The rivers and tributaries of our planet carry water through Mother Earth, like veins carry blood, and for many Indigenous Peoples, the Great Lakes are the heart of Mother Earth sustaining her life blood - water. However, centuries of water colonialism have led to the disenfranchisement of Indigenous Peoples’ water citizenship, which is connected to the evolution of Indigenous water governance in the Great Lakes. Indigenous water governance includes the intergenerational and adaptive institutions and processes by which Indigenous Peoples and Nations protect the water through decision-making, treaty relations, and resurgent kinship. Indigenous water governance is grounded in the principle of Indigenous survivence – the capacity of an Indigenous Nation or community to survive stressors to water governance through resilience building that allows for sustainability and protection of water for future generations. Understanding the roles of Indigenous Nations as rightsholders in a given social-ecological-system is necessary for understanding the institutions, policies, and processes shaping collaborative water governance in transboundary basins. The failures in equity of participation, decision-making authority, and government-to-government consultation for Indigenous Nations in the shared protection of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence River Basin (GLSLRB) represent governance crises for water security. Adaptive water governance is grounded in Indigenous inclusion as rightsholders and knowledge co-production for shared agenda setting and equitable decision-making in the face of uncertainty. This dissertation empirically investigates the norms, dynamics and mechanisms that underlie the management structure, composition, and politics of Indigenous water governance in the Great Lakes. Chapter 1 introduces the literature and background necessary for positioning the four studies of the dissertation presented in Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5. Chapter 2 presents the history of water colonialism in the region and the transferability of Indigenous water institutions to manage the complex multilevel governance waterscape of the Great Lakes. Chapter 3 examines Indigenous attitudes towards Great Lakes protection in public opinion polls and the cross-national differences among Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents of the Great Lakes basin. Chapter 4 contains a case study of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement Areas of Concern, their impacts on Indigenous Nations, and the water injustices that result when Indigenous worldviews are not valued. Chapter 5 explores the reawakening of sleepy water knowledges through the Water Walks and presents the path forward set by the water walkers for rebuilding water diplomacy through Indigenous water citizenship for Great Lakes governance. Taken together, these studies help us to conceptualize Indigenous water governance within the Great Lakes and provide best practices for Indigenous leaders globally working to protect the water and enacting Indigenous water governance. / Thesis / Candidate in Philosophy / The rivers and tributaries of our planet carry water through Mother Earth like veins carry blood, and for many Indigenous Peoples, the Great Lakes are the heart of Mother Earth sustaining her life blood - water. However, centuries of water colonialism have led to the disenfranchisement of Indigenous Peoples’ water citizenship, which is connected to the evolution of Indigenous water governance in the Great Lakes. This doctoral dissertation investigates the history of water colonialism in the region and the transferability of Indigenous water institutions to manage the complex multilevel governance waterscape; Indigenous Peoples perceptions of Great Lakes well-being; water injustices that result when Indigenous worldviews are not valued; and the path forward for rebuilding water diplomacy through Indigenous water citizenship for Great Lakes governance. Great Lakes Indigenous Nations’ reawakening of sleepy water knowledges are lessons for Indigenous Nations around the world fighting to protect the water on how to reclaim their water sovereignty for Indigenous water governance.

Colonialism is ongoing in Canada and continues to affect Indigenous-state relations in a number of political and social areas, including water governance. Few other studies link colonial and decolonizing concepts to Indigenous water governance including discussions of power as well as structural and political assumptions, which speak to systemic factors and barriers to increased Indigenous water sovereignty. The purpose of this study is to undertake an in-depth decolonial analysis of the dynamics occurring in a legal water management dispute between an Indigenous community and the Canadian state. More specifically, the goal of this investigation is to identify how ongoing colonial factors affect the Halalt First Nation’s sovereignty over their waters. To this end, the research question is: Using an Indigenous resurgence (IR) analysis, what does the Halalt First Nation v British Columbia (Minister of the Environment) (Halalt v BC) caselaw reveal about the state of Indigenous water sovereignty in Canada? I employ a case study methodology where I analyse the Environmental Assessment (EA) and legal court case of Halalt v BC. I seek to provide a decolonial perspective, so in this study I use an IR theoretical framework. I collect data through interviews with ten participants including three Band Council staff members involved in the Halalt v British Columbia EA and court case study. I analyse the findings using three Indigenous resurgence themes of transfer of power from the state to an Indigenous community, increased respect and use of Indigenous worldviews, and Indigenous self-determination in light of the primary data I collected via key informant interviews and case study participants. The data reveals that there was no evidence that Indigenous resurgence is taking place in the case study as per Halalt participants’ experience of the case study nor the other participants’ opinion of the case study. In this thesis, I advocate for decolonization in the form of increased Indigenous political authority for the Halalt and all Indigenous communities in Canada. / Graduate