Our Goals and Commitments

The Alliance of Canadian Land Trusts (ACLT-ACOC) was established in 2022 through the work of the Land Trust Alliance of British Columbia (LTABC), Ontario Land Trust Alliance (OLTA), and Réseau de milieux naturels protégés (RMN) along with the Canadian Land Trust Working Group (CLTWG) and other partners, including prairie and maritime land trusts. Together we are committed to helping Canada reach its goals on protected areas, biodiversity, and climate change.

In 2017, regional land trust alliances and many land trusts from across Canada established the Canadian Land Trust Working Group (CLTWG). In 2020, the CLTWG appointed a National Organization Working Group to gain support among Canadian land trusts for a national organization that would represent land trusts across Canada at the federal level. With the view of securing the strongest possible future for Canadian land trusts, the National Organization Working Group (NOWG), with representatives from the Land Trust Alliance of British Columbia; the Réseau de milieux naturels protégés, Ontario Land Trust Alliance, as well as representatives from Maritime and Ontario land trusts, together with support from the Canadian Land Trust Working Group, made up of land trusts from across Canada,  have determined the merits and feasibility of unifying provincial and individual organizations under a newly created national body, Alliance of Canadian Land Trusts (ACLT). The national land trust is now an incorporated not-for-profit, charitable organization whose purpose is to represent Canadian regional and community land trusts at the national level.

Our Mission and Vision

The Alliance of Canadian Land Trusts (ACLT)’s mission is to support and empower land trusts across Canada to be vibrant, unified and effective in advancing land conservation.

The vision of the ACLT is protecting nature through the stewardship and conservation of our most vital landscapes in communities across Canada.

 

Theory of Change

If ACLT helps land trusts across Canada strengthen through finding a common voice and building capacity, then we will increase our visibility and capacity as a community and influence conservation in Canada, because we will be united, visible and vibrant.

 

Our Strategic Plan

The goals for our strategic plan:

  • Organizational health
  • National leadership

 

Purpose of the National Organization

  • Raise the profile of land trusts nationally
  • Provide national opportunities for partnerships, education, and leadership
  • Support the Federal Government in achieving national objectives
  • Maintain and enhance partnerships between land trusts and the Federal Government
  • Strengthen governance and reduce risk
  • Secure funding for national activities that will directly support Alliances and land trusts, while strengthening the role of the alliances
  • Develop national tools and initiatives that benefit land trusts and partners

The ACLT will increase the visibility and influence of land trusts in the national context.  As a newly founded organization, the ACLT will focus on being a well-run charitable organization with excellent governance and operations systems in place considering diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Board of Directors, Executive Director (ED), and other staff will be guided by internal policies, strategies, and effective business systems.

The ACLT will become a membership organization that supports and serves land trusts from across Canada and serves as their voice at the national level. ACLT will work with Wildlife Habitat Canada (WHC) to ensure that the Land Conservation Funds are distributed to land trusts in the most effective manner and continue to provide important funding flexibility.

The ACLT will provide land trusts with tools that will help them strengthen their capacity in terms of adopting and implementing the Canadian Land Trusts Standards and Practices. The ACLT will bring land trusts across Canada together in 2025 and will attend provincial alliances conferences to update you on our progress.

The ACLT will position itself as an independent and unified partner with indigenous peoples, national and international organizations, and the federal government in order to increase the visibility of Canadian land trusts though partnerships building, joint projects and mutual respect.

 

Statement on Indigenous Conservation and Engagement

Through its work, the Alliance of Canadian Land Trusts acknowledges and expresses our gratitude for the lands, sky, and waters stretching across Canada, and the animals and plants who call it home. We are grateful for their beauty and bounty, and we thank Indigenous peoples who were and are the traditional guardians of this land. We are grateful for the land, sharing of knowledge, medicine, and much more.

Canada has been home since time immemorial to the ancestors of First Nation, Métis peoples, and Inuit. As a national organization, ACLT operates in various parts of Canada, and we acknowledge that many ACLT employees and volunteers are settlers working and living on traditional territories of the First Peoples of this land.  The history and continuing process of colonization by non-Indigenous peoples have caused fundamental harm and disruption to Indigenous ways of life, culture, and relationship with the land, spirit, and all our relations.

We recognize that the work of land trusts relies on a colonial legal framework that uses tools such as exclusive land ownership and that it is important for the land trust community to understand how our work affects Indigenous Peoples and all our relationships with the land in ways both positive and negative.

We believe that, as a community, we need to learn about, engage with and seek to understand the impact of our work on the Indigenous nations and communities in whose territories we work, and allow this knowledge to guide our actions, to honor our ongoing commitment to decolonization, and actions to create right relations and address injustice with all Indigenous Peoples.

ACLT is committed to valuing differences, and learning how to foster equity, diversity, inclusion, belonging, and social justice in all its work.

Ethical space is a place where traditional oral practices and Western written practices are paralleled, leveraging the strengths of the respective processes to co-create a safe place to design, develop, validate, and work together in harmony, bridging the gap between cultures and activating meaningful reconciliation.

ACLT continues to work towards advancing Indigenous conservation partnerships, which include:

  • Collaborating with Indigenous peoples and institutions to develop training for ACLT and land trusts that provides a foundation, focused on increasing knowledge of Indigenous histories, past and current experiences, and contemporary values, culture, and protocols;
  • Connecting and learning from Indigenous advisors and building relationships with Indigenous nations and communities in whose territories we work, to ensure our strategic direction and operational activities are aligned with Indigenous community priorities and encourage our conservation partners to do the same;
  • Using our knowledge and experience to support Indigenous communities interested in exploring the land trust model to advance reconciliation through land conservation.

ACLT will use the following Modes of Action:

  • To be inclusive of Indigenous peoples within ACLT;
  • Work with conventional land trusts to enhance their relationship with Indigenous communities in their territories;
  • Enable capacity building by Indigenous land trusts;
  • Support Indigenous-led conservation;
  • Promote relationship-building with Indigenous peoples.

 

Alliance of Canadian Land Trusts/Alliance canadienne des organismes de conservation
Charitable No. 799556519RR0001