“Turning to the territory”: A Gitga’at Nation case study of Indigenous climate imaginaries and actions

Abstract This article investigates how the climate imaginaries of Gitga’at people (an Indigenous Nation on the northwest coast of what is now known as British Columbia, Canada) take shape on the lands and waters of their territory and whether these imaginaries differ from or actively resist hegemonic settler-colonial imaginaries of climate futures. We analyze community values-led climate adaptation planning documents and actions, and knowledge-holder interviews to answer our research questions. Our interpretation as collaborative non-Indigenous scholars is that lived experiences and millennia-old relationship between Gitga’at people and their ancestral territory play a strong role in informing a contemporary climate imaginary of “turning to the territory”. This imaginary is evidenced in the ways the Gitga’at Nation is currently adapting to impacts of climate change in their territory. We juxtapose “turning to the territory” with common settler climate imaginaries and find that it moves beyond the paralyzing “climate apocalypse” imaginary, and in fact encompasses “techno-markets” and “sustainable lifestyles” themes within a frame of Indigenous self-determination and resurgence. However, it is at odds with the hegemonic “fossil fuels forever” imaginary enacted by settler-colonial governments.