Respecting Aboriginal Values & Environmental Needs

Respecting Aboriginal Values & Environmental Needs

Abbreviation	RAVEN
Formation	2009 [1]
Registration no.	85484 0147 [2] , US EIN EIN 98-0628334 [1]
Legal status	active charity
Location	Victoria, British Columbia [2] , Canada
Region served	Canada [2]
Services	legal representation, grants
Official language	English
Acting Executive Director	Andrea Palframan [2]
Board President	Jeffrey Nicholls [2]
Website	raventrust.com

Respecting Aboriginal Values and Environmental Needs (RAVEN) is a nonprofit charitable organization that provides financial resources to assist Indigenous nations within Canada with legal representation. ^[3]

RAVEN works with Indigenous communities across Canada including supporting the Beaver Lake Cree Nation fighting about tar sands development, the Tsilhqotʼin Nation and Xeni Gwet'in Nation protect Teztan Biny, a lake, from mining. ^[3] They also helped the Squamish Nation, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, and Coldwater Indian Band fight the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline through their Pull Together campaign. ^[4]

Organization

RAVEN (Respecting Aboriginal Values and Environmental Needs) is a charitable organization based in Victoria, British Columbia, that provides Indigenous Canadian communities with legal representation and financial support. ^[2] They are also incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the United States. ^[1] They incorporated in 2009. ^{[1] [3]} In 2025, Jeffrey Nicholls is their board president and Andrea Palframan is their acting executive director. ^[2]

Susan Smitten previously served as executive director. ^{[4] [5]}

Actions

RAVEN raises legal funds to assist Indigenous Peoples in Canada who enforce their rights and title through the courts to protect their traditional territories. Since 2014, the legal actions funded resulted in the quashing of the approval of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline; protection of 83% of the Peel Watershed in the Yukon; halting of mining developments at Teztan Biny (Fish Lake), and T’ak Tl’ah Bin (Morrison Lake); and the cancellation of the Petronas Pacific Northwest LNG project at the mouth of the Skeena River.  

Projects the organization have help supported include:

• Challenges against oil and gas companies: Beaver Lake Cree Nation ^[6] taking on Alberta and Canada; the Wet’suwet’en ^[7] legal challenge to stop the Coastal GasLink pipeline through their territory (Central Coast, BC); Heiltsuk Nation’s civil action ^[8] against US-based Kirby Corporation, British Columbia and Canada over a catastrophic diesel spill in the Great Bear Sea (north central BC Coast);  
• For rivers and rights in Treaty territory: Site C dam campaign ^[9] with West Moberly First Nations (Treaty 8, BC);  
• Mining justice: Gitxaala Nation’s challenge to the BC Mineral Tenure Act ^[10] to protect Banks Island (North Coast, BC); Neskantaga Nation’s legal challenge to inadequate environmental review in the Ring of Fire mining region (Ontario); Tsilhqot’in Nation’s civil action ^[11] against Taseko Mines Ltd and BC.

The organization uses crowdfunding to raise money. ^[4]

RAVEN created "Home on Native Land", a virtual class on environmental justice issues, Canadian history, and Indigenous law. ^[12] Employing humor as a tool, the ten-video course features comedian Ryan McMahon (Couchiching Anishinaabe). ^[12]

Select campaigns

Beaver Lake Cree Nation versus tar sands

The Beaver Lake Cree Nation, a small, impoverished band of 1,200 people in eastern Alberta, are suing the Canadian federal and Alberta provincial governments to protect the land. ^[4] They claim that Alberta's tar sands developments are obliterating their traditional hunting and fishing lands in Alberta. ^[5] RAVEN has supported the Beaver Lake Cree's efforts to protect their ecosystems since 2009. ^[5]

See also

• Environmental issues in Canada

References

1. "RAVEN". CanadaHelps. Retrieved 9 August 2025.
2. "RAVEN (Respecting Aboriginal Values and Environmental Needs)". Charity Intelligence Canada. Retrieved 9 August 2025.
3. Muskrat Magazine (13 November 2014). "11 Indigenous resistance movements you need to know". rabble.ca. Retrieved 9 August 2025.
4. Wood, Steph Kwetásel’wet (12 June 2021). "'Are you poor enough?': First Nations face compounding financial hardship when defending rights in court". The Narwhal. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
5. Linnitt, Carol (24 May 2023). "The Beaver Lake Cree Judgment: The Most Important Tar Sands Case You've Never Heard Of". The Narwhal. Retrieved 9 August 2025.
6. "Defend the Treaties". Raven Trust. Retrieved 2025-02-13.
7. "Wet'suwet'en - RAVEN Trust". raventrust.com. Archived from the original on 2021-02-25.
8. "Heiltsuk". Raven Trust. Retrieved 2025-02-13.
9. "Stop Site C Dam - RAVEN Trust". raventrust.com. Archived from the original on 2021-02-26.
10. "Mineral Tenure Act". www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2025-02-13.
11. "Tsilhqot'in - RAVEN". RAVEN. Archived from the original on 2025-01-22. Retrieved 2025-02-13.
12. Smith, Andrea (14 February 2023). "How to Talk to Your Racist Relatives about Indigenous Rights". The Tyee. Retrieved 9 August 2025.

Further reading

• Hoogeveen, Dawn; Borrows, John; Ritts, Max; Smitten, Sue, eds. (2025). The RAVEN Essays: Indigenous Environmental Justice, Education, and Self-Determination. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN   9781487562403.

External links

• Official website
• Home on Native Land, 10-module course about Indigenous law, Canadian history, and environmental justice developed by RAVEN