industry-189679">White, female, and high rates of mental illness: new diversity research offers a snapshot of the publishing industry</a>
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<h2>Is the industry changing?</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572087/original/file-20240130-15-tckrdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572087/original/file-20240130-15-tckrdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572087/original/file-20240130-15-tckrdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572087/original/file-20240130-15-tckrdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572087/original/file-20240130-15-tckrdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572087/original/file-20240130-15-tckrdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572087/original/file-20240130-15-tckrdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572087/original/file-20240130-15-tckrdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Natalie Kon-yu says awareness of diversity and inclusion in Australian publishing is ‘good’.</span>
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<p>There have certainly been recent shifts in diversifying characters in our stories, and highlighting women’s experiences and authors of colour. However, the Australian publishing industry is a long way off equitable representation. Its workers remain <a href="https://theconversation.com/white-female-and-high-rates-of-mental-illness-new-diversity-research-offers-a-snapshot-of-the-publishing-industry-189679">“largely white”</a>, which is reflected in its publishing output.</p>
<p>Australian picture books, for example, remain predominately white in representation, with people of colour making up approximately <a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/social-affairs/20-years-award-winning-picture-books-non-white-people-made-just-12-main#:%7E:text=Overall%2C%20human%20characters%20appear%20in,census%20data%20(from%202016).">12%</a> of characters.</p>
<p>Unlike Horman, I view this as a problem. It is lack of diversity, not the inclusion of it, that creates “divisiveness” in Australia. As First Nations author <a href="https://www.wheelercentre.com/wlr-articles/we-need-diverse-books-because-an-indigenous-perspective-on-diversity-in-young-adult-and-children-s-literature-in-australia/">Ambelin Kwaymullina</a> has written:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We need diverse books because a lack of diversity is a failure of our humanity. Literature without diversity presents a false image of what it is to be human. It masks – and therefore contributes to – the continuation of existing inequities, and it widens the gulfs of understanding that are already swallowing our compassion for each other.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222164/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Mokrzycki does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The owner of Robinsons Bookshop has listed several kinds of books ‘missing’ from its shelves, including ‘kids picture books with just white kids on the cover’.Sarah Mokrzycki, Sessional Academic, children's literature and creative writing, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2217432024-01-24T19:06:04Z2024-01-24T19:06:04ZWhat’s behind Woolworths, Aldi and Kmart distancing themselves from Australia Day?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571029/original/file-20240124-19-hrfn7d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C613%2C4345%2C2448&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aussie-thongs-beach-254045218">Kairosing/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Earlier this month, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-11/woolworths-big-w-shops-australia-day-merch-sales-decision/103309612">Woolworths</a> announced it would no longer stock merchandise promoting Australia Day on January 26, a date surrounded by controversy.</p>
<p>While observed as a national public holiday for more than 90 years, a 2021 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/17/conservative-politicians-stoking-australia-day-debate-online-with-paid-ads-analysis-finds">ABC social survey</a> found 55% of Australians supported changing the date.</p>
<p><a href="https://insiderguides.com.au/why-is-australia-day-so-controversial/">January 26</a> marks the beginning of the colonisation of Australia, bringing violence, theft and oppression to the First Nations peoples who had lived on the land for more than 50,000 years. It is also called Invasion Day, Survival Day or Day of Mourning.</p>
<p>Many <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/other-industries/more-aussie-businesses-adopt-woke-australia-day-stance/news-story/f31514b039e81173118174bf01215435">workplaces</a> including ANZ, Telstra and Woodside have encouraged the shift away from celebrating the date as Australia Day by offering employees an alternative day off.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-should-celebrate-australia-day-on-march-3-the-day-we-became-a-fully-independent-country-221015">Why we should celebrate Australia Day on March 3 – the day we became a fully independent country</a>
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<p>Woolworths is <a href="https://www.bandt.com.au/the-date-is-not-the-issue-kmart-jumps-on-board-australia-day-boycott/">not the only retailer</a> to distance itself from the date this year with Aldi announcing it will not stock Australia-themed products under its Special Buys promotion. Kmart has not sold items specific to January 26 since last year.</p>
<h2>The message the retailers are trying to send the community</h2>
<p>When corporations wade into sociopolitical activism, they commonly overplay social motivations and underplay expected gains to the bottom line. What is unusual about Woolworths’ position is that the company has defended this as a business decision first and foremost. </p>
<p>This raises questions about big retailers shying away from Australia Day merchandise for business rather than social reasons.</p>
<p>Why pursue a business-first, activism-second strategy? Does this appease shareholders? How does the public interpret “activism without activism” and is it authentic? Is this just a move to deflect away from exorbitant prices?</p>
<h2>A business case for activism</h2>
<p>Opposition leader Peter Dutton quickly labelled this as “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/11/woolworths-big-w-australia-day-merchandise-dropped-sale-peter-dutton-boycott-calls">peddling woke agendas</a>”. But a Woolworths Group spokesperson cited a “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-11/woolworths-big-w-shops-australia-day-merch-sales-decision/103309612">gradual decline</a>” in demand for Australia Day-themed products. They also acknowledged the broader discussion of January 26th’s significance to different communities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571030/original/file-20240124-27-vlojmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Large group of men and women protesting against Australia Day" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571030/original/file-20240124-27-vlojmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571030/original/file-20240124-27-vlojmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571030/original/file-20240124-27-vlojmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571030/original/file-20240124-27-vlojmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571030/original/file-20240124-27-vlojmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571030/original/file-20240124-27-vlojmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571030/original/file-20240124-27-vlojmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A 2021 survey found 55% of Australians supported changing the date.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/search/australia-day-protest?image_type=photo">Shutterstock/Dave Hewison Photography</a></span>
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<p>A key reason to make a business case for corporate activism lies with <a href="https://www.smartcompany.com.au/business-advice/politics/shareholders-companies-yes-campaign-funding/">shareholders</a>. They typically oppose companies taking a stand on social justice issues believing businesses should “stay in their lane”.</p>
<p>Indeed, when Woolworths supported the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum, it resulted in a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/8e057289-2aa9-49b1-a1cf-e1de85c769a8">backlash</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022242920937000">Academic research</a> indicates a brand’s activist position can harm shareholder returns. Investors view this as a misallocation of resources that threatens profit maximisation. Perceived <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022243720947682">risk of corporate activism</a> is heightened for businesses with large market share, like Woolworths. They have more customers to lose and fewer to gain. </p>
<p>In this instance, Woolworths took a business-first, activism-second approach. This likely appeases shareholders because making merchandising decisions is well within Woolworths’ remit. Also, by the retailer cloaking its activism as profit maximisation, shareholders are less likely to be concerned. </p>
<p>As for customers, they increasingly understand the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0363811111001561">duality of a brand’s motives</a>. If there are perceptions of sufficient social impact, self-serving motives are also deemed acceptable. Woolworths illuminated the profit-making motive while subtly bringing to light the problematic history of Australia Day. </p>
<h2>Activism without activism?</h2>
<p>While Woolworths led with business reasons rather than support of First Nations peoples, it was interpreted by the public as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/15/peter-dutton-woolworths-australia-day-boycott-blamed-teneriffe-store-vandalism-metro-teneriffe">political act</a>, eliciting debate and grandstanding. </p>
<p>A company of this stature with significant marketing intelligence could have correctly predicted this reaction and made a calculated decision to take a stand on an issue at the front of the public’s mind. Yet this looks like activism without activism. Woolworths brought a sociopolitical issue to the fore but operated behind the curtain of dollars and cents. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/change-the-date-debates-about-january-26-distract-from-the-truth-telling-australia-needs-to-do-197046">'Change the date' debates about January 26 distract from the truth telling Australia needs to do</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>Consumers are discerning about corporate activism, requiring companies to move beyond marketing rhetoric and demonstrate meaningful actions. Usually activism attracts criticism when brands are perceived to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/post-gillette-other-brands-are-better-at-matching-practice-with-talk-but-dont-get-the-publicity-110595">woke washing</a> - that is, misleading consumers about prosocial corporate practices. Brand activism is therefore sometimes viewed as a “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016328722001793">fake marketing trick</a>” because brands are not backing up their stance on social justice issues.</p>
<p>Woolworths by contrast has taken concrete action - not capitalising on the “Australia Day” term and imagery in its marketing and merchandise on January 26.
This move falls short of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0743915620947359">authentic brand activism</a>.</p>
<h2>A deflection tactic?</h2>
<p>Australia’s fraught socioeconomic climate has put retailers in the spotlight. Currently, brands like Woolworths are facing media and political scrutiny for price gouging. In Queensland, there is a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-19/qld-grocery-prices-parliamentary-inquiry-woolworths-coles/103367088">parliamentary inquiry</a> into the discrepancy between prices paid to suppliers and those paid at the checkout. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Senate are also holding inquiries.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571058/original/file-20240124-25-b1td3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Signs promoting Aldi and Woolworths" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571058/original/file-20240124-25-b1td3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571058/original/file-20240124-25-b1td3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571058/original/file-20240124-25-b1td3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571058/original/file-20240124-25-b1td3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571058/original/file-20240124-25-b1td3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571058/original/file-20240124-25-b1td3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571058/original/file-20240124-25-b1td3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Is the stance against Australia Day a move to distract from the pricing inquiries?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rob1037/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Aside from making room for more profitable merchandise or advancing the reconciliation agenda, is Woolworths deflecting attention from its role in these problems? Changing the conversation to something time-bound (that is, likely to die down January 27th) may be beneficial. </p>
<p>Research speaks to such a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0363811194900558?ref=pdf_download&fr=RR-2&rr=849d29c54d921f66">values-based strategy</a>. Brands call on social initiatives to deflect from negative issues and improve future discourse about their business. In this case, directing discussion to their social responsiveness, even if secondary, enables Woolworths to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2021.1926954">divert attention away</a> from potentially exploitative practices. </p>
<h2>Corporate activism: an expanding and evolving strategy</h2>
<p>Woolworths’ approach to activism warrants examination. While the company took action that ostensibly opposes the celebration of Australia Day on January 26, they communicated a profit motive fitting for the largest grocery chain in Australia by market share. They skirted full-blown corporate sociopolitical activism, an approach that was possibly more digestible for shareholders and customers (politicians less so).</p>
<p>However, this approach is also less authentic. Woolworths states its <a href="https://mumbrella.com.au/what-brands-can-learn-from-the-woolworths-australia-day-debacle-812136">commitment to reconciliation</a> through the support of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament and the Uluru Statement from the Heart. So where in this most recent decision was the marketing rhetoric that embraces and respects Indigenous Australians? This represents a lost opportunity to elevate the brand and promote the <a href="http://changethedate.org/">Change the Date </a>movement.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/welcome-to-may-9-the-true-australia-day-204555">Welcome to May 9 – the true Australia Day</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221743/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Profits, not social justice, appear to be why the big grocers are dropping support for Australia Day. But creating a distraction when they’re being criticised for high prices is also possible.Amanda Spry, Senior Lecturer of Marketing, RMIT UniversityDaniel Rayne, Marketing lecturer, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2174272024-01-04T21:49:56Z2024-01-04T21:49:56ZCanada’s Nature Agreement underscores the need for true reconciliation with Indigenous nations<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/canadas-nature-agreement-underscores-the-need-for-true-reconciliation-with-indigenous-nations" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In late 2023, the federal government, British Columbia and the First Nations Leadership Council signed a <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/news/2023/11/government-of-canada-british-columbia-and-the-first-nations-leadership-council-sign-a-historic-tripartite-nature-conservation-framework-agreement.html">$1 billion Nature Agreement</a> to protect 30 per cent of B.C.’s lands by 2030. </p>
<p>The agreement stressed the full collaboration of Indigenous Peoples in alignment with the <a href="https://social.desa.un.org/issues/indigenous-peoples/united-nations-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples">United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a>. </p>
<p>The Nature Agreement follows a series of <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/conservation/nature-legacy.html">historic federal investments</a> in nature conservation over the <a href="https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2022/12/07/protecting-more-nature-partnership-indigenous-peoples">past several years</a>. Like the previous announcements, the 2023 Nature Agreement includes funding for <a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/explainer-ipcas-canada/">Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas</a>, or IPCAs.</p>
<p>Environment <a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/bc-nature-agreement-2023/">Minister Steven Guilbeault</a> stated about the agreement:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I think people will look at this agreement and say, ‘OK, this is how it needs to be done going forward now in Canada’… It’s nature, it’s conservation, it’s restoration, but it’s also about reconciliation.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, despite advances in Canadian conservation policy and practice, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fhumd.2023.1286970/full?&utm_source=Email_to_authors_&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=T1_11.5e1_author&utm_campaign=Email_publication&field=&journalName=Frontiers_in_Human_Dynamics&id=1286970">our research</a> has shown that First Nations advancing IPCAs can still face significant challenges. </p>
<p>Unless Canadian governments meaningfully address these challenges, the reconciliatory potential of IPCAs — and new funding agreements intended to support them — will be undermined.</p>
<h2>Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas</h2>
<p>IPCAs present vast opportunities for nature conservation and reconciliation. However, they also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108271">face multiple pressures</a>. Unlike regular parks and protected areas in Canada, IPCAs are established and maintained by First Nations, Métis and Inuit governments. </p>
<p>Indigenous governments establish IPCAs under their own Indigenous laws, while some also choose to <a href="https://www.landoftheancestors.ca/">pursue protection</a> under Canadian law.</p>
<p>IPCAs are varied, but typically support ecological restoration or protection and local economic development while centring Indigenous cultures, languages, knowledge and laws. At the heart of IPCAs is Indigenous governance over lands and waters for future generations.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qnhMlk0ykMI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An overview of the Mamalilikulla Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area produced by the Mamalilikulla First Nation.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Indigenous-led conservation movement in Canada is gaining momentum along with growing awareness of how wilderness conservation has disenfranchised Indigenous Peoples through <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/chr.89.2.189">displacement</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su12198177">criminalization</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cag.12600">limiting access</a>. </p>
<p>Simultaneously, efforts <a href="https://nctr.ca/records/reports/#trc-reports">to advance reconciliation</a> in Canada <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/declaration/index.html">and recognize</a> inherent <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-13.html">Indigenous rights</a> are more widespread.</p>
<p>While a few First Nations in B.C. established the first <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10745-017-9948-8">tribal parks</a> in the early 1980s, IPCAs have been emerging across the country since 2018, some with support from federal funding programs. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cop15s-global-biodiversity-framework-must-advance-indigenous-led-conservation-to-halt-biodiversity-loss-by-2030-195188">COP15's Global Biodiversity Framework must advance Indigenous-led conservation to halt biodiversity loss by 2030</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In 2018, the <a href="https://www.conservation2020canada.ca/s/PA234-ICE_Report_2018_Mar_22_web.pdf">Indigenous Circle of Experts</a>, a national Indigenous-led advisory group, advocated for IPCAs as a solution for Canada to achieve its nature conservation targets while advancing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. </p>
<p>Since 2018, Environment and Climate Change Canada has funded <a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/explainer-ipcas-canada/">59 Indigenous-led conservation proposals</a> and a <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/news/2022/12/introducing-the-new-first-nations-guardians-network.html">First Nations National Guardians Network</a>.</p>
<h2>Roadblocks to reconciliation</h2>
<p>One of the biggest challenges for IPCAs is the pressure of <a href="https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.4716">resource extraction</a>. Even once an IPCA is declared, it may not be safe from resource extraction, as was the case with <a href="https://theconversation.com/tsilhqotin-blockade-points-to-failures-of-justice-impeding-reconciliation-in-canada-120488">Dasiqox Nexwagwezʔan</a>, an IPCA in B.C.</p>
<p>Canadian governments continue to grant tenures and licences to companies for logging, mining, fish farms and other impactful activities inside IPCAs against the wishes of Indigenous nations. </p>
<p>These actions go against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and its foundational principle of free, prior and informed consent. <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/declaration/index.html">Canada</a> and <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/indigenous-people/new-relationship/united-nations-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples">B.C.</a> have both implemented legislation on the declaration. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/joEtIUQ1MuU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Video produced by the Coastal First Nations articulating the importance of IPCAs for environmental protection and justice.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This dynamic is not surprising since many Indigenous nations establish IPCAs precisely because Canadian governments do not respect their governance and decision-making authority around extractive industry.</p>
<p>Indigenous governments are sometimes forced to compensate companies by <a href="https://www.trailtimes.ca/news/proposed-qatmuk-ipca-will-involve-buyout-of-glacier-resorts-ltd-s-jumbo-tenure-5040598">buying out tenures</a> to ensure protection of their IPCAs. </p>
<p>While there are examples of <a href="https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/jumbo-glacier-deal-enshrines-indigenous-protected-area-consigns-mega-resort-to-history">tenure buyouts</a> that enabled Indigenous nations to establish IPCAs, these are extremely costly, impractical and should not be considered the norm. </p>
<p>Another option is for <a href="https://www.conservation2020canada.ca/s/PA234-ICE_Report_2018_Mar_22_web.pdf">“cooling-off periods”</a> that pause resource extraction while IPCA planning and negotiations are underway.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-conservation-funding-must-reflect-canadas-true-debt-to-first-nations-inuit-and-metis-196772">Indigenous conservation funding must reflect Canada’s true debt to First Nations, Inuit and Métis</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These challenges are particularly acute in instances where IPCAs are not designated under Canadian protected area legislation. The vast majority of Canadian governments have not created new legislation or amended existing legislation to explicitly enable the designation and protection of IPCAs. </p>
<p>This means that Indigenous governments seeking additional legal protection for their IPCAs must make do with regular protected area designations that limit Indigenous authority, even under <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2022-0217">co-management</a> arrangements.</p>
<p>Indigenous governments establishing IPCAs also face financial struggles. Previous federal investments in Indigenous-led conservation revealed high demand for funds but resulted in only a small percentage of projects getting funding, sometimes due to IPCA visions <a href="https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.4716">clashing with resource extraction aims</a>. </p>
<p>A further issue is that funding is only for IPCA establishment and not ongoing stewardship.</p>
<p>At the core of these challenges are fundamental conflicts regarding the Crown’s continued assertion of its ultimate authority. This assertion is in spite of the <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/principles-principes.html">Canadian government’s own guidance</a> for reconciliation and <a href="https://www.bcli.org/wp-content/uploads/PRIMER-3-Legal-Pluralism-in-Canada.pdf">legal pluralism</a> — including the recognition of Indigenous rights and building equal relationships with Indigenous Peoples.</p>
<h2>Systemic change will advance reconciliation</h2>
<p>Canadian governments increasingly view IPCAs as a means of meeting their conservation targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity — especially the goal of protecting 30 per cent of Canada’s lands and waters by 2030. This requires roughly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2022-0118">doubling the total protected area</a> in Canada. </p>
<p>At the recent COP28 climate conference, parties underscored the need to take action on biodiversity loss, climate change and land degradation in a “<a href="https://www.cop28.com/en/joint-statement-on-climate-nature">coherent, synergetic and holistic manner</a>.” This includes <a href="https://unfccc.int/news/cop28-agreement-signals-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-fossil-fuel-era">cutting global greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent</a>, compared to 2019, by 2030 in order to keep global warming under 1.5 C.</p>
<p>While the most recent conservation funding announcement is commendable, it is unclear how the $500 million of new federal funding, which includes previously announced funds, will be distributed. Additionally, <a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/bc-nature-agreement-2023/">internal government records</a> allegedly show that B.C. may use the agreement to avoid federal efforts to protect species at risk in the province.</p>
<p>The challenges IPCAs surface can be embraced as catalysts for reconciliation. This involves <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2020-0083">changing mindsets</a>, behaviours, practices, policies and laws at multiple scales. It is the kind of transformative work that the <a href="https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Executive_Summary_English_Web.pdf">Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a> called for in all sectors of society.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-peoples-across-the-globe-are-uniquely-equipped-to-deal-with-the-climate-crisis-so-why-are-we-being-left-out-of-these-conversations-171724">Indigenous peoples across the globe are uniquely equipped to deal with the climate crisis – so why are we being left out of these conversations?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>IPCAs offer tremendous potential for addressing the biodiversity and climate crises and repairing relationships with Indigenous Peoples. </p>
<p>As such, how Canadian governments and the conservation sector respond to the roadblocks encountered by Indigenous governments advancing IPCAs is crucial. Our responses matter not just for the success of IPCAs in supporting nature conservation, but also for advancing reconciliation in meaningful ways.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217427/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justine Townsend received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for her doctoral research. She is affiliated with the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership and the IISAAK OLAM Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin J. Roth receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (#895-2019-1019) and is the principal investigator and co-lead of the Conservation Through Reconciliation Partnership. </span></em></p>Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas face significant hurdles but nevertheless remain a key way to advance reconciliation and environmental goals.Justine Townsend, Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British ColumbiaRobin J. Roth, Professor, Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2148542023-12-28T20:37:19Z2023-12-28T20:37:19Z‘Ecology on steroids’: how Australia’s First Nations managed Australia’s ecosystems<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566174/original/file-20231218-29-q9azfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=895%2C0%2C2523%2C1842&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>First Nations people please be advised this article speaks of racially discriminating moments in history, including the distress and death of First Nations people.</em></p>
<p>On October 9 1873, George Augustus Frederick Dalrymple reclined in a boat on the glorious North Johnstone River in the coastal Wet Tropics. Dalrymple was in raptures. A riot of palms, bananas, ferns and lilies descended to the waters edge, and large-leafed taro grew in strips along the riverbank over tens of hectares. He <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/2233550">came across a large village</a> with rows of neatly made bark and palm leaf huts. Dappled paths led to managed patches of open forest, groves of fruit trees, bananas and yams. Nearby, a small fleet of moored catamarans sat bobbing.</p>
<p>In the colonial literature, there are many such descriptions of beautiful and bountiful pre-European tropical landscapes. It was clear that people had helped create such a rich paradise <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Bill-Gammage-Biggest-Estate-on-Earth-9781743311325">through their land management</a></p>
<p>By 1886, many rainforest people of tropical north Queensland had been “dispersed” – killed – and swathes of this biodiversity hotspot began being <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Penny-van-Oosterzee-Cloud-Land-9781761068409/">cleared for sugarcane</a>. </p>
<p>First Nations groups such as Australia’s rainforest people had <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257836980_Aborigines_and_Fire_in_the_Wet_Tropics_of_Queensland_Australia_Ecosystem_Management_Across_Cultures">skilfully managed</a> entire ecosystems over the long term, in what has been termed “<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/handbook-of-contemporary-animism/death-and-grief-in-a-world-of-kin/F67F7B7A2B9C225A3D5A24446BD3CE4E">ecology on steroids</a>”. These <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Penny-van-Oosterzee-Cloud-Land-9781761068409">future-making</a> methods protected landscapes from climate change and buffered them against extinction. </p>
<p>Australia’s First Nations did this through the cold and dryness of the last ice age, and as the seas rose through the droughts and floods of the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-38626-3">El Niño Southern Oscillation</a> climate cycle. </p>
<p>As we face an uncertain climate future, it’s valuable to look at how people weathered such change. </p>
<h2>Decoupling landscape from climate change</h2>
<p>When people first came to Australia, the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/486/">Wet Tropics</a> were not wet. The Pleistocene climate was cool and windy, with mega monsoons and long periods of diabolical drought. If you had looked east from what is now Cairns, you would have seen not oceans and coral atolls, but plains and valleys filled with grasslands and forest. The sea lay tens of kilometres off the continental shelf. </p>
<p>The oldest record of human occupation in Australia is found in the Top End. Here, in a magnificent cave system in Arnhem Land, people prepared a meal of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339303242_The_first_Australian_plant_foods_at_Madjedbebe_65000-53000_years_ago">native fruits and processed pandanus</a> using an adaptable toolkit. This meal took place <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature22968">65,000 years ago</a>, when savannah stretched all the way to the island of New Guinea. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559828/original/file-20231116-29-ykschg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="map showing how Papua New Guinea and Australia were connected during the last ice age" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559828/original/file-20231116-29-ykschg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559828/original/file-20231116-29-ykschg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559828/original/file-20231116-29-ykschg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559828/original/file-20231116-29-ykschg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559828/original/file-20231116-29-ykschg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559828/original/file-20231116-29-ykschg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559828/original/file-20231116-29-ykschg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When the sea levels were lower, people could walk from Australia to Papua New Guinea. Girraween lagoon is marked on the map.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Bird/Damien O'Grady</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over thousands of years, Australia’s people developed a vibrant cosmology. For First Nations people Country was sentient. The land was not a mindless resource but part of your family – and came with family obligations. Everyone, whether you were human, an animal, a plant, a river, fire, the sky or wind, was closely watched. People were <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258039276_Niche_construction_and_Dreaming_logic_Aboriginal_patch_mosaic_burning_and_varanid_lizards_Varanus_gouldii_in_Australia">embedded within ecosystems</a>. </p>
<p>Recently scientists <a href="https://ris.cdu.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/24523204/Rowe_et_al_2019_Holocene_savanna_dynamics_in_the_seasonal_tropics_of_northern_Australia.pdf">sampled the deep mud</a> of Girraween lagoon in the Top End searching for pollen and charcoal that would provide a window into this deep time. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559823/original/file-20231116-25-qdvyok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two men drilling for scientific samples" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559823/original/file-20231116-25-qdvyok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559823/original/file-20231116-25-qdvyok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559823/original/file-20231116-25-qdvyok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559823/original/file-20231116-25-qdvyok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559823/original/file-20231116-25-qdvyok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559823/original/file-20231116-25-qdvyok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559823/original/file-20231116-25-qdvyok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The deep mud of Girraween lagoon near Darwin is a window into the past.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Bird/Damien O'Grady</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some 13,000 years ago, the landscape was parched. But as the northern hemisphere ice sheets melted, the seas rose and the monsoons began to return. By the mid-Holocene, between 9,000 and 4,000 years ago, the monsoons were arriving regularly. The lagoon filled up, nestled in a landscape of moisture-loving shrubs and brushed by relatively cool fires. </p>
<p>But then, the climate lurched to one of the long periods of horrendous drought instigated by an El Nino weather system. </p>
<p>Curiously, destructive fires did not follow. The deep mud core showed fire became less, not more, intense, as the forest shaded out the volatile grasses that cause intense fires in savanna. Even as drought increased, the Top End landscape filled with layers of diverse herbs and shrubs, with a variety of trees and groves of monsoon forest closer to the lagoon. </p>
<p>This patterning was likely the handiwork of people taming fire and putting it to work. Through patch burning, they created a rich landscape of diverse habitat that sustained people and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258039276_Niche_construction_and_Dreaming_logic_Aboriginal_patch_mosaic_burning_and_varanid_lizards_Varanus_gouldii_in_Australia">created niches</a> for a wide range of species. </p>
<p>Today, a quarter of Australia’s fire-prone savannahs, mostly managed by First Nations peoples, are returning to patchy fire regimes. These reduce the big wildfires associated with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301479721006307">European pastoralism</a> and reduce emissions. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-address-the-ecological-crisis-aboriginal-peoples-must-be-restored-as-custodians-of-country-108594">To address the ecological crisis, Aboriginal peoples must be restored as custodians of Country</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Extinction busters</h2>
<p>Perhaps few places encapsulate the harshness of Australia’s environment more than the Great Sandy Desert. From before the last ice age, the ancestors of today’s Martu people would have witnessed great floods rushing down the Sturt Creek into an extensive lake system, Paruku (Lake Gregory). These lakes were <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272158856_EXCAVATIONS_AT_PARNKUPIRTI_LAKE_GREGORY_GREAT_SANDY_DESERT">ten times larger than today’s system</a>, ringed by dunes covered in scrubby vegetation and flammable spinifex. </p>
<p>Over <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314306369_Aboriginal_mitogenomes_reveal_50000_years_of_regionalism_in_Australia">perhaps 50 millennia</a>, the Martu used fire to create mosaic landscapes. </p>
<p>In the 1960s, the Martu were forced to leave to make way for <a href="https://www.arpansa.gov.au/understanding-radiation/sources-radiation/more-radiation-sources/british-nuclear-weapons-testing">nuclear missile tests</a>. Without cultural burning, it took <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330976086_Subsistence_Transitions_and_the_Simplification_of_Ecological_Networks_in_the_Western_Desert_of_Australia">mere years</a> for fuel to build up and large wildfires to incinerate the landscape. </p>
<p>You can see the change clearly. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258039276_Niche_construction_and_Dreaming_logic_Aboriginal_patch_mosaic_burning_and_varanid_lizards_Varanus_gouldii_in_Australia">Satellite images and aerial photograhy</a> showed the size of the average fire went from 64 hectares under Martu management to over 50,000 ha by the 1980s. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559826/original/file-20231116-22-x071ma.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Fire patterns in central Australia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559826/original/file-20231116-22-x071ma.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559826/original/file-20231116-22-x071ma.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559826/original/file-20231116-22-x071ma.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559826/original/file-20231116-22-x071ma.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559826/original/file-20231116-22-x071ma.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559826/original/file-20231116-22-x071ma.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559826/original/file-20231116-22-x071ma.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mosaic burning reduces fire intensity and promotes fresh growth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefani Crabtree</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In turn, this drove <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330976086_Subsistence_Transitions_and_the_Simplification_of_Ecological_Networks_in_the_Western_Desert_of_Australia">dramatic shifts</a> to the food web. Over the two decades of Martu absence, ten species of small mammal became locally extinct, including the rufous hare-wallaby, burrowing bettong, bilby, mulgara and brushtail possum. What’s more, 14 mammals, three birds and two reptiles became threatened. Cats, foxes, camels and buffel grass became widespread. </p>
<p>In the 1980s, the Martu were able to return. Back on Country, they <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330976086_Subsistence_Transitions_and_the_Simplification_of_Ecological_Networks_in_the_Western_Desert_of_Australia">worked with scientists</a> to reconstruct pre-1960s food webs from their memories, recalling not only species hunted, but rich detail of the behaviour, interactions and life histories. </p>
<p>Today, <a href="https://ministers.pmc.gov.au/burney/2023/celebrating-dedication-martu-indigenous-protected-area">Indigenous Protected Areas</a> covering millions of hectares have been added to the national estate. The Western Desert Martu Ranger program manage <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/indigenous-affairs/environment/western-desert-martu-ranger-programme">6.5 million hectares</a>. </p>
<p>This return to First Nations management is long overdue, as human-made climate change intensifies. We will need to relearn these ancient techniques of managing country on a broader scale to cope with the changes to come. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-knowledge-and-the-persistence-of-the-wilderness-myth-165164">Indigenous knowledge and the persistence of the 'wilderness' myth</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214854/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Penny van Oosterzee is a Director of Biome5 Pty Ltd which was a linkage partner in an ARC research project on cost-effective restoration for carbon and biodiversity based on her property Thiaki. Penny has recently published a book, Cloud Land, with Allen & Unwin based on the Thiaki restoration project. The book focuses on Australia's Wet Tropics Rainforest and Rainforest peoples.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barry Hunter is a Djabugay man and chair of Terrain NRM, a natural resources management group.</span></em></p>When people first came to Australia 65,000 years ago, the Earth was in an ice age. Then the seas rose, drought and floods came – and still people endured.Penny van Oosterzee, Adjunct Associate Professor James Cook University and University Fellow Charles Darwin University, James Cook UniversityBarry Hunter, Acting CEO, North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance, Indigenous KnowledgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2195052023-12-20T23:25:15Z2023-12-20T23:25:15ZPeople once lived in a vast region in north-western Australia – and it had an inland sea<p>For much of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/buried-tools-and-pigments-tell-a-new-history-of-humans-in-australia-for-65-000-years-81021">65,000 years</a> of Australia’s human history, the now-submerged northwest continental shelf connected the Kimberley and western Arnhem Land. This vast, habitable realm covered nearly 390,000 square kilometres, an area one-and-a-half times larger than New Zealand is today.</p>
<p>It was likely a single cultural zone, with similarities in ground stone-axe technology, styles of rock art, and languages found by archaeologists in the Kimberley and Arnhem Land. </p>
<p>There is plenty of archaeological evidence humans once lived on continental shelves – areas that are now submerged – all around the world. Such hard evidence has been retrieved from underwater sites in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/doggerlands-lost-world-shows-melting-glaciers-have-drowned-lands-before-and-may-again-26472">North Sea</a>, <a href="https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/details.xhtml?recordId=3046150">Baltic Sea</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2018.04.008">Mediterranean Sea</a>, and along the coasts of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2018.04.008">North</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-015-0275-y">South</a> America, <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.10520/EJC97332">South Africa</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-coastal-waters-are-rich-in-indigenous-cultural-heritage-but-it-remains-hidden-and-under-threat-166564">Australia</a>.</p>
<p>In a newly published <a href="https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0277-3791(23)00466-3">study in Quaternary Science Reviews</a>, we reveal details of the complex landscape that existed on the Northwest Shelf of Australia. It was unlike any landscape found on our continent today.</p>
<h2>A continental split</h2>
<p>Around 18,000 years ago, the last ice age ended. Subsequent warming caused sea levels to rise and drown huge areas of the world’s continents. This process <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-coastal-living-is-at-risk-from-sea-level-rise-but-its-happened-before-87686">split the supercontinent of Sahul into New Guinea and Australia</a>, and cut Tasmania off from the mainland. </p>
<p>Unlike in the rest of the world, the now-drowned continental shelves of Australia were thought to be environmentally unproductive and little used by First Nations peoples.</p>
<p>But mounting archaeological evidence shows this assumption is incorrect. Many large islands off Australia’s coast – islands that once formed part of the continental shelves – <a href="https://theconversation.com/cave-dig-shows-the-earliest-australians-enjoyed-a-coastal-lifestyle-77326">show signs of occupation</a> before sea levels rose.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566496/original/file-20231219-19-p3hmw0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Overhead image of a coastline with modern day outlines and what it used to look like" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566496/original/file-20231219-19-p3hmw0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566496/original/file-20231219-19-p3hmw0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566496/original/file-20231219-19-p3hmw0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566496/original/file-20231219-19-p3hmw0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566496/original/file-20231219-19-p3hmw0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566496/original/file-20231219-19-p3hmw0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566496/original/file-20231219-19-p3hmw0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Left: Satellite image of the submerged northwest shelf region. Right: Drowned landscape map of the study area.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">US Geological Survey, Geoscience Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-first-discovery-of-its-kind-researchers-have-uncovered-an-ancient-aboriginal-archaeological-site-preserved-on-the-seabed-138108">Stone tools</a> have also recently been found on the sea floor off the coast of the Pilbara region of Western Australia.</p>
<p>However, archaeologists have only been able to speculate about the nature of the drowned landscapes people roamed before the end of the last ice age, and the size of their populations. </p>
<p>Our new research on the Northwest Shelf fills in some of those details. This area contained archipelagos, lakes, rivers and a large inland sea.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566506/original/file-20231219-19-6sk9bk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566506/original/file-20231219-19-6sk9bk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566506/original/file-20231219-19-6sk9bk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=677&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566506/original/file-20231219-19-6sk9bk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=677&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566506/original/file-20231219-19-6sk9bk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=677&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566506/original/file-20231219-19-6sk9bk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566506/original/file-20231219-19-6sk9bk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566506/original/file-20231219-19-6sk9bk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">During lower sea levels, a vast archipelago formed on the Australian northwest continental shelf (top). A modern day example of an archipelago on a submerged continental shelf is the Åland Islands near Finland (bottom).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">US Geological Survey, Geoscience Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Mapping an ancient landscape</h2>
<p>To characterise how the Northwest Shelf landscapes changed through the last 65,000 years of human history, we projected past sea levels onto high-resolution maps of the ocean floor.</p>
<p>We found low sea levels exposed a vast archipelago of islands on the Northwest Shelf of Sahul, extending 500km towards the Indonesian island of Timor. The archipelago appeared between 70,000 and 61,000 years ago, and remained stable for around 9,000 years.</p>
<p>Thanks to the rich ecosystems of these islands, people may have migrated in stages from Indonesia to Australia, using the archipelago as stepping stones. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-incredible-journey-the-first-people-to-arrive-in-australia-came-in-large-numbers-and-on-purpose-114074">An incredible journey: the first people to arrive in Australia came in large numbers, and on purpose</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>With descent into the last ice age, polar ice caps grew and sea levels dropped by up to 120 metres. This fully exposed the shelf for the first time in 100,000 years.</p>
<p>The region contained a mosaic of habitable fresh and saltwater environments. The most salient of these features was the Malita inland sea.</p>
<p>Our projections show it existed for 10,000 years (27,000 to 17,000 years ago), with a surface area greater than 18,000 square kilometres. The closest example in the world today is the <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sea+of+Marmara/@40.7576502,28.3402382,8z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x14b568aa4776cfa7:0x5eb5ffc8155d820f!8m2!3d40.6681407!4d28.1122679!16zL20vMDc0cWo?entry=ttu">Sea of Marmara</a> in Turkey. </p>
<p>We found the Northwest Shelf also contained a large lake during the last ice age, only 30km north of the modern day Kimberley coastline. At its maximum extent it would have been half the size of Kati Thandi (Lake Eyre). Many ancient river channels are still visible on the ocean floor maps. These would have flowed into Malita sea and the lake.</p>
<h2>A thriving population</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-first-australians-grew-to-a-population-of-millions-much-more-than-previous-estimates-142371">previous study</a> suggested the population of Sahul could have grown to millions of people.</p>
<p>Our ecological modelling reveals the now-drowned Northwest Shelf could have supported between 50,000 and 500,000 people at various times over the last 65,000 years. The population would have peaked at the height of the last ice age about 20,000 years ago, when the entire shelf was dry land. </p>
<p>This finding is supported by new <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06831-w">genetic research</a> indicating large populations at this time, based on data from people living in the Tiwi Islands just to the east of the Northwest Shelf. </p>
<p>At the end of the last ice age, rising sea levels drowned the shelf, compelling people to fall back as waters encroached on once-productive landscapes. </p>
<p>Retreating populations would have been forced together as available land shrank. New rock art styles appeared at this time in both <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.aay3922">the Kimberley</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X16304059?casa_token=Fjcbovqs0NcAAAAA:SG4045quovcQgEInsZOFFxW6rLIjCpnDVFi13xrWC2e7ALnXn2kKhttJzCkPzqlWXzKg3RDKUw">Arnhem Land</a>.</p>
<p>Rising sea levels and the drowning of the landscape is also recorded in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-aboriginal-stories-preserve-history-of-a-rise-in-sea-level-36010">oral histories</a> of First Nations people from all around the coastal margin, thought to have been passed down for over 10,000 years. </p>
<p>This latest revelation of the complex and intricate dynamics of First Nations people responding to rapidly changing climates lends growing weight to <a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-knowledge-is-lost-when-a-species-disappears-its-time-to-let-indigenous-people-care-for-their-country-their-way-172760">the call</a> for more Indigenous-led environmental management in this country and elsewhere.</p>
<p>As we face an uncertain future together, deep-time Indigenous knowledge and experience will be essential for successful adaptation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219505/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kasih Norman received funding from an Australian Government Research Training Program Award and the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Corey J. A. Bradshaw receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frédérik Saltré receives funding from Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tristen Anne Norrie Jones receives funding from Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Clarkson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Our new study reveals a mosaic of habitable landscapes – now submerged by the ocean – once supported up to 500,000 people living in Australia’s northwest.Kasih Norman, Research Fellow, Griffith UniversityChris Clarkson, Professor in Archaeology, The University of QueenslandCorey J. A. Bradshaw, Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders UniversityFrédérik Saltré, Research Fellow in Ecology for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders UniversityTristen Anne Norrie Jones, Academic Fellow, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2178682023-12-14T19:00:58Z2023-12-14T19:00:58ZMutton, an Indigenous woolly dog, died in 1859 − new analysis confirms precolonial lineage of this extinct breed, once kept for their wool<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562497/original/file-20231129-22-cxtdyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C444%2C2995%2C2883&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Indigenous Coast Salish women wove woolly dogs' fur into blankets.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Artist's reconstruction by Karen Carr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dogs have been in the Americas for more than 10,000 years. They were already domesticated when they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao4776">came from Eurasia with the first people</a> to reach North America. In the coastal parts of present-day Washington state and southwestern British Columbia, archaeologists have found dog remains dating back as far as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2020.101209">about 5,000 years ago</a>.</p>
<p>Dogs performed many different roles in North American Indigenous communities, including transportation, that in other parts of the world were done by multiple other domestic animals. </p>
<p>Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the <a href="https://www.burkemuseum.org/collections-and-research/culture/contemporary-culture/coast-salish-art/coast-salish-people">Indigenous Coast Salish peoples</a> of the Pacific Northwest had traditionally maintained a breed of long-haired dog for the purpose of harvesting their hair, or wool, for textile fibers. Along with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-4403(95)90012-8">alpacas and llamas</a>, these woolly dogs are one of only a few known animals intentionally bred for their fleece in all of the Americas.</p>
<p>But the practice of keeping woolly dogs and weaving textiles made from woolly dog yarn declined throughout the 19th century, and the dogs were considered extinct by the beginning of the 20th century. What had happened to them? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562505/original/file-20231129-19-wyniuw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="dog paw on furry pelt with handwritten tag" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562505/original/file-20231129-19-wyniuw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562505/original/file-20231129-19-wyniuw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562505/original/file-20231129-19-wyniuw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562505/original/file-20231129-19-wyniuw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562505/original/file-20231129-19-wyniuw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562505/original/file-20231129-19-wyniuw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562505/original/file-20231129-19-wyniuw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mutton’s pelt has been preserved at the Smithsonian Institution for more than 160 years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Audrey Lin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, the only confirmed woolly dog specimen is “Mutton,” whose pelt has been housed <a href="http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3299968b9-99b2-4db0-9aee-b8ee388fcb57">in the Smithsonian’s collection</a> since his death in 1859. In life, this “Indian dog” was the companion of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gibbs_(ethnologist)">George Gibbs</a>, a naturalist working on the Northwest Boundary Survey expedition to map out British Columbia and the American Pacific Northwest. In death, Mutton offered the opportunity to learn more about woolly dog ancestry, selection and management.</p>
<p>We are <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=th7mXK0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">an archaeologist</a>, an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5sYVrEsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">evolutionary molecular biologist</a> and a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=G5OGkjUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">molecular anthropologist</a> who are part of a large research team. It’s important to note that although we collaborated with a number of Indigenous people on our study, the scientists, including the three of us, are not Indigenous. Alongside historical documents and interviews of Coast Salish elders, knowledge keepers, weavers and artists, our team utilized “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12516">Two-Eyed Seeing</a>” – viewing the world through the combined strengths of Indigenous knowledge and western science – to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi6549">bring Mutton’s story and legacy back to life</a>.</p>
<h2>A prestigious part of Indigenous culture</h2>
<p>Prior to the arrival of Europeans, there were <a href="https://archpress.lib.sfu.ca/index.php/archpress/catalog/download/52/23/1900?inline=1">several types of dogs</a> in the Pacific Northwest: larger “village” dogs and hunting dogs and smaller <a href="https://hakaimagazine.com/features/the-dogs-that-grew-wool-and-the-people-who-love-them/">woolly dogs</a>, kept separately to prevent interbreeding. Woolly dogs were a little larger than the modern <a href="https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/american-eskimo-dog/">American Eskimo dog breed</a> and had curled tails, pricked ears and a pointed foxlike face. Instead of barking, they howled. </p>
<p>Traditionally, only high-status Coast Salish women were allowed to keep woolly dogs, and a woman’s individual wealth could be measured by how many she had. Blankets woven of dog hair, often mixed with hair from mountain goats and waterfowl or plant fibers, were important trade and gift items.</p>
<p>Historians and economists, looking back, first claimed the disappearance of the woolly dog breed was the result of simple capitalist forces: The availability of cheap manufactured blankets offered by businesses like the <a href="https://www.hbcheritage.ca/things/fashion-pop/hbc-point-blanket">Hudson’s Bay Company</a> meant the Coast Salish didn’t need to make their own blankets. Why go through the immense time and labor in keeping wool dogs and crafting blankets in the traditional way when you could just buy a machine-woven blanket? </p>
<p>But the Coast Salish don’t agree. <a href="https://vanmuralfest.ca/blog/debra-sparrow">Debra qwasen Sparrow</a>, a master weaver of the <a href="https://www.musqueam.bc.ca/">Musqueam Nation</a>, explained to us, “The blankets really tell a story of our history, our families, the way in which they identified in the communities, (they’re) all reflected in the blankets.”</p>
<p>And Coast Salish people say they would never have willingly parted with their beloved canine friends. The simple economic explanation ignores the massive role colonialism played in the demise of the woolly dogs. Repressive government policies <a href="https://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/Classroom%20Materials/Pacific%20Northwest%20History/Lessons/Lesson%2012/12.html">tried to control and subdue</a> <a href="https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/news/2022/05/12/indian-boarding-schools-operated-washington-state-interior-department-deb-haaland/9749676002/">Indigenous cultural practices</a>.</p>
<p>“They were told they couldn’t do their cultural things. There was the police, the Indian agent and the priests,” <a href="https://www.stolonation.bc.ca">Stó:lō Nation</a> elder Xweliqwiya Rena Point Bolton told our research team. “The dogs were not allowed. (My grandmother) had to get rid of the dogs. And so the family never ever saw them.”</p>
<p>Eventually, there were no more Coast Salish woolly dogs.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565318/original/file-20231212-23-cut1vu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="pelt fur-side down on a paper-covered table" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565318/original/file-20231212-23-cut1vu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565318/original/file-20231212-23-cut1vu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565318/original/file-20231212-23-cut1vu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565318/original/file-20231212-23-cut1vu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565318/original/file-20231212-23-cut1vu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565318/original/file-20231212-23-cut1vu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565318/original/file-20231212-23-cut1vu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers used a portable X-ray fluorescence analyzer as part of their investigation of Mutton’s remains.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Audrey Lin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Piecing together a picture of Mutton’s life</h2>
<p>We did have access to Mutton’s pelt, though, which had been archived for more than 160 years. No one knows exactly how Gibbs initially acquired Mutton, but it’s likely he got the dog while working with local communities in <a href="https://www.stolonation.bc.ca/">Stó:lō territory</a> in present-day British Columbia. Using modern techniques, we set out to answer questions about Mutton’s breed and ancestry.</p>
<p>First we used <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/the-use-of-stable-isotopes-in-the-96648168/">stable isotope analysis</a>, a chemical analysis of once-living tissues, to understand more about Mutton’s environment when he was alive: what kinds of foods he ate and the state of his health.</p>
<p>Interviews of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi6549">elders and knowledge keepers confirmed</a> that the woolly dog diet was very different from village dogs, including special foods that kept the dogs healthy and their coats shiny. For example, salmon, elk or certain local plants would be set aside for the woolly dogs. </p>
<p>The stable isotope values of Mutton’s fur suggested he’d been eating maize for some time, but less and less up to the point when he died. The <a href="https://www.trafford.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/407988-Joseph-S-Harris-and-the-U-S-Northwest-Boundary-Survey-1857-1861">letters of one expedition member</a> imply they were running low on cornmeal and supplementing their imported supplies by trading with locals. Although <a href="https://siarchives.si.edu/sites/all/modules/sia/sia_mirador/mirador/mirador_player3?manifest=https://iiif.si.edu/manifests/siarchives/SIA-007209_B01_F02_MODSI1328.json">Gibbs noted in his journal</a> that Mutton was ill before he died, there was no isotopic evidence to support chronic illness; Mutton may have become sick quickly.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565265/original/file-20231212-23-zikxpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Scientist with blue gloves uses a tool to lift a bit of hair from the pelt" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565265/original/file-20231212-23-zikxpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565265/original/file-20231212-23-zikxpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565265/original/file-20231212-23-zikxpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565265/original/file-20231212-23-zikxpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565265/original/file-20231212-23-zikxpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565265/original/file-20231212-23-zikxpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565265/original/file-20231212-23-zikxpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chris Stantis carefully removes a minimal sample from Mutton’s pelt for further analyses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hsiao-Lei Liu</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Next, we turned to genetic analysis for insight into the dog’s ancestry to understand long-term management of this breed. We sequenced Mutton’s DNA and compared it with a contemporaneous village dog that was killed by the explorers in an unknown village in the Pacific Northwest. We also compared Mutton’s DNA with a genetic panel of many other modern and ancient dogs.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi6549">We found that Mutton</a> is a rare example of an Indigenous North American dog with precolonial ancestry who lived well after the arrival of white settlers. Using a dataset of mitochondrial genomes from Mutton and more than 200 ancient and modern dogs, we made an elaborate family tree. Called a <a href="http://dunnlab.org/phylogenetic_biology/phylogenies-and-time.html">time-calibrated phylogenetic tree</a>, it creates a diagram of the evolution of Mutton’s maternal lineage.</p>
<p>Based on the tree, we estimate that Mutton’s most recent common ancestor diverged from one other ancient dog from British Columbia between 1,800 and 4,800 years ago, corresponding with the known archaeological record. In other words, Mutton’s woolly dog lineage has been isolated from other dogs for millennia.</p>
<p>We see evidence of inbreeding in Mutton’s genome that can result only from careful long-term selective breed management. We identified variants of genes associated with hair and skin, including KRT77 and KANK2, which are linked to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/jmedgenet-2014-102346">woolly hair in humans</a>. </p>
<p>However, Mutton lived during a very volatile <a href="https://www.nps.gov/places/the-fraser-river-gold-rush.htm">time period</a>. For example, in 1858 more than 33,000 miners flooded into present-day British Columbia in <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/fraser-river-gold-rush">search of gold</a>. This influx left its mark in Mutton’s DNA, and we found that about one eighth of his genome – representating about one great-grandparent’s worth of DNA – came from settler-introduced European dogs. </p>
<p>Finally, we worked closely with a <a href="https://www.karencarr.com/">scientific artist</a>, using archaeological dog bones and Mutton’s pelt, to reconstruct what these dogs looked like in life with scientific accuracy.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562506/original/file-20231129-21-3c76dg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="zig-zag patterened blanket with fringe on three sides" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562506/original/file-20231129-21-3c76dg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562506/original/file-20231129-21-3c76dg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562506/original/file-20231129-21-3c76dg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562506/original/file-20231129-21-3c76dg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562506/original/file-20231129-21-3c76dg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562506/original/file-20231129-21-3c76dg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562506/original/file-20231129-21-3c76dg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Coast Salish classic-style blanket, which has woolly dog hair in the warp fibers that were stretched across the loom. Accessioned 1838-1842.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">USNM E2124, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What this woolly dog confirms about the past</h2>
<p>With Mutton’s pelt, our team wove together these different ways of exploring the many lives of Mutton – his ancestry as an Indigenous dog, his life traveling with white settlers, and finally his time in the Smithsonian Institution.</p>
<p>Mutton is the latest dog we’re aware of with that much precolonial dog ancestry. European colonization was devastating to Indigenous people in North America. The fact that Mutton carries as much Indigenous dog DNA as he does is a testament to the care that Coast Salish people took to keep the woolly dog tradition alive.</p>
<p>Our Coast Salish weaving collaborators are very keen to learn more about how traditional blankets housed in museum collections are made – to inform efforts to revive complex techniques and better understand the unique materials used. With Mutton’s genetic sequencing, future researchers may be able to identify dog hair in heritage woven materials. Some Coast Salish would like to see the woolly dogs return to their families once again. There’s currently no way to bring back the original woolly dogs, such as by cloning Mutton, because his DNA is far too degraded after more than 160 years. But a new kind of woolly dog could be created in the future through <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/selective-breeding">selective breeding</a> and care.</p>
<p>“But the thing that’s most important (is) that (the) wool dog created a gift to produce and to make something, to create something, to bring something alive,” Michael Pavel, elder of the <a href="https://skokomish.org/culture-and-history/">Twana/Skokomish Tribe</a>, told us. “Let’s do that. Let’s bring that back to life. … The wool dog is still very much a part of our life.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217868/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Dogs have lived with Indigenous Americans since before they came to the continent together 10,000 years ago. A new analysis reveals the lineage of one 1800s ‘woolly dog’ from the Pacific Northwest.Audrey T. Lin, Research Associate in Anthropology, Smithsonian InstitutionChris Stantis, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Geology and Geophysics, University of UtahLogan Kistler, Curator of Archaeobotany and Archaeogenomics, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian InstitutionLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2177642023-11-23T21:59:03Z2023-11-23T21:59:03ZRevisiting the Williams Treaties of 1923: Anishinaabeg perspectives after a century<p>One hundred years ago this November, the governments of Canada and Ontario signed treaties with <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/williams-treaties">First Nations of the Chippewa of Lake Simcoe (Beausoleil, Georgina Island and Rama) and the Mississauga of the north shore of Lake Ontario (Alderville, Curve Lake, Hiawatha and Scugog Island)</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1100100029000/1564415701529">The Williams Treaties (1923)</a>, also known as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gtjUUTCJVQ">the Williams Treaty</a> (named after <a href="https://grasac.artsci.utoronto.ca/?p=2169#">Angus S. Williams</a>, the provincial negotiator) pertained to over 20,000 square kilometers of land in exchange for a one-time cash payment of $25 per person. </p>
<p>Since then, the signatories have shared how they were forced to <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1542370282768/1542370308434">sign the treaties, without lawyers, during one-day negotiations, and never were told about the loss of hunting and fishing rights</a>. </p>
<p>Oral histories from treaty educator <a href="https://anishinabeknews.ca/2018/11/21/williams-treaty-settlement-looks-huge-in-headlines/">Maurice Switzer,</a> and former Alderville chief and community historian <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl9nRtPslM4&t=1s">Dave Mowat</a> now consider the Williams Treaties as <a href="http://education.historicacanada.ca/files/104/Treaties_Printable_Pages.pdf">being among</a> the worst treaties in Canadian history.</p>
<p>A 2018 <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/williams-treaty-reconciliation-1.4910558">agreement between the Williams Treaties First Nations and the governments of Ontario and Canada</a> settled <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/lament-for-a-first-nation">litigation about land claims and harvesting rights</a> in the region. But the seven First Nations continue to grapple with the legacy of empty promises and ongoing questions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560565/original/file-20231120-28-p42dv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map with varied colour zones showing a roughly pacman-shaped periwinkle area representing Williams Treaties territory surrounded by blue areas to the left and bottom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560565/original/file-20231120-28-p42dv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560565/original/file-20231120-28-p42dv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560565/original/file-20231120-28-p42dv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560565/original/file-20231120-28-p42dv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560565/original/file-20231120-28-p42dv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560565/original/file-20231120-28-p42dv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560565/original/file-20231120-28-p42dv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Williams Treaties areas seen in periwinkle blue colour, extending from the left side of the map, at Georgian Bay, and from the bottom of the map, at Lake Ontario. Detail from ‘First Nations and Treaties’ Ontario government map.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://files.ontario.ca/iao_community_wall_map_en_2019-08.pdf">(Government of Ontario)</a></span>
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<h2>Includes some Greenbelt lands</h2>
<p>The Williams Treaties cover <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1360941656761/1544619778887">lands between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River, and along the shore of Lake Ontario up to Lake Simcoe</a>.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, the seven Williams Treaties First Nations again asserted that lands will continue to be protected <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/chiefs-of-ontario-greenbelt-vote-1.6949826">despite the provincial government’s plan to develop the Greenbelt,</a> which overlaps in the southern parts of the territory. </p>
<p>Chief of Alderville First Nation, Taynar Simpson, explained the cultural importance of these lands, and that development could “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/chiefs-of-ontario-greenbelt-vote-1.6949826">damage water systems and wetlands that supply groundwater, reduce flood risks and improve climate resilience</a>.”</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘In Our Words - Williams Treaty’ video from First Nations, Métis & Inuit Education Association of Ontario.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Encroaching on Indigenous lands</h2>
<p>When the Williams Treaties were signed in 1923, the impacts of colonization had already existed in Anishinaabeg territory for more than a century. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/document/ontarios-long-term-report-economy/chapter-1-demographic-trends-and-projections">wave of new settlement</a> had already encroached onto Indigenous lands in central Ontario and both the <a href="https://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/selective-cuttings/68">forestry</a> and <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/history-ontario-mining-and-lands-commissioner">mining industries</a> had already started operations. </p>
<p>The punishing aspects of the <a href="http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_indian_act/">Indian Act</a>, which included the creation of new reserves, and the implementation of residential and Indian Day Schools, had already existed in this region for decades. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ahtwp.ca/en/explore-and-play/resources/Documents/Alderville-School.pdf">Alderville Manual Training School (later Residential</a>) was first opened in 1836 and numerous other <a href="http://www.indiandayschools.org/">Indian Day Schools existed throughout all seven Williams Treaties First Nations</a>.</p>
<h2>Impacts on lands, <em>manoomin</em>, animals</h2>
<p>These restrictive policies were coupled with a complete reconstruction of Anishinaabek traditional lands and waterways. Through the building of the <a href="https://direct.mit.edu/glep/article/19/3/16/14962/En-gendering-Shoreline-Law-Nishnaabeg-Relational">Trent-Severn waterway, thousands of acres of manoomin (wild rice) were destroyed</a>. </p>
<p>Overharvesting of these regions by settlers resulted in the extirpation of key animals such as <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/fish-management-history">salmon and eels,</a> the extinction of the <a href="https://digitaleditions.library.dal.ca/environmentalscience/chapter/chapter-27-the-biodiversity-crisis/">passenger pigeon, and massive declines in wild turkey populations</a>.</p>
<h2>Continued practise of ways of life</h2>
<p>Under these pressures, the Anishinaabeg communities continued to practise their ways of life and challenged the treaty continually in court. </p>
<p>As Elder <a href="https://www.trentu.ca/news/story/38505">Doug Williams-Ban</a> from Curve Lake First Nation has explained: “<a href="https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/williams-treaty-settlement-looks-huge-in-headlines/article_ca41e002-ac17-59fe-869d-4ccd83d45a95.html">One of our favourite tricks was to plan our fishing expeditions for Saturday nights – we knew the game wardens would be watching Hockey Night in Canada!”</a> </p>
<p>By 1994, the Supreme Court in <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1138/index.do">R. v. Howard</a> ruled that a Hiawatha First Nation man could be charged for fishing out of season as his harvesting rights had been “extinguished” in the 1923 treaty.</p>
<h2>Williams Treaties Settlement, 2018</h2>
<p>In 2018, the Williams Treaties First Nations and the governments of Ontario and Canada came to a final agreement, settling litigation about land claims and harvesting rights in the region. </p>
<p>The 2018 agreement saw governments of Ontario and Canada <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/williams-treaty-reconciliation-1.4910558">apologize and</a> say: <a href="https://anishinabeknews.ca/2018/11/21/williams-treaty-settlement-looks-huge-in-headlines/">“We are sorry … continued injustices provided insufficient compensation and inadequate reserve lands … and failed to recognize and protect your treaty rights</a>.”</p>
<p>The collective Williams Treaties First Nations approved a <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1542370282768/1542370308434">proposed $1.1 billion settlement</a>. The settlement amounted to approximately <a href="https://anishinabeknews.ca/2018/11/21/williams-treaty-settlement-looks-huge-in-headlines/">$85 per acre for land surrendered under the Williams Treaties of 1923</a>. The value of the land during the settlement was between $10,000-15,000. </p>
<p>The agreement outlined four key areas: recognition of pre-existing treaty harvesting rights, financial compensation <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/crown-indigenous-relations-northern-affairs/news/2018/09/canada-ontario-and-williams-treaties-first-nations-reach-negotiated-settlement-agreement-for-alderville-litigation.html">($666 million from Canada and $444 million from Ontario), the opportunity to acquire additional reserve lands (plus the apology)</a>.</p>
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<h2>Family lineage of 1923</h2>
<p>Co-author Jackson Pind’s own great aunt, Ruby Marsden Hicks, was 95 years old and the oldest person from Alderville who received the settlement. </p>
<p>She said “<a href="https://anishinabeknews.ca/2018/11/21/williams-treaty-settlement-looks-huge-in-headlines/">it was a long time coming … and would have really helped Ma and Pa</a>.” </p>
<p>She remembers that her father, Moses Muskrat Marsden, was there in November 1923 when the Williams Treaties were signed in Alderville. He had said, <a href="https://anishinabeknews.ca/2018/11/21/williams-treaty-settlement-looks-huge-in-headlines/">“The Indians only wanted to know if they would still have their hunting and fishing rights</a> and when they were told they would, they signed.”</p>
<h2>Ongoing questions</h2>
<p>However, the restoration of harvesting rights has caused confusion among members of the Williams Treaties First Nations. </p>
<p>Before the settlement, a status member of the seven Williams Treaties First Nations could hunt and fish on reserve lands or within 50 feet of the “Indian Islands,” established under the islands of the [Trent Treaty of 1856 (Treaty #78)].
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luC8j5qWJlU&t=15s&pp=ygUUZG91ZyB3aWxsaWFtcyB0cmVhdHk%3D">For the Anishinaabek who occupied the north shore of Lake Ontario</a>, that included thousands <a href="https://ojs.library.carleton.ca/index.php/ALGQP/article/view/1115">of islands in all the rivers and tributaries</a> that flowed into Lake Ontario. </p>
<p>The settlement’s terms, <a href="https://georginaisland.com/williams-treaty-first-nation-harvesting-rights/">aimed at protecting fish during spawning season, restrict harvesting in these sanctuaries</a>. These sanctuaries are significant historical gathering spots for ceremonial, practical and political activities. </p>
<p>The agreement doesn’t extend harvesting rights beyond pre-existing treaty areas. First Nations harvesting is <a href="https://vitacollections.ca/kl-digitalarchive/3730175/image/4599929">limited to areas up to Silent Lake Provincial Park (Treaty 20)</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Chippewas of Rama First Nation video, Williams Treaties Settlement Agreement Signing Ceremony, Nov. 17, 2018.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Nations incurring tax expenses</h2>
<p>The financial compensation was divided equally among the seven Williams Treaties First Nations, with a portion distributed to members and the rest retained for infrastructure development or land acquisition. </p>
<p>To add new lands, First Nations must navigate the lengthy <a href="https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1465827292799/1611938828195">“Additions to Reserve” (ATR) process</a>, which can take up to 25 years. </p>
<p>The settlement allows for the addition of 11,000 acres to each First Nation’s reserve, but they must first purchase these lands and then undergo a sped-up, five-year ATR process. During this time, the First Nations incur tax expenses on these large land parcels. They indirectly return funds to the governments responsible for treaty malpractice.</p>
<h2>Grappling with legacies</h2>
<p>These communities continue to call on the provincial government to adequately consult <a href="https://tworowtimes.com/news/national/chiefs-of-ontario-demand-return-of-all-removed-greenbelt-land-parcels/">Williams Treaties First Nations when making important decisions on their lands</a>, in the Greenbelt and beyond.</p>
<p>Reflecting on this treaty history, one can imagine that if our great-grandparents truly understood the full implications of their 1923 agreements, they might have chosen to reject the documents that have continually dispossessed their great grandchildren from their ancestral lands.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217764/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jackson Pind receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack Hoggarth has previously received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. He is affiliated with Curve Lake First Nation and Kawartha Nishnawbe First Nation.</span></em></p>Seven Williams Treaties First Nations continue to call on the provincial government to adequately consult them when making important decisions on their lands in the Greenbelt and beyond.Jackson Pind, Assistant Professor, Indigenous Methodologies, Chanie Wenjack School of Indigenous Studies, Trent UniversityJack Hoggarth, Chair, Anishinaabeg Knowledge and Assistant Professor at Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies, Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2176392023-11-23T17:42:31Z2023-11-23T17:42:31ZAfter 8 years in power, what is Justin Trudeau’s legacy — and how will he cement it?<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/after-8-years-in-power-what-is-justin-trudeaus-legacy-and-how-will-he-cement-it" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Justin Trudeau led the Liberals <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/results-2015/">to electoral victory in 2015</a>, when the party began the federal election campaign with just three dozen MPs in the House of Commons. </p>
<p>Trudeau’s <a href="https://liberal.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/292/2020/09/New-plan-for-a-strong-middle-class.pdf">campaign platform</a> promised Canadians significant reforms in several areas.</p>
<p>How has he fared? Let’s take a look.</p>
<h2>Gender equity</h2>
<p>Trudeau acted quickly to fulfil his promises on gender equality, appointing a cabinet that was — and continues to be — 50 per cent women. </p>
<p>Thanks to six consecutive Supreme Court of Canada appointments by Trudeau, there are <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-top-court-get-first-woman-majority-bench-with-trudeaus-new-nominee-2023-10-26/">more women than men</a> on the court for the first time in Canadian history. </p>
<p>It seems unlikely that future prime ministers will be able to claim that there are insufficient qualified women in their caucus to maintain the 50 per cent female precedent set by Trudeau. The same applies to Supreme Court appointments, and those of other government bodies.</p>
<h2>Indigenous agenda</h2>
<p>Trudeau also acted quickly on his reconciliation agenda with Canada’s Indigenous communities. </p>
<p>Expectations were high, but only limited progress has been made on access to services such as drinking water, child welfare, housing and health care for First Nations, Inuit and Métis people. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/trudeau-launches-canada-into-a-radically-new-approach-to-indigenous-affairs-53159">Trudeau launches Canada into a radically new approach to Indigenous affairs</a>
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<p>However, there has been some movement on all fronts, and there is now <a href="https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1506514143353/1533317130660">public accountability and tracking</a>.</p>
<p>A future government may not be as active as Trudeau’s Liberals in <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1499711968320/1529105436687">consulting with First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders</a> but the priority given to Indigenous Peoples in Canadian politics is unlikely to slide back to where it was in 2015.</p>
<h2>Legal drugs</h2>
<p>A controversial platform item in 2015 was the legalization of cannabis, which departed from the prohibitionist view held by previous governments of all political stripes. </p>
<p>By 2018, recreational cannabis sale and use was legal in Canada with relatively little opposition. At present, at the five-year mark, the policy is largely accepted, even if the <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/five-years-later-researchers-say-the-impacts-of-legalizing-cannabis-in-canada-have-been-mixed-1.6596478">public health outcomes are mixed</a>. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-campaign-promise-kept-canadas-modestly-successful-cannabis-legalization-122380">A campaign promise kept: Canada's modestly successful cannabis legalization</a>
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<p>It’s highly unlikely any future government would be able to roll back the legislative changes that now permit <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-medication/cannabis/laws-regulations/provinces-territories.html">cannabis shops across Canada</a>, from Watson Lake in Yukon to Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Labrador. </p>
<p>As the experience with the legalization of gambling shows, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ontario-online-gaming-wagers-sports-casino-1.6911479">governments become addicted to the revenues generated</a> and jobs created from creating consumer demand for previously illegal activities. Private-sector producers and retailers of cannabis would also fight against any attempt to shrink their market.</p>
<h2>Other initiatives</h2>
<p>Other noteworthy reforms under Trudeau include non-partisan Senate appointments, a carbon tax and early learning and child-care bilateral agreements. However, each of these is subject to reversal. A future prime minister may have different criteria in appointing senators. </p>
<p>The carbon tax remains precarious, with the Conservatives calling for a <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/poilievre-wants-a-carbon-tax-election-liberals-say-bring-it-on-1.6626287">carbon tax election</a>. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-freeloading-premiers-undermining-canadas-climate-strategy-217638">Are freeloading premiers undermining Canada's climate strategy?</a>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/early-learning-child-care-agreement/agreements-provinces-territories.html">child-care agreements with the provinces</a> that will see fees decrease to $10 a day by 2026 have been made possible by federal funds that are too enticing for the premiers to pass up. </p>
<p>However, a future government may not have the same spending priorities, at which time the role of the state in <a href="https://activehistory.ca/blog/2021/05/18/childcare2021/">child-care policy may shift</a> yet again. </p>
<h2>Will Trudeau resign?</h2>
<p>There is no sign that Trudeau will depart before the next election even as the latest polls <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadas-trudeau-far-behind-polls-remains-liberals-best-chance-2023-10-11/">show his party trails the Conservatives</a>. There is little precedent of Canadian prime ministers resigning before they must. </p>
<p>Stephen Harper, John Diefenbaker and Louis St. Laurent lost at the polls. <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2002/06/06/jean-chretien-v-paul-martin-now-its-really-war">Jean Chrétien was pushed out by his own party</a>. <a href="http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/king_william_lyon_mackenzie_17E.html">William Lyon Mackenzie King</a> and <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/lester-bowles-pearson">Lester Pearson resigned due to ill health</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1751950795">Brian Mulroney</a> and Justin Trudeau’s father, <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/trudeaus-third-walk-in-the-snow">Pierre, resigned</a> when polls over a long period of time made it abundantly clear they — and their parties — would be voted out of office. </p>
<h2>Legacy lesson from the elder Trudeau?</h2>
<p>Although some of Trudeau’s legacy is secure, none of it has redefined the nation and isn’t likely to do so in the future. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/brownsey-after-40-years-the-charter-of-rights-and-freedoms-steered-canada-toward-a-better-society">last landmark achievement</a> of a Canadian prime minister was 40 years ago, when Trudeau’s father succeeded in repatriating the Constitution from Great Britain and enshrining the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This type of bold constitutional reform could provide inspiration to Justin Trudeau in how to cement his legacy.</p>
<p><a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/may-2023/abolish-monarchy-goodbye-charles/">Removing King Charles as Canada’s head of state</a> is an attractive proposition if Trudeau needs votes in Québec, where the monarchy has never been popular. </p>
<p>It would also appeal to voters in Canada’s large urban areas, where immigration patterns have reduced the proportion of voters with a connection to the U.K.</p>
<p>For the Liberals to win the next election, after all, they require votes in Québec and in Vancouver, Toronto and Montréal. </p>
<h2>Indigenous head of state?</h2>
<p>Opening the Constitution for a homegrown head of state could also ensure future Indigenous heads of state like the current governor general <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/december-2022/monarchy-canada-indigenous/">appointed by Trudeau</a>, Mary Simon. Governor generals serve as the monarch’s representative in Canada. </p>
<p>Constitutional reform proposals <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-launching-constitutional-reform-in-canada-would-be-a-terrible-idea/">are fraught with dangers</a>, as Mulroney well knows. His two attempts at constitutional amendment that would have decentralized the federation — the Meech Lake Accord in 1990 and the Charlottetown Accord in 1992 — consumed immense political capital but ultimately <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/rejection-of-charlottetown-accord-ended-era-of-constitutional-reform/article_f678e1dd-d6cb-5714-8e99-410b26577af9.html">ended in failure</a>. </p>
<p>But as Trudeau heads into what will likely be his last election, opening the Pandora’s box of constitutional reform might offer one route to secure a legacy that few other prime ministers can match.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217639/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Klassen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Justin Trudeau has been in power for almost a decade, achieving some of his objectives and stalling on others. What will be his legacy, and is constitutional reform in the cards in the next two years?Thomas Klassen, Professor, School of Public Policy and Administration, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2165392023-11-22T19:09:13Z2023-11-22T19:09:13ZCarved trees and burial sites: Wiradjuri Elders share the hidden stories of ‘marara’ and ‘dhabuganha’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556383/original/file-20231028-19-r3emxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C3015%2C1686&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Caroline Spry</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following contains information about deceased persons, ceremonial practices, and Men’s and Women’s Business with the permission of the Gaanha-bula Action Group.</em></p>
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<p>People have long used symbols (marks or characters) to communicate ideas and concepts. It is something that sets humans apart from other beings. </p>
<p>The oldest dated example of symbolic thinking is a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/jan/11/humanities.arts">77,000-year-old carved ochre object</a> found in South Africa. While we will never know what its symbols meant, it is a different story in Australia, where we are privileged to learn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today about symbols made by their ancestors in the past. </p>
<p>One remarkable example of symbolic expression is the <em>marara</em> (carved trees or dendroglyphs) of <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/map-indigenous-australia">Wiradjuri Country</a>, in southeastern Australia. In a new <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2023.2219378">Wiradjuri-led study</a>, we have combined traditional cultural knowledge and archaeological methods to develop culturally and scientifically informed understanding of these sacred locations for the first time. </p>
<p>Our study of <em>marara</em> and <em>dhabuganha</em> is guided by the principles of the Wiradjuri philosophy <em>Yindyamarra</em> (cultural respect).</p>
<h2>Carved trees and burials</h2>
<p><em>Marara</em> are trees with elaborate <em>muyalaang</em> (tree carvings), marking the <em>dhabuganha</em> (burials) of Wiradjuri men of high standing. They represent a traditional cultural practice with deep roots. </p>
<p>Wiradjuri people created <em>marara</em> by removing a large slab of bark, then intricately carving <em>muyalaang</em> into the fresh tree surface. <em>Muyalaang</em> often appear as a series of curved lines or geometric patterns like diamonds and zig-zags. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556378/original/file-20231027-25-tz9saf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A triptych of photos of carved trees with different patterns." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556378/original/file-20231027-25-tz9saf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556378/original/file-20231027-25-tz9saf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556378/original/file-20231027-25-tz9saf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556378/original/file-20231027-25-tz9saf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556378/original/file-20231027-25-tz9saf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556378/original/file-20231027-25-tz9saf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556378/original/file-20231027-25-tz9saf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Examples of marara (carved trees) with curved lines (left), nested diamonds (middle) and diamonds (right).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Caroline Spry</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The British explorer John Oxley described <em>marara</em> and <em>dhabuganha</em> in an 1817 diary entry. Three years later, painter G.H. Evans depicted the scene, with several <em>marara</em> carved to face a central <em>dhabuganha</em> and three “mourning” seats: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The form of the whole was semi-circular. Three rows of seats occupied one half, the grave and an outer row of seats the other; the seats formed segments of circles of fifty, forty-five, and forty feet each, and were formed by the soil being trenched up from between them. The centre part of the grave was about five feet high, and about nine long, forming an oblong pointed cone.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556379/original/file-20231027-19-otrkds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An illustration of an earth mound and ridges among trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556379/original/file-20231027-19-otrkds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556379/original/file-20231027-19-otrkds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556379/original/file-20231027-19-otrkds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556379/original/file-20231027-19-otrkds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556379/original/file-20231027-19-otrkds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556379/original/file-20231027-19-otrkds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556379/original/file-20231027-19-otrkds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An 1820 depiction of three marara (carved trees), a dhabuganha (burial) in the centre and ‘mourning’ seats to the right.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135903737/view">G. H. Evans / National Library of Australia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, a diminishing number of <em>marara</em> remain. Most <em>dhabuganha</em> are no longer visible due to erosion and modern land-use practices. </p>
<h2>Two burial sites</h2>
<p>We used <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-penetrating_radar">ground-penetrating radar</a> at one location to non-invasively analyse and map changes in soil to refine our understanding of the resting place of a Wiradjuri man of high standing, whose <em>dhabuganha</em> is no longer visible today but remains marked by a <em>marara</em>. We created a 3D model of this <em>marara</em>.</p>
<p>Not far away, on the other side of a creek, is a fallen scarred tree reported to mark the <em>dhabuganha</em> of the man’s “wife”. The man’s <em>marara</em> and the woman’s fallen scarred tree would have faced each other when the fallen tree was still standing – perhaps as a symbol of their connection.</p>
<div class="sketchfab-embed-wrapper">
<iframe title="Figure 8 Garra TST Main" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="true" webkitallowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; xr-spatial-tracking" xr-spatial-tracking="" execution-while-out-of-viewport="" execution-while-not-rendered="" web-share="" src="https://sketchfab.com/models/4b0237ed0cf94d0d8b3cfbe7770bbadd/embed?ui_infos=0&ui_watermark_link=0&ui_watermark=0&dnt=1" width="100%" height="400"> </iframe>
</div>
<p>We also studied <em>marara</em> and <em>dhabuganha</em> at Yuranigh’s Grave, a public tourist site near Molong. <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/yuranigh-2829">Yuranigh</a> was a Wiradjuri man of high standing who accompanied explorer Thomas Mitchell on his inland expeditions during the 19th century. </p>
<p>Mitchell valued Yuranigh so much that, after Yuranigh’s passing, he added a European headstone to Yuranigh’s <em>dhabuganha</em>, which is also surrounded by several traditionally carved <em>marara</em>. The headstone inscription reads:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>To Native Courage Honesty and Fidelity. Yuranigh who accompanied the expedition of discovery into tropical Australia in 1846 lies buried here according to the rites of his countrymen and this spot was dedicated and enclosed by the Governor General’s authority in 1852.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A bigger cultural landscape</h2>
<p>Despite the remarkable appearance of <em>marara</em>, our interviews with Wiradjuri Elders and knowledge holders make it clear that <em>marara</em> are not just artistic objects. They are sacred locations with specific cultural (or symbolic) meaning that is not clear without deeper understanding of Wiradjuri people and Country. </p>
<p>Wiradjuri Elder Uncle Neil Ingram reveals that <em>muyalaang</em> speak to “the different clan groups and their stories”. Wiradjuri Elder Aunty Alice Williams explains that <em>muyalaang</em> are “connected back to the totems” of the area. Wiradjuri Knowledge Holder James Williams states that <em>marara</em> show “a path from here – this life – to the next life”, between the earth and “sky world” where Baiame the Wiradjuri Creator, or Sky Spirit, lives. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556382/original/file-20231027-29-1h0l1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people in discussion, sitting and standing in a circle outdoors." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556382/original/file-20231027-29-1h0l1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556382/original/file-20231027-29-1h0l1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556382/original/file-20231027-29-1h0l1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556382/original/file-20231027-29-1h0l1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556382/original/file-20231027-29-1h0l1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556382/original/file-20231027-29-1h0l1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556382/original/file-20231027-29-1h0l1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wiradjuri Elders, knowledge holders and community discussing marara (carved trees) and dhabuganha (burials) with researchers on Country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Caroline Spry</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our interviews with Wiradjuri Elders and knowledge holders also highlight that <em>marara</em> and <em>dhabuganha</em> should not be understood as individual locations or isolated “sites”. </p>
<p>Wiradjuri Elder Aunty Alice Williams explains that “you need to open your mind and think further than what’s on the tree, and what’s in the ground, and have a look around, and see what’s there … within a bigger cultural landscape”. <em>Marara</em> and <em>dhabuganha</em> form part of a connected system of Wiradjuri lore, beliefs, traditional cultural practices and Country that involved men, women and children together.</p>
<p><em>Marara</em> and <em>dhabuganha</em> encourage us to look beyond what we perceive in physical form to understand the different ways of seeing the world around us.</p>
<p>We have had the privilege of working together to document these sacred locations, and to shine a light on this important and fragile part of Australian history. <em>Marara</em> and <em>dhabuganha</em> tell a hidden story that is not apparent without deeper cultural understanding. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>The authors wish to acknowledge this article was also written with Uncle Neil Ingram (Wiradjuri Elder), Aunty Alice Williams (Wiradjuri Elder), James Williams (Wiradjuri Knowledge Holder), Yarrawula Ngullubul Men’s Corporation, Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council, Michelle Hines (Central Tablelands Local Land Services) and Tracey Potts (Central Tablelands Local Land Services).</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216539/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline Spry undertakes research at La Trobe University and receives research funding from La Trobe University and government.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian J Armstrong receives funding from the University of Melbourne and the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Greg Ingram works for the Central Tablelands Local Land Services.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lawrence Conyers receives funding from the University of Denver. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Sutherland does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new study unlocks the mysteries of ancient burial marker trees made by Wiradjuri people in southeastern Australia.Caroline Spry, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, PhD, La Trobe UniversityBrian J Armstrong, Research Associate, The University of MelbourneGreg Ingram, Wiradjuri Traditional Custodian, and Aboriginal Communities Officer at Central Tablelands Local Land Services, Indigenous KnowledgeIan Sutherland, Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi Traditional Custodian, Indigenous KnowledgeLawrence Conyers, Professor of Anthropology, University of DenverLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2146412023-11-08T03:04:39Z2023-11-08T03:04:39ZSleep apnoea can be scary. But here’s what happened when First Nations people had a say in their own care<p>Obstructive sleep apnoea is about <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4623124/">twice as common</a> in First Nations people compared with non-Indigenous Australians.</p>
<p>But the truth is, this sleep-related respiratory disorder is significantly under-reported in First Nations communities.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://issr.uq.edu.au/article/2021/11/let%E2%80%99s-yarn-about-sleep">Let’s Yarn About Sleep</a> program in Queensland hopes to change that, by acknowledging the importance of sleep not just to physical and mental health, but to spiritual health. The program uses traditional knowledge as a key part of its culturally responsive model of care.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1698807144567668999"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-first-sleep-health-program-for-first-nations-adolescents-could-change-lives-206286">The first sleep health program for First Nations adolescents could change lives</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What is obstructive sleep apnoea?</h2>
<p>In obstructive sleep apnoea the upper airway is repeatedly wholly or partially blocked during sleep, resulting in lower blood oxygen levels. The sudden drop in blood oxygen levels, and the body’s frequent waking to restart breathing, affects sleep. These also strain the heart and blood vessels.</p>
<p>People with sleep apnoea often wake up feeling unrefreshed and experience significant daytime sleepiness. Sleep apnoea also <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanwpc/article/PIIS2666-6065(22)00005-0/fulltext">increases the risk of</a> obesity, heart disease, cognitive problems, poor mental health, productivity loss and driving accidents.</p>
<p>We suspect there are significantly more cases in First Nations communities than currently reported. That’s partly because the proportion of First Nations people over 50 has <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/older-people/older-australians/contents/population-groups-of-interest/indigenous-australians">grown</a> in recent years and obesity is <a href="https://www.indigenoushpf.gov.au/measures/2-22-overweight-obesity">more common</a> in this population. Both obesity and increased age are risk factors for sleep apnoea.</p>
<p>Another reason why we suspect sleep apnoea is under-reported is the
<a href="https://healthbulletin.org.au/articles/the-tyranny-of-distance-mapping-accessibility-to-polysomnography-services-across-australia/">lack of specialist sleep services</a> in rural and remote areas. Long wait times, plus logistical and financial challenges in accessing services not available locally, means people are not being assessed, diagnosed and treated.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/health-check-is-snoring-anything-to-worry-about-68142">Health Check: is snoring anything to worry about?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A growing awareness</h2>
<p>So community members have advocated for expanding the existing Let’s Yarn About Sleep program – which was originally set up to manage sleep problems in First Nations <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-first-sleep-health-program-for-first-nations-adolescents-could-change-lives-206286">teenagers</a> – to cater for people with sleep apnoea.</p>
<p>This builds on insights from community yarns about the impact of poor sleep. These highlighted that dreaming in First Nations culture is considered an important opportunity to connect with ancestors, Country and cultural knowledge. So, poor sleep, through its impact on dreaming, also affects spiritual health.</p>
<p>Let’s Yarn About Sleep project coordinator and Kalkadoon woman Roslyn Von Senden says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dreams are an important part of our life, a medium to connect with our ancestors to be guided, foresee things, connect with others, and get inspiration and ideas to express our artistic talent. Sleep loss deprives us of opportunities to connect with our culture, our ancestors and who we are as traditional custodians of the world’s oldest surviving culture. That leads to poor emotional and mental health, affects our wellbeing and results in chronic conditions.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557197/original/file-20231102-21-feolbl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Sleep coach with program participant showing him how to use CPAP machine" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557197/original/file-20231102-21-feolbl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557197/original/file-20231102-21-feolbl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557197/original/file-20231102-21-feolbl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557197/original/file-20231102-21-feolbl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557197/original/file-20231102-21-feolbl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557197/original/file-20231102-21-feolbl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557197/original/file-20231102-21-feolbl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sleep coach Karen Chong talks about sleep apnoea with program participant Neil Dunne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://stories.uq.edu.au/news/2023/better-sleep-to-improve-health-in-indigenous-communities/index.html">UQ/Let's Yarn about Sleep program</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The program’s yarn with community members also highlighted the lack of culturally secure services, low awareness of sleep apnoea treatment options and stigma in accessing services as the key contributors to high rates of undiagnosed/untreated sleep apnoea in First Nations communities.</p>
<p>Uncle Neil Dunne, a Pitta Pitta man, who has sleep apnoea and was a member of the program’s community steering group, says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sleep apnoea is very common in our community, but many of our mob don’t get tested. There is still shame in talking about sleep apnoea. Not many people know what it means and how it affects our health. I was tested for sleep apnoea, and the doctor told me I stopped breathing 13 times [per hour] in my sleep. This is scary. It is important to educate our community on how we can get help and why it is important to get help for sleep apnoea.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/my-snoring-is-waking-up-my-partner-apart-from-a-cpap-machine-what-are-the-options-188825">My snoring is waking up my partner. Apart from a CPAP machine, what are the options?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>So what does the program look like?</h2>
<p>The idea was to design a culturally responsive model for local diagnosis and management of, and education about, obstructive sleep apnoea in First Nations communities.</p>
<p>This has involved consultation with 12 First Nations communities, and training Aboriginal health workers and nurses to deliver the program.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1714853480308015614"}"></div></p>
<p>The Aboriginal health workers will educate community members about symptoms of sleep apnoea, its health impacts and pathways to seek clinical care. They’ll also screen for sleep apnoea in the community and start the referral process so people can be treated by GPs and nurses via their local community health service or Aboriginal medical service. </p>
<p>The program uses standard treatments for sleep apnoea, such as <a href="https://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/sleep-disorders/cpap-continuous-positive-airway-pressure">continuous positive airway pressure</a> therapy, known as a CPAP machine. This includes a mask you wear at night to help open up your airway and help you breathe while sleeping. </p>
<p>But community Elders also guide the team to integrate cultural practices.</p>
<p>For example, the team will include didgeridoo sessions for men as part of the program. This Aboriginal musical instrument is not only an important part of cultural ceremonies, playing the didgeridoo <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1360393/">reduces the severity</a> of sleep apnoea. It strengthens the muscles of the throat and the back of the tongue (key muscles associated with sleep apnoea).</p>
<p>Cultural protocols don’t support offering didgeridoo sessions for women. So we will seek guidance from community members to decide which other wind instruments can be used for women. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557193/original/file-20231102-19-m7ytdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Man playing didgeridoo outside" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557193/original/file-20231102-19-m7ytdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557193/original/file-20231102-19-m7ytdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557193/original/file-20231102-19-m7ytdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557193/original/file-20231102-19-m7ytdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557193/original/file-20231102-19-m7ytdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557193/original/file-20231102-19-m7ytdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557193/original/file-20231102-19-m7ytdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Playing the didgeridoo will be part of therapy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-plays-didgeridoo-garden-697433446">Erich Haubrich/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-remarkable-yidaki-and-no-its-not-a-didge-74169">Friday essay: the remarkable yidaki (and no, it's not a 'didge')</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Locally-led, culturally responsive</h2>
<p>It’s early days for us to see any results from the program. But it shows we can develop locally led and culturally responsive models of care.</p>
<p>By co-designing with community members, integrating cultural knowledge into how we manage sleep apnoea, and building the First Nations sleep health workforce, the program aims to transform diagnosis and management for First Nations peoples.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Timothy Skinner, Professor of Health Psychology, La Trobe University, co-authored this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214641/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yaqoot Fatima is a member of the Australasian Sleep Association and is associated with the Sleep Health Foundation.
Yaqoot Fatima is supported by funding from the NHMRC Partnership Grant, MRFF Indigenous Health Research Grant, MRFF-EMCR grant, Tropical Australian Academic Health Centre grant and Beyond Blue for sleep health research.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Sullivan is a member of the Australasian Sleep Association and the Australian Psychological Society. Daniel Sullivan receives funding from a Medical Research Future Fund Early-Mid Career Researchers grant. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Romola Bucks is a member of the Australasian Sleep Association, and the Sleep Health Foundation. Romola has received funding or currently receives funding from sources including the NHMRC, the Tropical Australian Academic Health Centre Seed Funding Scheme, and Indigenous Health Research Fund: MRFF.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shannon Edmed receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) 2021 Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Early to Mid-Career Researchers Grant.
Shannon Edmed's research is supported partially by the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Project ID CE200100025).
She has also previously received funding from Government departments such as the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care and the Commonwealth Defence Science and Technology Group.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roslyn Von Senden does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Poor sleep deprives First Nations people of the chance to connect with culture. So they co-designed a sleep apnoea program they’d actually use.Yaqoot Fatima, Associate Professor, UQ Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, The University of QueenslandDaniel Sullivan, Research Fellow, UQ Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, The University of QueenslandRomola Bucks, Pro Vice Chancellor (Health and Medical Science) & Director of the Raine Study (rainestudy.org.au), The University of Western AustraliaRoslyn Von Senden, Senior Project Officer, UQ Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, The University of QueenslandShannon Edmed, Research Fellow, Institute for Social Science Research, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2149492023-11-02T22:49:19Z2023-11-02T22:49:19ZIn the 1800s, colonial settlers moved Ballarat’s Yarrowee River. The impacts are still felt today<p>The discovery of gold in Ballarat in 1851 transformed its landscape to a staggering degree. Within days, and despite the news being initially suppressed, hundreds of men had gathered along the Yarrowee River. </p>
<p>They sluiced the clay and soil, turning the once pristine waters into what writer William Bramwell Withers <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/2937612">described</a> as</p>
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<p>liquid, yellow as the yellowest Tiber flood, and its banks grew to be long shoals of tailings.</p>
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<p>Over the next few weeks, the waterways of the Yarrowee River and of Gnarr Creek were diverted into water courses to support the search for gold.</p>
<p>The river was moved to make way for the town population boom, which was driven by a lust for gold. The end result was that the original, serpentine path of the river – originally across floodplains equipped to handle the natural ebb and flow of water and seasonal flooding – eventually came to be a much straighter line. Part of the river now runs underground through a tunnel.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-953" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/953/c2d23cd95a72326c661068837565617ee1bd0f41/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Our new interactive map, <a href="https://yarrowee.cerdi.edu.au/">Yarrowee River History: Peel to Prest</a> (which takes its name from the two streets that serve as borders for the mapping), interrogates the long-term effects of this water diversion on community and Country.</p>
<p>A collaboration between Federation University, the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation and the city of Ballarat, our project overlays historical maps with Google Maps to illustrate how the area changed.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-952" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/952/5616d6e1226fe77e975d562937b50a1c71283eee/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/victorias-gold-rush-ended-in-the-19th-century-so-why-are-people-still-finding-so-much-gold-202846">Victoria’s gold rush ended in the 19th century. So why are people still finding so much gold?</a>
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<h2>‘We inherit the scars of this trauma’</h2>
<p>In Ballarat, water is deeply significant to the culture of the area’s First Nations inhabitants, the Wadawurrung people, who stewarded these lands and waterways for millennia.</p>
<p>So we wanted people using our interactive map to ponder the cultural significance of these gold rush impacts to the Wadawurrung people and the environment.</p>
<p>For the Wadawurrung people, the watercourse now known as the Yarrowee River carries profound historical meaning. </p>
<p>This river bore the names Yaramlok and Narmbool, and these names were used interchangeably to reference different segments of the Yarrowee. </p>
<p>The river wasn’t merely a physical entity – it was a symbol of spiritual and cultural significance, the life force which flows through Country.</p>
<p>It supported fishing, agriculture and food gathering. It symbolised the deep and harmonious connection with dja (Country) and the precious resource of ngubitj (water). </p>
<p>The river diversion affected the Wadawurrung profoundly. As two of us (Shannen Mennen and Kelly Ann Blake) write on the <a href="https://yarrowee.cerdi.edu.au/">Yarrowee River History: Peel to Prest</a> site:</p>
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<p>Colonisation and mining in Ballarat led to devastation and destruction of Wadawurrung dja, including the Yarrowee River. Settlement was built upon our living spaces and as a result Wadawurrung people were displaced. </p>
<p>The withholding of cultural rights and obligations further increased the dispossession of our people, who were unforgivingly forced to adapt to change. Still today we inherit the scars of this trauma.</p>
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<p>Colonial settlers altered the river</p>
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<p>in a way which excluded the knowledge Wadawurrung people had built upon for many thousands of years […] The habitat surrounding the Yarrowee was removed or altered, damaging animal, fish and insect populations.</p>
<p>The destruction of the waterway continues to impact our people today. However, the spirit of this land remains within us and we continue as Wadawurrung people to live alongside the Yarrowee whilst working to restore its health and vitality.</p>
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<p>The Wadawurrung people involved in this project hope it fosters interconnectedness between the waterway, our human ancestors, creator beings and all living things. </p>
<p>It is also crucial in working towards reconciliation by helping people understand the devastating environmental destruction wrought by the gold rush for the First Nations people of the region and the deep connection between culture, heritage and the landscape.</p>
<h2>Effluent, flooding and typhoid</h2>
<p>When one looks at the sheer scale of the transformation of Ballarat and district wrought by the gold rush, the level of environmental destruction is almost beyond comprehension.</p>
<p>Vast forested tracts of land were felled of trees, the topsoil dug up and blown away, the earth ripped open by deep tunnelling. Imported sheep began to harden the soil (disrupting native plants) and consuming the Murrnong plants, whose roots were a staple of the Wadawurrung people.</p>
<p>Moving the river made the area prone to disastrous flooding as water was diverted away from floodplains. Land was polluted by effluent and chemical residue from mining. This led to multiple outbreaks of disease. As one contributor to the Ballarat Star wrote at the time:</p>
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<p>The smell from this creek for a quarter of a mile on each side is most frightful — the bed of the creek looking and smelling like the refuse pigs’ droppings mixing with their liquid manure. Nearly one-half of the children, and even adults, have been swept off between the Gnarr Creek and the Cemetery, from typhoid fever.</p>
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<p>This project aims to draw attention to the absolute centrality of the waterways to Australia’s history and continual sustainable environmental management. </p>
<p>Mapping the transformation of Australia’s waterways since colonisation is crucial to understanding the long term effects of changes we make to our environment.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/flashers-femmes-and-other-forgotten-figures-of-the-eureka-stockade-20939">Flashers, femmes and other forgotten figures of the Eureka Stockade</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214949/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Ann Blake works for Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation as a Biodiversity Project Officer.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shannen Mennen works for Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation as a Project Officer.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Waldron does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The river wasn’t merely a physical entity – it was a symbol of spiritual and cultural significance, serving as the life force which flows through Country.David Waldron, Senior Lecturer in History, Federation University AustraliaKelly Ann Blake, Gherrang/Biodiversity Project Officer, Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, Indigenous KnowledgeShannen Mennen, Project Officer Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, Indigenous KnowledgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2168212023-11-01T19:25:15Z2023-11-01T19:25:15ZNo back door for 5 years: remote community’s High Court win is good news for renters everywhere<p>It took seven years, but a tiny remote community in the Northern Territory had a major legal win yesterday.</p>
<p>People in the town of Santa Teresa, southeast of Alice Springs, won the right to compensation for the substandard housing they’re forced to live in.</p>
<p>For more than five years, one resident lived without a back door.</p>
<p>The High Court <a href="https://eresources.hcourt.gov.au/showCase/2023/HCA/31">ruled</a> their landlord, the Northern Territory government, must pay them for the “distress and disappointment” they endured as a result. </p>
<p>So what does this mean, not just for the Aboriginal community leading the charge, but for tenants’ rights more broadly?</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/aboriginal-housing-policies-must-be-based-on-community-needs-not-what-non-indigenous-people-think-they-need-162999">Aboriginal housing policies must be based on community needs — not what non-Indigenous people think they need</a>
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<h2>A long path to legal victory</h2>
<p>The fight for better housing conditions in Santa Teresa has been making its way through the courts for years.</p>
<p>In 2016, a group of residents launched a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-27/santa-teresa-community-wins-housing-class-action-against-govt/10853674">class action</a> against the NT government for not providing habitable homes.</p>
<p>Three years later, some of the residents in the action were successful in the NT Civil and Administrative Tribunal in their efforts to sue.</p>
<p>But the government has fought every step of the way. </p>
<p>It appealed to the Supreme Court, which then sided with the tenants by awarding them <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-09/northern-territory-santa-teresa-residents-supreme-court-fight/12641354">further compensation</a>.</p>
<p>The NT government appealed that, too. The Court of Appeal found the government was in breach, but held the tenants were not entitled to all the compensation ordered.</p>
<p>So the tenants appealed, bringing the matter to the High Court.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://eresources.hcourt.gov.au/downloadPdf/2023/HCA/31">majority ruling</a>, the court found the government had breached the Residential Tenancies Act by not providing one of the residents with a back door.</p>
<p>But that part isn’t surprising. The new part is that the court decided the government was liable for compensation.</p>
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<h2>What was the case around compensation?</h2>
<p>Here’s where some common law principles come into play.</p>
<p>The NT government argued that while it breached the tenancy act, it didn’t owe compensation as a result.</p>
<p>The devil is in the detail, namely the words “disappointment or distress”.</p>
<p>Those are non-economic losses. That means they didn’t directly cost the residents money.</p>
<p>Under common law, there’s no entitlement to compensation for most non-economic losses. </p>
<p>There are some exceptions, though: if the disappointment comes from being physically inconvenienced, or from being expressly promised enjoyment, compensation may be required.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-design-housing-for-indigenous-communities-that-can-withstand-the-impacts-of-climate-change-171203">We need to design housing for Indigenous communities that can withstand the impacts of climate change</a>
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<p>An example of this is when people sue cruise companies for being disappointed by <a href="https://www.australiancontractlaw.info/cases/database/baltic-shipping-v-dillon">their holiday</a>.</p>
<p>In this case, the High Court has decided that those restrictive principles don’t apply to compensation for breaches of tenancy rights under residential tenancies legislation.</p>
<p>It found when it looked at the overall intent of the territory’s <a href="https://legislation.nt.gov.au/en/Legislation/RESIDENTIAL-TENANCIES-ACT-1999">Residential Tenancy Act</a>, including its compensation provisions, the residents were entitled to compensation.</p>
<p>So the Supreme Court’s previous compensation order is restored.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/think-private-renting-is-hard-first-nations-people-can-be-excluded-from-the-start-192392">Think private renting is hard? First Nations people can be excluded from the start</a>
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<p>But two High Court judges wrote a minority judgement. </p>
<p>Interestingly, they agreed the tenants should be compensated, but for a different reason. </p>
<p>They thought a tenancy promised enjoyment, so compensation for “disappointment and distress” would be allowed by those common law principles.</p>
<h2>What does this mean for renters nationally?</h2>
<p>The case has been referred to as a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-04/nt-supreme-court-finds-for-santa-teresa-public-housing-tenants/100804718">landmark one</a>, and in many ways it is.</p>
<p>A group of Aboriginal public housing tenants organised, fought for their rights, and won. They changed the law.</p>
<p>There are many barriers to tenants fighting for what they’re entitled to, so it’s a remarkable result. </p>
<p>The two leaders of the litigation died before the High Court handed down its decision. It is a memorial to them.</p>
<p>The High Court’s decision refers specifically to the NT’s residential tenancies legislation. It did not decide whether those restrictive common law principles about compensation are excluded from tenancy laws in other states and the ACT. </p>
<p>That question will have to be answered by the tribunals and courts in each other state and territory. </p>
<p>Given the legislation across the country are on a broadly common model, it seems likely the result would be similar, but that’s up to the courts to decide.</p>
<p>At any rate, the case has demonstrated that remote communities in the Northern Territory are legally entitled to safe, habitable living conditions, and the government is liable if it fails to provide them.</p>
<p>And tenants around Australia can take heart from the example of the Santa Teresa tenants.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216821/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Martin receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, the Tenants' Union of NSW and Tenants Queensland Ltd. He is affiliated with the Eastern Area Tenants Service, as a member of its management committee.</span></em></p>The tiny remote community of Santa Teresa spent seven years fighting for compensation for poor public housing. Now that the High Court has ruled in their favour, what does it mean for other renters?Chris Martin, Senior Research Fellow, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2138642023-10-25T19:10:36Z2023-10-25T19:10:36ZBeyond Juukan Gorge: how First Nations people are taking charge of clean energy projects on their land<p><a href="https://nntc.com.au/news_latest/the-net-zero-2060-goal-will-need-to-rely-on-australias-indigenous-estate-says-new-findings/">Many</a> of the big wind and solar farms planned to help Australia achieve net zero emissions by 2050 will be built on the lands and waters of First Nations peoples. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-022-00994-6">More than half</a> of the projects that will extract critical minerals to drive the global clean energy transition overlap with Indigenous-held lands.</p>
<p>Australia’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilbara">Pilbara</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_(Western_Australia)">Kimberley</a> regions have high rates of Indigenous land tenure, while hosting some of world’s best co-located solar and wind energy resources. Such abundance presents big opportunities for energy exports, <a href="https://theconversation.com/red-dirt-yellow-sun-green-steel-how-australia-could-benefit-from-a-global-shift-to-emissions-free-steel-179286">green steel</a> and <a href="https://www.bp.com/en_au/australia/home/who-we-are/reimagining-energy/decarbonizing-australias-energy-system/renewable-energy-hub-in-australia.html">zero carbon products</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2021/may/17/who-owns-australia">Almost 60% of Australia</a> is subject to some level of First Nations’ rights and interests, including exclusive possession rights (akin to freehold) over a quarter of the continent. So the stakes for all players are high.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-973" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/973/534c98def812dd41ac56cc750916e2922539729b/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>In 2020, after news Rio Tinto had <a href="https://www.riotinto.com/en/news/trending-topics/inquiry-into-juukan-gorge#:%7E:text=In%20May%202020%2C%20we%20destroyed,on%20which%20our%20business%20operates.">legally destroyed</a> the sacred Juukan Gorge rock shelter in order to gain access to more than $100 million worth of iron ore, we wrote an <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-aboriginal-people-have-little-say-over-energy-projects-on-their-land-139119">article</a> questioning how much legal say First Nations people would have over massive new wind and solar farms planned for their Country. We asked whether the move to a zero-carbon economy “would be a just transition for First Nations?”</p>
<h2>The long but hopeful journey back from Juukan Gorge</h2>
<p>Much has happened in the past three years, and while more needs to be done, some signs are promising.</p>
<p>First, the furore and subsequent parliamentary <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/about/reporting/obligations/government-responses/destruction-of-juukan-gorge">inquiry</a> following the Juukan Gorge incident forced the resignation of <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/rio-tinto-ceo-top-executives-resign-amid-cave-blast-crisis/">Rio Tinto boss</a> Jean-Sebastien Jacques. Companies were put on notice that they can no longer run roughshod over First Nations communities. <a href="https://www.atns.net.au/climate-repair-project">Research in progress</a> indicates the clean energy industry <a href="https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/news/kane-thornton-opening-address-to-the-australian-clean-energy-summit">has heard</a> this message. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-human-factor-why-australias-net-zero-transition-risks-failing-unless-it-is-fair-214064">The human factor: why Australia's net zero transition risks failing unless it is fair</a>
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<p>Second, in 2021 the <a href="https://www.firstnationscleanenergy.org.au">First Nations Clean Energy Network</a> – a group of prominent First Nations community organisers, lawyers, engineers and financial experts – was created and began to undertake significant advocacy work with governments and industry. </p>
<p>The network has released several <a href="https://www.firstnationscleanenergy.org.au/network_guides">useful guides</a> on best practice on First Peoples’ Country. Again, <a href="https://www.atns.net.au/climate-repair-project">research</a> indicates the clean energy industry is paying attention to the work of the network. </p>
<p>Third, there is a question whether the <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/about-native-title">Native Title Act</a> allows large-scale clean energy developments to go ahead without native title holders’ permission. We are increasingly <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629621003455">convinced</a> the only way such developments will <a href="https://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2022/5/WP_143_Maynard.pdf">gain approval</a> through the Native Title Act is through an <a href="http://www.nntt.gov.au/ILUAs/Pages/default.aspx#:%7E:text=What%20is%20an%20ILUA%3F,least%20part%20of%20the%20area">Indigenous Land Use Agreement</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-original-and-still-the-best-why-its-time-to-renew-australias-renewable-energy-policy-213879">The original and still the best: why it's time to renew Australia's renewable energy policy</a>
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<p>Moreover, <a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/fncen/pages/326/attachments/original/1692660875/Queensland_policy_overview_-_First_Nations_and_Clean_Energy_Aug_2023.pdf?1692660875">Queensland</a> and <a href="https://www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/diversification-leases">Western Australia</a> have both implemented policies and South Australia is developing <a href="https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/lz?path=/b/current/hydrogen%20and%20renewable%20energy%20bill%202023">legislation</a> that make it clear these states will require renewable energy developers to negotiate an agreement with First Nations land holders. Because these agreements are voluntary, native title holders can refuse to allow large wind and solar farms on their Country.</p>
<p>As always, these decisions come with caveats. Governments can compulsorily acquire land, and many of the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19452829.2021.1901670">power imbalances</a> we observed in our earlier article persist. These include the power corporations have – unlike most Indigenous communities – to employ independent legal and technical advice about proposed projects, and to easily access finance when a community would like to develop a project itself.</p>
<h2>Promising partnerships on the road to net zero</h2>
<p>Are First Nations peoples refusing to have wind and solar projects on their land? No, they are not. Many significant proposed projects announced in the last few years show huge promise in terms of First Nations ownership and control.</p>
<p>In Western Australia the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-17/yindjibarndi-to-use-exclusive-native-title-land-for-renewables/102609826">partnership</a> between Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation and renewable energy company ACEN plans to build three gigawatts of solar and wind infrastructure on Yindjibarndi exclusive possession native title. Mirning traditional owners hold equity stakes in one of the largest green energy projects in the world, the massive <a href="https://wgeh.com.au/mirning#:%7E:text=The%20WA%20Mirning%20People%20are,transcontinental%20lines%20in%20the%20North.">Western Green Energy Hub</a> located on their lands in the great Australian Bight.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-urgently-needs-a-climate-plan-and-a-net-zero-national-cabinet-committee-to-implement-it-213866">Why Australia urgently needs a climate plan and a Net Zero National Cabinet Committee to implement it</a>
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<p>Further north, Balanggarra traditional owners, the MG Corporation and the Kimberley Land Council have together announced a landmark East Kimberley Clean Energy <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/aboriginal-backing-for-3b-kimberley-hydrogen-project-20230717-p5dovg">project</a> aimed at producing green hydrogen and ammonia for export. </p>
<p>Across the border in the Northern Territory, Larrakia Nation and the Jawoyn Association have created Desert Springs Octopus, a majority Indigenous-owned <a href="https://octopusinvestments.com.au/insights/desert-springs-octopus-announces-new-renewable-energy-agreement/">company</a> backed by Octopus Australia. </p>
<p>Still, much more needs to happen to provide Indigenous communities with proper consent and control. In its 2023 <a href="https://www.wa.gov.au/government/media-statements/Cook%20Labor%20Government/Milestone-new-legislation-helps-cut-red-tape-20230810#:%7E:text=The%20amendments%20which%20deliver%20a,Act%202023(the%20Act).">amendments</a> to allow for renewable energy projects on pastoral leases, the Western Australian government could have given native title holders more control but it chose not to. And much needed reforms to cultural heritage laws in WA were scrapped following <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-10/roger-cook-leadership-aboriginal-cultural-heritage-act/102706694?utm_campaign=newsweb-article-new-share-null&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web">a backlash from farmers</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/made-in-america-how-bidens-climate-package-is-fuelling-the-global-drive-to-net-zero-214709">Made in America: how Biden's climate package is fuelling the global drive to net zero</a>
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<p>In New South Wales, some clean energy developers seem to be avoiding Aboriginal lands, perhaps because they think it will be easier to negotiate with individual landholders. The result is lost <a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/fncen/pages/232/attachments/original/1685504567/Norman_Briggs_Apolonio_Discussionpaper_012023.pdf?1685504567">opportunities for partnership</a>, much needed <a href="https://arena.org.au/first-nations-environmental-work/">know-how</a> and <a href="https://soundcloud.com/solarinsiders/the-power-of-putting-first-nations-first?utm_source=clipboard&utm_campaign=wtshare&utm_medium=widget&utm_content=https%253A%252F%252Fsoundcloud.com%252Fsolarinsiders%252Fthe-power-of-putting-first-nations-first">mutual benefit</a>. </p>
<p>In the case of critical mineral deposits on or near lands subject to First Nations’ title, <a href="https://nit.com.au/11-04-2023/5559/the-practical-effect-of-an-indigenous-voice-the-case-of-critical-minerals">not nearly enough</a> has been done to ensure these communities will benefit from their extraction.</p>
<h2>Why free, prior and informed consent is crucial</h2>
<p>To ensure the net zero transition is just, First Nations must be guaranteed “free, prior and informed consent” to any renewable energy or critical mineral project proposed for their lands and waters, as <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf">the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a> makes clear.</p>
<p>So long as governments can compulsorily acquire native title to expedite a renewable energy project and miners are allowed to mine critical minerals (or any mineral) without native title holders’ consent, the net zero transition will transgress this internationally recognised right. </p>
<p>The Commonwealth government has agreed in principle with the recommendations of the Juukan Gorge inquiry to review native title legislation to address inequalities in the position of First Nations peoples when they are negotiating <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/australian-response-to-destruction-of-juukan-gorge.pdf">access to their lands and waters</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-road-is-long-and-time-is-short-but-australias-pace-towards-net-zero-is-quickening-214570">The road is long and time is short, but Australia's pace towards net zero is quickening</a>
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<p>The meaningful participation of First Nations rights holders is critical to de-risking clean energy projects. Communities must decide the forms participation takes – full or part ownership, leasing and so on – after they have properly assessed their options. Rapid electrification through wind and solar developments cannot <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/ark-energy-halves-size-of-queensland-wind-farm-but-doubles-size-of-turbines/">come</a> at the expense of land clearing and loss of biodiversity. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.atns.net.au/climate-repair-project">Ongoing research</a> highlights that when negotiating land access for these projects, First Nations people are putting protection of the environment first when negotiating the footprint of these developments. That’s good news for all Australians.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213864/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ganur Maynard was formerly a member of the steering committee of the First Nations Clean Energy Network. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brad Riley, Janet Hunt, and Lily O'Neill do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia’s road to net zero must pass through Indigenous-held land, which is likely to host many clean energy projects. First Nations people want partnerships that help them protect their Country.Lily O'Neill, Senior Research Fellow, Melbourne Climate Futures, The University of MelbourneBrad Riley, Research Fellow, Australian National UniversityGanur Maynard, Indigenous Knowledge Holder, Indigenous KnowledgeJanet Hunt, Honorary Associate Professor, CAEPR, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2059942023-10-20T21:17:54Z2023-10-20T21:17:54ZDid Australia’s First Peoples domesticate dingoes? They certainly buried them with great care<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544721/original/file-20230825-29-dja0ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=335%2C323%2C1347%2C940&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dingoes are an iconic Australian wild animal, <a href="https://theconversation.com/living-blanket-water-diviner-wild-pet-a-cultural-history-of-the-dingo-80189">with close links</a> to Australia’s First Peoples throughout the mainland. Yet the origins and history of these animals are shrouded in obscurity.</p>
<p>The question of whether dingoes are a <a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jzo.12134">truly wild</a> or formerly domestic animal that <a href="https://theconversation.com/dingoes-dogs-and-the-feral-identity-11635">has become feral</a> has eluded a clear answer or consensus amongst scientists for well over a century. </p>
<p>Published in <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0286576">PLOS One today</a>, our new study of dingoes buried alongside First Nations people in ancient times has provided crucial clues to this mystery. Our findings may help change the way we think about the connections between dingoes and people.</p>
<h2>Living alongside people</h2>
<p>When outsiders observed traditional First Peoples’ societies in the 19th and 20th centuries throughout mainland Australia, they noticed many took dingo pups from wild dens and raised them to keep as companions and <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/17/2285">for a variety of other purposes</a> including as guards, hunting aids and living “blankets”.</p>
<p>However, these dingoes always returned to the bush to find a mate after reaching about a year of age, seemingly never to return. This is quite unlike our domestic dogs – they may wander, but ultimately tend to stay with their human families in the long term.</p>
<p>The fact most dingoes live without any reliance on people is one of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31716519/">the main reasons</a> scientific opinion differs over whether dingoes should be thought of as domestic animals or not.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544720/original/file-20230825-29-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up of very red coarse sand with several paw prints." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544720/original/file-20230825-29-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544720/original/file-20230825-29-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544720/original/file-20230825-29-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544720/original/file-20230825-29-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544720/original/file-20230825-29-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544720/original/file-20230825-29-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544720/original/file-20230825-29-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Dingo tracks in the red desert sand of central Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dingo-canis-tracks-native-wolf-dog-1389629552">Shutterstock</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-dna-testing-shatters-wild-dog-myth-most-dingoes-are-pure-206397">New DNA testing shatters 'wild dog' myth: most dingoes are pure</a>
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<p>But is it possible different arrangements between dingoes and Australia’s First Peoples existed before traditional ways of life were disrupted by colonial violence, displacement and disease? Answers might be found in the bones of dingoes that lived with people and were buried after death. </p>
<p>There are historical accounts of funerary and burial rituals of deceased tamed dingoes. Skeletons of dingoes or dogs have been found alongside First Peoples’ burials in many areas of Australia from <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03122417.2010.11689380">Arnhem Land</a> to the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/175303713X13636846944088">Murray-Darling</a> basin, but to date there’s been no comprehensive study of this important cultural practice.</p>
<p>In a search of historical records and findings of dingo burials, we found they were concentrated in the Murray-Darling Basin and on the southern coastlines of New South Wales and Victoria. A secondary, more recent cluster was located in north-western Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528499/original/file-20230526-23-5faty3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map of Australia showing a few locations of dingo burials with yellow dots" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528499/original/file-20230526-23-5faty3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528499/original/file-20230526-23-5faty3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528499/original/file-20230526-23-5faty3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528499/original/file-20230526-23-5faty3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528499/original/file-20230526-23-5faty3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528499/original/file-20230526-23-5faty3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528499/original/file-20230526-23-5faty3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Map of Australia illustrating the distribution of dingo burials reported in archaeological, historical and news literature.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Loukas Koungoulos</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<h2>Buried alongside people</h2>
<p>Historical records and archaeological evidence both show that when dingoes were buried, it was invariably in the manner in which people were buried in the same region. Often, dingoes were buried alongside people.</p>
<p>The act of burial implies a degree of care and belonging to a community. Some archaeologists argue animal burial is a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440305001597?via%3Dihub">fundamental sign of domestication</a>. But by examining the skeletons of buried dingoes we can further investigate the life histories of these important animals. </p>
<p>The archaeological site of Curracurrang, a rock shelter in the Royal National Park just south of Sydney, was excavated <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/200906?journalCode=ca">in the 1960s</a>. The excavations found First People were buried there over many centuries.</p>
<p>But our new primary investigations of previously unstudied animal bones reveal the site also contained the skeletons of several dingoes. Radiocarbon dates taken from their bones found the earliest of these were buried around 2,300–2,000 years ago. Dingo burials continued here until the colonial era. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528500/original/file-20230526-25-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Several bone fragments and teeth on a white background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528500/original/file-20230526-25-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528500/original/file-20230526-25-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528500/original/file-20230526-25-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528500/original/file-20230526-25-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528500/original/file-20230526-25-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528500/original/file-20230526-25-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528500/original/file-20230526-25-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mandibular and dental fragments of one of the dingo burials from Curracurrang; this was an elderly individual with highly worn teeth, suggesting a lifetime of crunching bones discarded by people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Loukas Koungoulos</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Some of the dingoes were adults, at least six to eight years old – well past the age at which they’d be expected to return to the wild to breed. They had severely worn teeth, indicating a diet heavy in large bones, likely from the scraps of human meals.</p>
<p>In addition, one dingo showed signs of suffering from an aggressive, mobility-restricting form of cancer in the last weeks of its life. It was likely looked after by people during its decline.</p>
<p>Several other burials were pups, less than a month or two in age. Since dingoes of breeding age were also found at Curracurrang, it is entirely probable some of these pups were born there but did not survive long, and were buried soon after. These individuals are the first known evidence of dingo pup burial in Australia. </p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/barkindji-custodians-near-broken-hill-continue-to-care-for-ancestral-dingo-remains-with-help-from-archaeologists-215457">Barkindji custodians near Broken Hill continue to care for ancestral dingo remains with help from archaeologists</a>
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<h2>A previously obscured relationship</h2>
<p>Dingo burials reveal aspects of the relationship between Australia’s First Peoples and their dingo companions which had been, until now, obscured.</p>
<p>At Curracurrang, tame dingoes lived to advanced ages alongside people. They ate the same foods and possibly even bore litters of pups within human camps. While traditional views of domestication involve <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-animals-living-with-humans-evolve-such-similar-features-a-new-theory-could-explain-domestication-syndrome-201765">dramatic transformations in appearance</a> and human control over animal reproduction, newer perspectives focus on long-lasting relationships between people and animals. </p>
<p>The evidence from Curracurrang suggests some dingoes, at least in certain settings, were domesticated in ancient times. This doesn’t mean all dingoes were domesticated, nor does it conclusively indicate they originate from domestic dogs. </p>
<p>Most dingoes were, and still are, wild animals with various adaptations to life independent of people in Australian environments. </p>
<p>However, the new findings do mark an important development in our understanding of the deep antiquity and closeness of the connection between Australia’s First Peoples and their native dogs. It attests to long-lasting relationships beyond the transient, temporary associations recorded during the colonial era. </p>
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<p><em>Acknowledgments: we are grateful to the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council and community for their permission to undertake research on the Curracurrang dingo remains. We also give thanks to the Australian Museum for facilitating access to these materials.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205994/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Loukas Koungoulos receives funding from The Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Balme receives funding from The Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shane Ingrey is a member of the La Perouse Aboriginal community and the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sue O'Connor receives funding from The Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>There’s been a long-standing debate over whether dingoes started out wild or domesticated. One thing is clear – they had a close relationship with First Peoples.Loukas Koungoulos, Postdoctoral research fellow, Australian National UniversityJane Balme, Professor Emerita of Archaeology, The University of Western AustraliaShane Ingrey, Postdoctoral research fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH), UNSW SydneySue O'Connor, Distinguished Professor, School of Culture, History & Language, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.