Professor Kyle Whyte presented a lecture on 'Climate Change, Traditional Knowledge, and Environmental Justice' at York University's first ever 'Indigenous Environmental Justice (IEJ) Symposium' on  May 26, 2016. Kyle holds the Timnick Chair in the Humanities at Michigan State University.

The first of its kind in Canada, the IEJ knowledge sharing symposium was held to advance the theory and practice of EJ scholarship by engaging with Indigenous peoples to more fully develop the concept of “justice” and the policies and laws necessary to enable just relations. The IEJ symposium creates a forum to share ideas, knowledge and experiences to help us understand what environmental justice means. Furthermore, if EJ studies are to benefit Indigenous peoples, then they must include knowledge, principles and values already held and practiced by Indigenous peoples. An important way to include and hear the voices and experiences of Indigenous peoples is to engage directly in sharing knowledge through an IEJ symposium. 

The IEJ symposium brought together activists, youth, women, artists, elders, scholars, leaders, environmental practitioners, activists, advocates and community members to share their perspectives and experiences relating to the following questions:

• What is currently known about Indigenous Environmental Justice (IEJ) in Canada?
• What does Environmental Justice (EJ) mean in an Indigenous context and from an Indigenous perspective?

Indigenous environmental justice symposium by Kyle Whyte