Stewart Hill is a PhD Candidate at the Natural Resources Institute who is also working as a Senior Research and Policy Analyst at the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO), the Manitoba northern Chiefs organization. Mr. Hill is from the God’s Lake First Nation, and was born and raised in northern Manitoba at God’s Lake, and is able to speak his Cree language fluently. His dissertation researches and asserts governance over land and water in the traditional territory of his home community of God’s Lake First Nation. The input and views shared in this article by Mr. Hill in no way reflects views or opinions of the MKO, but rather, are the views, observations and opinions of Stewart Hill as an academic PhD student of the University of Manitoba.