Indigenous leaders gather in Charlottetown to discuss climate change

Darlene Bernard has watched 15 metres of her backyard erode into the waters of Malpeque Bay.

As chief of Lennox Island First Nation, Bernard said it's her responsibility to plan for and limit the risks posed to her community by climate change.

"The whole island is shrinking," she said. "It's only going to get worse as we move forward."

Climate change may be top of mind on Lennox Island, where as much as half of the existing land area could be under water within 50 years, but its effects are being felt by First Nations across the region.

In an effort to prepare, Indigenous leaders from across Atlantic Canada are meeting in Charlottetown this week to discuss how to build climate resilience.

The conference is hosted by the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat, an advocacy group representing First Nations in Atlantic Canada. It began Monday and wraps up Wednesday.

Bernard attended the conference with an eye toward building partnerships and lobbying for more resources.

"There's no way we can do anything without funding," she said.

Indigenous communities should be leading discussions about adaptation on their lands, said Heather MacLeod-Leslie, a senior archaeologist with Kwilmu'kw Maw-klusuaqn, an advocacy group that negotiates on behalf of Mi'kmaw chiefs.

"Communities know their homes and their special places best," she said.

She recounted one story at the conference about a Cape Breton cemetery where rapid coastal erosion exposed graves and swept away the base of a stone building dating back to the 1700s.

While her team searched for the best environmental solution to stabilize the embankment and prevent further losses, a single storm at the end of 2010 took another four horizontal metres from the embankment, exposing more graves.

"The problem is going to happen quickly," she warned. "It could happen overnight."

The cemetery is now protected by armour stone, a rock wall that disperses waves before they can crash against the shore, but MacLeod-Leslie said the stone will require constant monitoring and maintenance to ensure it continues working properly.