Sacred Natural Sites play an essential role in the expression and transmission of culture, in the conservation of biodiversity, and are a vital means for the manifestation of cultural and spiritual values related to nature. In Nunavik, the Government of Québec, in partnership with the Kativik Regional Government recently created the Kuururjuaq National Park on 4,274 km² of tundra. A cultural important site for the Naskapi First Nation, the Caribou Heaven is situated within the limits of this new protected area. This chapter first provides an overview of the linkages between Aboriginal peoples and protected areas in Canada. It then illustrates the crucial role played by the caribou (Rangifer tarandus) in the socio-cultural, spiritual, and economic life of the Naskapi First Nation. Next, it explains how the ecological knowledge of the Naskapi was used to designate this culturally important place as an area of maximum protection, in order to ensure its protection and integrity. It finally describes how cultural and spiritual values, have formed the basis of co-management models of nature conservation in this park. The initiative is among the first of such efforts by the Government of Québec to give expression to the importance of and to provide protection to the sacred sites of First Nations.

This webinar series, hosted by the Indigenous Knowledge Circle of the National Boreal Caribou Knowledge Consortium, highlights Indigenous-led work to protect and restore caribou and their habitat.

Past webinars include:

• Jan 2021 - Collaboration, Range Planning and the Porcupine Caribou Herd
• May 2021 - How can range planning for caribou advance reconciliation?
• Mar 2022 - Community-led Planning for Caribou: Changing How We Do Conservation

• Jan 2023 - Caribou Conservation, Treaty Rights, and Guardians in Alberta's Oil Sands

• Nov 2023 - Tâdzié-Sagow Atihk Stewardship Plan - Indigenous Knowledge to Recover Caribou

• May 2024 - Bridging the gap: Revitalizing Tłı̨chǫ Nàowoò (Way of Life) through Ekwǫ̀ (caribou) and Environmental Stewardship

This project is about what Danny Beaulieu learned about the caribou cycle over the past one hundred and ten years or so, talking to Denesųłıné elders in Fort Resolution, Łutselk’e, and Yellowknife. He mostly learned from his grandmother, his grandparents, and his parents.

This project considered the role of traditional knowledge in wildlife health monitoring through a 12-year period of research with elders and harvesters.

This project sought to document Inuit knowledge as it relates to caribou movements, hunting, habitat, the importance of caribou for community diets, livelihoods and cultural practices.

This PhD project use multiple disciplinary traditions to develop comprehensive and united representations of caribou variation through an exploration of population genetics, phylogenetics, traditional knowledge, language, and visual approaches in the Sahtú region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. 

This project looked at local knowledge of the Porcupine Caribou Herd, collected by the Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-op (ABEKC). While local observations indicated that the herd was healthy during 2000-2007, quantitative estimates for the same period predicted a decline. When the herd was surveyed in 2010, results indicated that the herd had indeed grown. The study concluded that community-based interviews provided a valid, unique information source to better understand caribou ecology and express community perceptions of overall herd status and could provide a valuable contribution to management decision making.

This master's project collected and documented Inuit observations to describe the population distribution of caribou and muskoxen in Nunavut.