CLIMATE DISPLACEMENT IN THE NEWS
A group of Canadian lawyers have been advocating for small advances in Canadian immigration policy to accommodate the realities of climate impacts on human mobility. Like most countries, Canada does not recognize climate migrants under its current immigration law, but the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers points to past disasters – like the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and 2004 South East Asian tsunami - as example of times the government offered special directives to persons seeking refuge.
One major area of concern is the impact of climate change on the existing health inequities experienced by these communities. A warming climate will worsen food and water security, air quality, personal safety, and mental well-being, and access to livelihood options, among others. The report importantly highlights that health impacts are not experienced evenly within and between Indigenous communities, demonstrating that solutions must respect “cultures, geography, local contexts, and the unique needs of these communities.”
Climate change will be the third iteration of displacement inflicted on Indigenous communities by the United States, all of which threaten the enjoyment of the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Joris Beugels via UNSPLASH
The Canadian government’s failure to take meaningful action on climate change is putting Indigenous groups at risk of food shortages and poor nutrition, especially those in remote locations. A report by Human Rights Watch finds that habitat loss and extreme weather are major drivers of depleted traditional food sources, and nutritious food flown into communities remains too expensive.
Despite the Trudeau government’s commitments to be a leader on climate and advance the recognition of Indigenous People’s rights, Northern Canada is warming at a rate well above the global average. Provincial and territorial governments were also criticized in the report, which recommended stronger emissions reduction strategies as well as greater technical and financial assistance to communities facing negative impacts of climate change.
One of the key implications of HRW’s report, which studied three different remote First Nations communities in Ontario, Yukon, and British Columbia, is that climate change is compounding already poor outcomes among Indigenous Peoples. For example, increasingly scarce traditional food sources are being supplemented by lower quality, less nutritious food brought in from elsewhere, which only worsens health outcomes stemming from centuries of marginalization and oppression. These intertwined issues are particularly concerning in the context of a global pandemic, in which poor health outcomes undermine coping mechanisms traditionally used to manage extreme events.
"The horrible irony is that we have contributed very little to climate change but are facing the biggest impacts" - Vern Cheechoo, director of lands and resources at Mushkegowuk Council, which represents seven Cree First Nations in northern Ontario
In addition, this report highlights yet another example of how governments, even those that outwardly support the issues at hand, often fail to adequately include their most vulnerable constituents in discussions and policymaking. This means that even communities who take matters into their own hands, such as implementing food sharing networks and regional monitoring systems, are left with inadequate support.
Worryingly, the findings of this latest report mainly echo previous warnings. Over a year ago, Canada’s environment watchdog found the government’s lack of progress on emissions reduction “disturbing” just days after Environment Canada’s scientists issued a warning regarding Canada’s rapid rate of warming compared to the rest of the planet. (Reuters, CBC)
This article by Chantel Comardelle, Tribal executive secretary of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe, is from the fall 2020 edition of the Nonprofit Quarterly is part of a series of works on the subject of environmental justice and Indigenous communities in the United States
Excerpts and SPOTLIGHT views presented below
Tyler Domingue via UNSPLASH
“Isle de Jean Charles is a small ridge of land in southern Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. “The Island,” as locals call it, is home to the Isle de Jean Charles (IDJC) Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe of Louisiana. The IDJC Tribe settled the Island in the early 1800s, having been pushed into “uninhabitable” lands by European settler colonialism, slavery, and social inequality.”
Long before climate change challenged the IDJC Tribe’s homeland, systemic discrimination and racism towards Indigenous people challenged their universal rights.
The IDJC Tribe adapted to life on a secluded island, accessible only by boat, by living solely off the land and surrounding waters. The Tribal children were denied public education until 1952 even though a missionary school was within reach on the mainland by the 1930s and the Baptist Mission built a church on the Island, which was used as a school in the 1940s.
When the “Island Road” connecting the Island to Pointe-aux-Chênes was built in 1953, a whole new world opened to the IDJC Tribe. However, the road crossed the marshland, leaving it wide open to erosion and flooding.
Since 1955, the Island has sustained a 98 percent erosion rate, contributing to floods and hurricanes that have destroyed some homes. Although the road was restored and elevated in 2011, and the Tribe was told this would permanently fix the problem, over the past 3 three years, the road has regularly flooded due to increasing extreme weather events, particularly where the Gulf is vulnerable.
The Island is now unable to sustain life for the entire IDJC Tribe, because of climate change. Climate change impacts like sea level rise, environmental disasters and gradual sinking of the land due to levees on the Mississippi River.
Tribal members have trickled off the island due to loss of homes, work and repeated flooding that began as early as 1974 with Hurricane Carmen. Gradually, there’s been an uptick in departures, with the biggest departure in 2002 when over 50 families left following devastation from Hurricane Lili.
The IDJC Tribe is now separated, displaced and losing their way of life. Oral histories, traditions and knowledge passed on for generations is also at stake.
Much like it is for refugees, most of whom live out the rest of their lives in exile. And much like it is for so many places in the world like the Lake Chad basin, for example, where nomadic ways of life are being disturbed by conflict and climate change and resulting displacement impacts separation and loss of that way of life.
For the IDJC Tribe, hope for solutions has dwindled over the years from many missteps and the state of Louisiana’s slow and improper implementation of the federal Housing and Urban Development National Disaster Resilience Grant, awarded in 2016, and meant to include the Tribe’s envisioned Tribal Resettlement Plan.
In the latest amendment, the state has made it clear that the IDJC Tribe would no longer be involved in any part of the grant nor receive any funds.
Now the Tribe has invested in “Preserving Our Place,” a movement to preserve the Island and the Tribe’s long legacy of traditions, culture and history. The IDJC Tribal Council approved the first Tribal Museum Policy and will establish a Tribal Museum and Culture Center, community gardens, storytelling activities, craft demonstrations and historical exhibits are just the tip of the iceberg.
But first must come efforts to ensure the Island and the IDJC Tribe does not erode, and they can’t do that alone.
“Thinking of the vast undertaking, for guidance—ironically—I look to the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, whose Preamble begins, “We the People.” In order to fully accomplish our goal, we, the people of the Tribe, the community, and the country must ensure that the communities facing climate migration and resettlement are fully resourced. Communities dealing with these grave climate conditions need everyone to rally behind their vision to ensure the preservation of their place, and come alongside them in solidarity” - Chantel Comardelle
Chantel says that solidarity should include everyone from the federal government to philanthropy, pointing to the Government Accountability Office July 2020 report recommending that “Congress consider establishing a federally-led pilot program to help communities interested in relocation.”
Chantel says the report accurately covers the IDJC Tribe’s resettlement process, clearly states that there are many complex problems with the current resettlement plan.
The IDJC Tribe needs support and suggests many ways in which we can all help. We can follow their story and progress at www.isledejeancharles.com, and on Facebook. If you’re covering a news story about this, she suggests contacting community leaders to learn of the most pressing needs since many stories do not represent the real picture.
Most importantly, meaningful financial support and capacity-building grants are crucial, especially to get the Preserving Our Place project initiated. As far as in-kind support, their most immediate needs are archival space, equipment, funding and a building. (NonProfit Quarterly)
In a new report, the Irish NGO Trócaire found weather-related disasters are likely to kill women and girls 14 times more than boys, increase girls chances of being trafficked 30 percent and put women at increased risk of violence during crises and displacement. The report found corporate human rights violations impact women more disproportionately and looking at indigenous, environmental and land rights defenders, Trócaire found them to be at increased and growing risk of violence, evidenced by the fact that in 2019, almost half of the 137 attacks on human rights defenders were against indigenous women in rural communities. (NRC Online)
Analysis
This is a policy editorial that mostly summarizes the state of play with respect to the plight of climate migrants and the current policy discourse based on the worst case climate migration models. The opinion piece does address the legal challenge that climate change falls outside the purview of protected refugee grounds under the 1951 Convention, but fails to include broader refugee definitions in the 1969 OAU Convention and the 1984 Cartagena Declaration.
It also fails to include the recently adopted, albeit non-binding, UN Global Compacts for Migration and Refugees, respectively, which discuss environmental migration and further, UNHCR’s more recent position that refugee law frameworks may apply in situations where nexus dynamics are present - that is, situations where conflict or violence are interconnected to situations linked to climate change or disaster.
Most notably, the author’s belief is that climate migration is voluntary, and while there is certainly a lack of data and full understanding yet on the topic, there are viable and numerous qualitative indicators to suggest that where climate migration interconnects with poverty, development and challenges to security, choice may not be a luxury afforded to many, and certainly not to everyone. (World Politics Review)
With 2.6 million people uprooted by violent clashes and climatic shock in recent times, Somalia became the 30th African state to ratify the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, the first-ever binding treaty dealing with internal displacement. In a press release, the International Committee of the Red Cross commended Somalia’s commitment to the rights of thousands of Somali’s displaced by both conflict and climate change. (ReliefWeb)
