Modern Treaties Implementation Research Project

Modern treaties are difficult to negotiate, and are just as challenging to implement.

Between 2017-2025, the Modern Treaty Implementation Research Project brought together researchers from across Canada to work alongside land claim practitioners from members of the Land Claims Agreements Coalition, on a national, seven-year $2.5 million SSHRC Partnership Grant, undertaking research that aimed to assist Indigenous governments, Indigenous communities and other policy makers to improve modern treaty implementation.

The project produced diverse and nuanced understandings of modern treaty implementation, which will serve as a powerful and transformative basis for critiquing and innovating treaty implementation approaches into the future.

This archival website captures the story of the grant, and contains links to and downloadable products, and information about the work of the grant.

Download Kwedoo: Best Practices in Implementing Modern Treaties

The book Kewedoo: Implementing Best Practices in Modern Treaties brings together five chapters amplifying the voices of community members and practitioners responsible for implementing modern treaties. The chapters are high level overviews of the results of years of significant efforts of Modern Treaty governments to implement different aspects of modern treaties. The book is a project led by the Principal Investigator, Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox.

A call went out in 2021 to all Modern Treaty governments offering funding and research and writing support to creating a chapter highlighting programs, services, and initiatives showcasing the potential and transformative impact of modern treaties in their settlement areas and in particular, for their members. The book is intended to be a resource for Indigenous students and youth, as well as for modern treaty practitioners, policy makers, and the general public. Researched and written to an academic standard, the book is intended to promote understanding and contribute to ongoing research about research on modern treaty implementation.

In addition to chapters describing Modern Treaty governments’ best practices, a chapter is included which tells the story of the Land Claim Agreements Coalition with respect to the challenges and successes of its activities in pursuing the creation of a Modern Treaty Implementation Policy.

The book is free for download. This decision was made in view of the fact that it was produced with funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, funded by Canadian taxpayers; the desire to disseminate the book as widely as possible to promote access  to information about modern treaties for all Canadians; and, the practical and ethical issues around the need to ensure that knowledge of many individuals and information from Indigenous governments are not accessed in ways that provide asymmetrical financial benefit to a publisher.

Modern Treaty governments own the copyright to the information contained in their respective chapters, and should be contacted with respect to seeking copyright permissions.

The book would not have been possible without the financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; and the support of Carleton University School of Public Policy and Administration, and the Tłįchǫ Government.

Land Claims Agreements Coalition Interactive Map