COP15: Deer and Montour Are Present
Written by Jeremy Zafran on 8 December 2022
The COP15 conference on biodiversity continues today in downtown Montreal. Kenneth Deer of Kahnawà:ke is playing a vital role as he has been advising organizers on Indigenous participation and opening thanksgivings at various events:
“Your whole issue of land acknowledgment and we want to make sure that they understood that they were on Mohawk Territory or Kanien’kehá:ka Territory and it was very nice to hear that different organizations and different states are acknowledging that they’re on our territory.”
The Kahnawà:ke Environment Protection Office (KEPO) staff and Ratsénhaienhs Ross Montour will be making a presentation at the COP15 global biodiversity conference this weekend. They will be presenting on the challenges and successes encountered during the Tekakwitha Island and Bay Restoration project. Montour says it’s important that Indigenous voices are heard:
“There will be a section of our presentation on Sunday, 10am-1pm, which will include an history of the cumulative impact that we have as a Mohawk community have been impacted by over, let’s say, the last 100 years, but with a particular focus though on the last 68 years which would be the beginnings of the Saint-Lawrence Seaway, but we’re also going to be talking about the restoration project.”
COP15 is taking place until December 19th, at the Palais des Congress in Montreal. This year’s objective is to negotiate and adopt the Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. The framework will contain a series of global goals and targets which will drive conservation priorities to the year 2030 and beyond.
