Overview:

Ongoing colonialism and lack of self-determination for Indigenous peoples in the land known as Canada pose serious obstacles to confronting ecosystem disruption and extractivism, and to moving towards more sustainable paths for future generations, and improved relationships with all beings. With attention to Indigenist perspectives, and in the context of land use -- timber extraction in particular --  I critically analyze a) the literature at the nexus of Indigenous worldviews and western science-based settler epistemologies; and b) the literature on food commons, food sovereignty, and food democracy, explaining the potential intersections or incompatibilities with sustainable forest management (SFM) and Indigenous environmental governance (IEG) approaches. Based on this synthesis, I explore briefly some promising avenues for advancing Indigenous environmental governance and sustain food and forest systems, as well as key barriers, that inform my research program proposal.