Grand Council Treaty #3 Climate Impacts Monitoring

Grand Council Treaty #3 is the traditional government of the Anishinaabe Nation in Treaty #3 which is made up of 28 First Nation communities situated across 55,000 square miles in Northern Ontario and Eastern Manitoba. Grand Council Treaty #3’s Territorial Planning Unit, its environmental department, is mandated to protect and to preserve the Aki (lands) and Nibi (waters) that make up the territory.

Since 2018, Grand Council Treaty #3 has operated a Community-Based Monitoring (CBM) Program that is guided by Manito Aki Inaakonigewin (the Great Earth Law of Treaty #3) and the Nibi Declaration of Treaty #3. The CBM Program works with Treaty #3 communities to braid Anishinaabe and Western Knowledge systems, collect and record environmental data suited to each community’s priorities, and establish a baseline of environmental data across the territory.

The current focus areas of the CBM Program include water quality, weather patterns, rain and snow, and changes in ice cover. Through these monitoring activities, Treaty #3 communities can better understand the impacts of climate change on the lands and waters across the territory.