First Nations

• More work must be done to ensure all First Nations have access to clean drinking water.
• Our Government has increased funding by 150% in water infrastructure and followed the lead of First Nations communities with a plan to lift all long-term drinking water advisories.
• After extensive consultation with First Nations partners across Canada, we also tabled Bill C-61, the proposed First Nations Clean Water Act, that provides the next steps to ensure clean drinking water in First Nations.
• Our Government will be with communities every step of the way to ensure they have clean drinking water for generations to come."

• In the event of an emergency, it is important for Canadians to know that there is a robust emergency response regime in place that encompasses all levels of government.
• Since last year's historic wildfire season, the Government of Canada has worked closely with First Nations, provinces, territories, and other emergency management partners to complete a robust lessons-learned review.
• As a result, we have engaged earlier in convening wildfire emergency preparedness planning and risk assessments.
• The government is developing the potential for civilian response capacity across jurisdictions to better leverage these capacities during and following large-scale emergency events in Canada.

• Since the 1860s, thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have served in the Australian Defence Force.
• In addition, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders weren’t yet considered Australian citizens and were therefore automatically excluded from enlisting.
• Despite this, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders answered the call to defend their country by hiding their racial identity to enlist.

Fighting for Country

• The chance to earn a wage and gain an education were also attractive causes as these rights were heavily restricted for Indigenous Australians at the time.
• For the most part, however, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who joined the war effort did so out of a deep love for their country.
• Even today, many families and communities continue to seek due recognition for Indigenous peoples’ contributions to the war effort.

Read more:
Telling the forgotten stories of Indigenous servicemen in the first world war

(A lack of) Indigenous recognition in media

• Indigenous people’s contributions during WWI continue to be left out of major mainstream media productions.
• Before Dawn (2024), the most recent Australian film based on the war, fails to include a single Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person in its cast.
• Earlier films such as The Lighthorsemen (1987) and Gallipoli (1981) – perhaps the most iconic Australian WWI film – also fails to include or even mention an Indigenous presence.

• Lewis and Larry Farmer both fought and survived at Gallipoli, but Larry was later killed on the Western Front.
• A third brother, Augustus Pegg Farmer – the first Aboriginal soldier awarded the Military Medal for bravery – was killed in action several months later.

Untold stories

• Two examples are the documentary The Australian Wars (2022) and the film Higher Ground (2020).
• But it’s fair to say such projects sit outside the popular media most Australians are exposed to.

• Where is the onscreen tale of the Indigenous Anzac soldier who obscured his racial identity to enlist?
• Who survived through horrors, only to be excluded from all forms of post-war recognition and compensation?
• I would like to sincerely acknowledge the diverse traditional custodians of this great land – their respective communities, Elders and Countries.

Cally Jetta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• Kelp forests help to support fisheries, draw down carbon and improve water quality — in the process contributing billions to the global economy.
• We also show that, despite recent impacts of climate change, kelp forests in some areas have remained stable, offering hope for future kelp forests and shedding light on the drivers of ecosystem resilience.

Marine forests in hot water

• Beginning in 2014, a string of marine heat waves created warmer-than-usual conditions that have wreaked havoc on a range of ocean species.
• Marine heat waves are becoming longer and more intense as greenhouse gas emissions continue.
• Together, marine heat waves and seastar declines led to devastating kelp forest losses along many parts of North America’s west coast over the past decade.

Threats to kelp in Western Canada

• Thanks to ancient glaciers that carved up and reshaped Canada’s Pacific coast, B.C.’s kelp forests inhabit a rich mosaic of environments.
• Nearly 40,000 islands and dozens of glacial fjords create diverse habitats for kelp.
• In these areas, kelp forests have experienced large losses, especially over the past decade.
• In some parts of B.C.’s central and northern coasts, some kelp forests are also in decline despite cooler waters.

Reasons for optimism

• kelp forests have remained stable.
• In fact, some of these healthy kelp forests might even be growing.
• Areas with cool water temperatures, such as the Strait of Juan de Fuca, have stable kelp forests, despite extensive losses close by.

Innovative solutions are needed to save kelp

• kelp forests are faring under intense ocean warming driven by climate change.
• Read more:
  NZ’s vital kelp forests are in peril from ocean warming – threatening the important species that rely on them

  Global and regional initiatives to protect and restore kelp forests are gaining momentum.

• This might include restoration of important predators in the ecosystem, controlling urchins so that kelp forests can flourish, or developing new techniques to restore kelp forests using strains capable of surviving warming conditions.

• He is affiliated with The Kelp Rescue Initiative, based at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, and was affiliated with the University of Victoria during this project.
• Christopher Neufeld received funding relevant to this project from the Ngan-Page Family Fund via The Kelp Rescue Initiative, based at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre.
• She is affiliated with The Kelp Rescue Initiative, based at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre.