#6 Conservation through Reconciliation with Eli Enns

In episode 6, we speak with Eli Enns, a Nuu-chah-nulth Canadian political scientist and internationally recognized expert in bio-cultural heritage conservation. Eli is the Co-Founder & President of the Iisaak Olam Foundation, which works to support indigenous leadership in the conservation of biological and cultural diversity. Ultimately, Isaak Olam aims to support the establishment of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) in Canada, and to educate Canadians about their importance.

In 2007, Eli co-founded the Ha-uukmin Tribal Park on the territory of the Tla-o-qui-aht Nation. More recently, he co-chaired the Indigenous Circle of Experts for the Pathway to Canada Target 1 initiative, which was focused on how the creation of IPCAs can simultaneously contribute to Canada’s biodiversity conservation commitments and also promote reconciliation with First Nations in Canada. Eli is also a co-leader of the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership (CRP), which is a coalition of Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders, scholars, conservation groups and communicators working to advance the recommendations put forth by the Indigenous Circle of Experts in their report entitled, We Rise Together (link below).

In talking about his current work with the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership, Eli took us through the deep historical perspective that informs contemporary nation-to-nation interactions in Canada, and the relevance of that history for both conservation and reconciliation. Eli reflected on Indigenous perspectives on the Covid-19 pandemic, and noted how the discussion of many, if not all, contemporary environmental issues, can benefit from improved cross-cultural literacy.

Note: Our conversation with Eli was recorded in mid-May, 2021, prior to the news about the finding of the burial site of 215 Indigenous children from a residential school in Kamloops, BC. So while this news isn’t a part of our conversation with Eli, we want to acknowledge that awareness of the atrocities that took place within Canada’s residential school system is also foundational to the notion of cross-cultural literacy in Canada. We hope that our conversation with Eli plays a part in promoting the cross-cultural literacy that’s necessary to advance the process of reconciliation between Indigenous Peoples and settlers in Canada.

Iisaak Olam Foundation: https://www.iisaakolam.ca/

The Conservation Through Reconciliation Partnership: https://conservation-reconciliation.ca/

We Rise Together, the report by the Indigenous Circle of Experts: https://www.conservation2020canada.ca/ice-resources