RESTORING THE RESPECTFUL HARVEST

Restoring the Respectful Harvest: Indigenous Perspectives of Loss and Renewal

A forest can still have trees and be profoundly degraded. Industrial logging, roads, herbicide spraying and the loss of old-growth ecosystems can change how forests function, even when an area is still technically counted as forest. The consequences extend beyond biodiversity and carbon: they affect the lands, waters and species on which Indigenous communities depend.

For many Indigenous Peoples, forests are places of food, medicine, language, ceremony and responsibility. When species disappear or access to the land is degraded, the losses can extend across generations. Forest degradation is therefore not simply an environmental issue. It is also about Indigenous rights, culture, jurisdiction and who has the authority to make decisions about the land.

In Restoring the Respectful Harvest, Indigenous leaders and knowledge holders from diverse nations and forest regions share their experiences of industrial forestry and their visions for renewal. Their perspectives challenge status-quo extractive approaches to forest management and point toward stewardship rooted in Indigenous laws, ecological limits and reciprocity.

Watch the four-part video series, check out the press release, and stay tuned for the accompanying ‘What We Heard’ report, coming soon!

Trailer: Restoring the Respectful Harvest

Film 1: INDIGENOUS EXPERIENCES OF FOREST DEGRADATION

Forest degradation is more than the loss of trees. For Indigenous communities, changes to forests can mean fewer medicines and traditional foods, damaged watersheds, declining wildlife and lost opportunities to transmit knowledge and cultural practices. In this film, Indigenous voices describe the impacts of industrial forestry on the living relationships that connect their communities to the land.

Film 2: THE ROOTS OF DEGRADATION

Who gets to decide what happens to a forest — and whose knowledge counts? This film examines how provincial forest management systems prioritize industrial extraction and fail to uphold Indigenous rights and jurisdiction, contributing to degradation. Participants question narrow definitions of sustainability and the effects of decision-making that exclude the people with longstanding responsibilities to these territories.

Film 3: Indigenous-led solutions: REGENERATIVE PATHWAYS & THE RESPECTFUL HARVEST

There are other ways to steward forests. This video brings forward Indigenous-led approaches grounded in reciprocity, ecological limits and responsibility to future generations. From conservation and restoration to regenerative economies and long-term governance models, Indigenous leaders describe what it will take to protect the relationships that make forests healthy.

Film 4: INDIGENOUS-LED SOLUTIONS: Rights, responsibilities and governance

Healthy forests depend on how decisions are made. This film explores Indigenous laws, rights, jurisdiction and responsibilities in forest governance, and why meaningful change requires more than consultation. Upholding Indigenous decision-making authority and supporting Indigenous-led stewardship are central to renewing forest ecosystems and the communities connected to them.

This series was created in partnership with Wahkohtowin Development, RAD Network, NRDC, David Suzuki Foundation, Tinakiwin and Awi’nakola Foundation and produced by Fresh Shift Production, with gratitude to over 17 Indigenous Knowledge Holders and community leaders who participated from coast to coast.