A recent declaration of a river as a legal person in Canada recognizes Indigenous laws and governance, and champions people as the guardians of nature.
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As we witness three intersecting global crises, many of us are looking for new ways to solve our complex problems of climate change and biodiversity loss. Granting legal rights to nature provides a new way of thinking and may help us protect what we love and need. It requires a belief and understanding that we are not separate from the lands and waters that are the basis of our health and prosperity. Humans belong to a complicated and interconnected community of life on Earth.
This thinking is not new. Indigenous Peoples have known since time immemorial that humans cannot “own” the land or water. They see nature and animals as relatives, as part of a community to which people belong. This thinking underlies a refreshing new global movement to recognize the inherent Rights of Nature.
6 Apr 2021
An indigenous community and local municipal council in Quebec, Canada, have recognized the Magpie River as a “legal person,” Al Jazeera reported Saturday.
The Innu Council of Ekuanitshit the organizing body of a Cote Nord indigenous group known as the Innu of Ekuanitshit and the local Minganie Regional County Municipality issued separate but similar resolutions on February 16 granting the Magpie River nine legal rights, “including the right to flow, to maintain its biodiversity, and the right to take legal action,” the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported at the time.
One of the resolutions states that the Magpie may be legally represented by “river guardians” appointed by the Innu and the Minganie municipality, with “the duty to act on behalf of the rights and interests of the river and ensure the protection of its fundamental rights.” The resolution further notes the Magpie’s “biodiversity, importance to the Innu and potential as
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