Consulting Canadians on a Framework for Future Space Exploration Activities A Response to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) - Part I

This post is an expanded version of a response the authors wrote to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) call for consultation with Canadians on Artemis Accords. In October 2020, Canada signed the US-led bilateral Artemis Accords, in order to establish a framework for future space exploration activities. The Accords provide a set of guidelines surrounding the Artemis Program for crewed exploration of the Moon. The project aims to return humans to the moon by 2024 and establish a crewed lunar base by 2030. Our objective is to look at this process from the perspective of Canadian constitutional rights of indigenous peoples, and the relevance of their knowledges for human activities in outer space. Part I focuses on the constitutional and treaty-based relationship between the government of Canada and indigenous peoples, and Part II will focus on the narratives of space exploration and the impact of satellite constellations.