Let Every Day Be Earth Day: Honouring Mother Earth, Indigenous Landkeepers, and Knowledge

In 2009, the United Nations designated April 22 as a day to honour Mother Earth. For Indigenous peoples worldwide, every day is a day to celebrate our relationships with the land, air, water, plants, and animals. The wellness of the home we share and all those who live in it are connected. 

Honouring Mother Earth requires us to experience our connection to her and consider that everything we have or do is because of a gift she has given to us. Indigenous peoples manage some of the most biodiverse lands and waters in present-day British Columbia. Indigenous knowledge and land stewardship can help us all learn practices to sustain and restore the delicate balance of these systems and address environmental issues like climate change, deforestation, food security, and conservation.

Every day is a good day to thank Mother Earth and explore healthy, Indigenous-led, and land-connected knowledge, technology, systems, and relationships. Many action-based environmental movements are rooted in firsthand experiences of the degradation of local ecosystems by Indigenous peoples whose unbroken connection to Mother Earth has survived many challenges.

It is time to hurry up and move slow–to review our intentions, purposes, and commitments and align them with actions that support all life on Earth. Each day we have food and clean water is an excellent day to be thankful. However, it is not an easy task for Mother Earth to continue to supply our unchecked demand for raw materials to fuel our technology and industry.

We value healthy Indigenous families, languages, and cultures: the agents and knowledge that embody care for Mother Earth as she continues to provide for all of us despite the challenges we have created.

Indigenous Tourism BC supports Indigenous sovereignty and land stewardship. Our organization is committed to ongoing learning, with values on slow, intentional travel and right relationship with Mother Earth. We are proud to promote Indigenous travel experiences and build partnerships that lead with a focus on sustainable economy and ecology. 

ITBC wishes a Happy International Mother Earth Day 2023 to everyone and invites you to learn more about Indigenous Knowledge, Lands, Communities, and Ecology.