West Coast Indigenous Perspective: Flame On!

West Coast Indigenous Perspective: Flame On!

Idle No More

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-900412

Background on the Idle No More movement in Canada.

Idle No More: Indigenous Voices in Unity

Idle No More!

 December 21, 2012, Prince Rupert, BC, Canada

Today the voices of Indigenous Peoples across Canada rang out in unity in proclamation of our continued presence here in this land. This collective voice spoke in declaration of our continuing determination to assert our Human Rights as the First Peoples of this land and our living heritage that is our historic and our on-going connection to this land. Indigenous Leadership from across this country spoke unequivocally of our determination to maintain our rightful place in our respective Homeland Territories. They spoke strongly and in no uncertain terms of our determination to re establish our rightful place here in this country. Many spoke of the unshakable determination of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence who at this time is on a hunger strike in protest of the abusive disregard of the Stephen Harper Government toward Indigenous issues. Chief Spence continues to place her own life on the line to ensure that the Stephen Harper Conservative Government Leadership finally assent to hearing, and to begin meaningful involvement with, Indigenous Leadership.  These are very real and long-standing concerns that deal with the denigration, total subjection and the actual denial of the very humanity of Indigenous Peoples of Canada by the actions and intent of successive Federal and Provincial Governments of this country. It is time for all Canadians to recognize that, as one speaker stated, we will never go away. It is time for Canadians to realize that Government policy that continues to cause further social aggravation within the Indigenous Community of this land is policy that will continue to cause an escalation of the financial toll on Federal tax resources. This is not according to the wishes of the Indigenous Peoples of this land. Our wishes are to become viable social contributors to a society that will finally recognize both our humanity, and our potential as contributors to a healthy and vibrant economic process. Canadians must once and for all accept that we do in fact have a very real right to a share of the riches that continue to flow from our homeland territories. Canadians must stand and work to ensure that those who they place in positions of Canadian Leadership will now begin to make a real and a meaningful and determined effort to build a respectful relationship with Indigenous Peoples of Canada. Canadians must now realize that, failing this social and political challenge can, and will, mean that the Indigenous Peoples activities of today will only have been a very small taste of things to come in the future. Today, as has always been the case until now, we want peaceful resolution to our long standing concerns. If there is any valid leadership in Ottawa, today is the day when you must begin to earn your wage. Today is the day when you must begin to build a truthful interaction with Indigenous Leadership, and indeed with all Canadians. Under the Leadership of Stephen Harper, Canada now suffers a downward spiraling loss of reputation within the International Community. This loss is based in no small part in the degradation of Indigenous Peoples of Canada by the Government of Canada. For those who have any interest in rebuilding the formerly pristine reputation of Canada, building a positive, balanced and a respectful relationship with the Indigenous Peoples of Canada is the most obvious place to begin.

These following photos and video were taken today, December 21, 2012 at the 'Idle No More' protest rally that took place on the lawn of the Prince Rupert City Hall, in Tsimpshian Tribal Territory in Northern British Columbia. Present on this very cold and windswept day of the 2012 winter solstice were a small but spirited group of Indigenous People from throughout this region of Canada. 

Tribute to the 'IdleNoMore' Movement.

There is no more denying that people from around the world stand as witnesses to the Human Rights injustices by the Canadian Government against Indigenous Peoples of Canada. Now there is this rising tide of international social conscience. Now those politicians who have stood silently in the background, keeping their voices reigned for fear of their political and their personal reputation, those politicians may now have begun to feel the survival urge to jump-ship, to flee the silent-ship and to begin to give voice to their true beliefs, their knowledge and their opinions regarding the historic and the on-going Human Rights crimes of the Canadian Government against Indigenous Peoples

I Am Thankful

If the part of our journey that carries us through this world is a time and a place of learning and of teaching, for ourselves and for those with whom we come into contact, then I will be so much the wiser in the next part of my journey.
 I've been more than fortunate to have met, and to have spent time with some tremendous people in my life, and have had the opportunity to learn from each of them. 
Magnificence is something that is often amplified by simplicity. One thing that I've found is how the importance of the very simplest things in life may be more profound and more enriching than the greatest amount of material wealth; that is, the times, events, unplanned meetings, the tiniest kind gesture or sharing of warm words. Events like these so often prove to be the most important and full filling events to ourselves and to others around us. Perhaps these folks also need to learn the very same lessons, and perhaps we are here to help each other to learn these lessons. 
As these days of my life go by, I learn to pay more attention to these lessons, to accept them into my heart and to share them with others. And I am thankful to those with whom I get to have the privilege to share these lessons.

Paralell: Palestinians // 'American Indians'

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/

There is at least one apparent parallel between what the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians at the present time, 2012, and the actions of the American Government and Society against the Indigenous Peoples of the United States, starting mainly in the 1800's, and continuing into the present time(Read the book: 'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee' Author: Dee Brown).

 ...Or, is it that we are actually witnessing a simple progression of the very same--though perhaps evolved, society; with an evolved and expanded set of international social and political relationships, and a similar,  possibly evolved, lack of   intuitively appropriate--and humane, morals and practises?

There is a statement that makes its way around the social circles of the Internet. The statement contains an Historic photograph of  nineteenth century American Indigenous warriors, mounted on horse back and carrying rifles, while stoically gazing into the lens of the camera. The caption reads, 'Fighting Terrorism since 1492'. 

Terrorism is nothing new to us as the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas; both North and South America. Although the face of North American-style terrorism may have been altered somewhat since it began over five hundred years ago, the reality continues to infuse our homeland territories and our common, Indigenous Community with the destructive tracks of this unabashed foe. As members of the Indigenous Tribal Groups of these lands, we have watched one another suffer through, and die as a result of, the various forms and tactics of this multi-faceted and Federally espoused, and on-going campaign of North American based, home-spun Terrorism. This brand of Terrorism  is made up of the DNA of North American non-Indigenous socio-political structure. 

At the present time, 2012, we watch as government assisted corporate activity continues the practise of the destruction, and indeed the decimation of our homelands and resources at the expense of our Indigenous practises of traditional sustenance and livelihood, Cultural Practise and self-determination.
Across Canada and the United States, Indigenous Peoples continue to lose additional portions of their traditional homeland territory and their natural resources, to the efforts of these governments and their corporate partners. Efforts of these Indigenous Peoples to protect their homelands and their resources against such encroachment are suppressed by these North American Federal Governments, through the use of their political power structure, which includes their bureaucracy, their law courts, their police and their militia.   Because the populace of these countries refuse to acknowledge any impropriety toward these Indigenous Peoples in regards to these historic and present issues, Indigenous Peoples all across the Americas continue to endure these draconian realities, essentially at the hands of both the American and the Canadian Society .
The underlying truth of this all is that, if the Government of Canada were to intervene in this historic practise of  the denial of the Human Rights and the Indigenous Rights of Indigenous Peoples of Canada, the entire structure of wealth distribution across Canada would shift in favour of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, and away from non-Indigenous Canadians. Historic legal, political, social, and financial wrongs would have to be corrected. Again this would place a huge burden, upon Canada and Canadians, of repatriation of Property and wealth to the coffers of Canada's Indigenous Peoples. And it will be a cold day in hell before the Government of Canada will ever consider, 'Doing the right thing,' in terms of honestly assessing and effectively correcting its historic and its present relationship with the Indigenous Peoples of Canada. 

1. 

RCMP in Red Deer city Alberta are asking the public for help locating a missing youth. 16-year-old Sommer Currie was last seen in the Deer Park area last Friday
night. She is Aboriginal, 5'2", 170 lbs and was wearing a dark sweater, dark pants, red and black runners and a black backpack. Anyone with information is asked to call your local RCMP or CrimeStoppers 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS)



This bulletin was publicized via Facebook by a individual who has long been vigilant for the cause of closure for the families of the many Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women of Canada.

There are a number of questions that have long since begun to gel in terms of the response of Canadian Authorities to this Canadian calamity. 
To begin with, is there a on-going public-accessible listing anywhere that tracks these Murdered and Missing Women cases?
What are some obstacles faced by authorities in their efforts to solve these cases?
What can members of the general public do to assist in this effort?  
Is there any sort of surveilance in place that records the responses, and the quality of the efforts being made by Canadian and American authorties? --American because American Indigenous women are also disappearing without a trace.
 
Members of the Canadian public, mainly Indigenous individuals, have been posting these bulletins very regularly in public places such as their Facebook page, and it seems that the rate of these disappearances may be on the rise. Its very striking that so many young Indigenous women from across Canada are disappearing on such a regular basis, and that the outwardly apparent attitude of the Canadian general public is of a basically passive nature. 
It is almost amazing that the media has apparently dismissed this as something that will not improve the ratings and so can be discounted as being less than 'News Worthy'.
 I beleive that if these missing women and girls were of any other racial group, there would be a fuming uproar across Canada over the apparent lack of ambition on the part of officials to solve these human tragedies.

West Coast Indigenous Perspective

West Coast Indigenous Perspective

The following is a very interesting and eye-opening documentary film

http://www.filmsforaction.org/Watch/The_Canary_Effect_Kill_the_Indian_Save_the_Man/

Here is a documentary film which provides a nonfictional version of the long history of persecution, through which the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas have been dragged by a highly inhumane 'Civilized Western Society'; the same society which has been, and continues to be, depicted as the corner-stone of the 'Civilized World.' And the persecution continues today, and will be ongoing into the future, as the electorate of those countries that are involved in this persecution continue to allow their country's Leadership to continue with this social abuse and subjection of the Human Rights and the Indigenmous Rights of the Indigenous Peoples of these countries

West Coast Indigenous Perspective

West Coast Indigenous Perspective

http://www.canada.com/technology/Marpole+Midden+cancels+development+protested+Musqueam+band/7318206/story.html


The late great, 'Canadian Indian Movement,' leader, George Manuel, began a battle against the racially motivated actions and intents of the various governments of Canada. He lead the way toward the present and on-going efforts of the assertion of Indigenous Rights, both here in Canada and around the world. Here, the Musqueam People have made a huge stride in that same direction. This development has been a very long time in coming.




https://www.google.ca/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=brotherhood+to+nationhood&btnG=

Follow this link to find a book that describes the formation of the political career and developments of George Manuel.


http://books.google.ca/books/about/The_fourth_world.html?id=VwMJAQAAIAAJ

Follow this link to find the book that describes the vision of George Manuel.

Haisla Cultural Religion: A Voice of the Northwest Coast

Our Journey; Against Enbridge Gateway Development Plans

Greg Robinson
Posted: Friday, September 28, 2012

We are the Haisla People. Across a very long span of historic time, the journey of our survival has brought us across the width and the breadth of the northwest coast of North America, from the area now known as Washington State, throughout the lands and waters of this coast, to the area now known as Alaska.

The act of harvesting natural resources from within Haisla Traditional Territory is for us, a practice that goes back to our ancestral birth; it goes back to the ancient time of our arrival on this land; to a time long before the intervention  of Western Culture and Politics. Our culturally-based, collective knowledge of food and resource harvesting practices, otherwise known as ,'Hunting and Gathering,' stands as a historic wealth of Cultural, Social and Technical knowledge developed over millennia, as our ancestors increasingly became more attuned to the nature of the resources, and to the demands of the physical environment of Haisla Traditional Territory.

Presently, our practices of harvesting food and other traditional resources ,reconnects us on an annual, seasonal basis, with the time when our cultural identity, and perspective as Indigenous Peoples, here upon our lands and waters, was clear and unobstructed. It is our Indigenous People's Human Right to continue, unobstructed, with our historic practice of harvesting the traditional foods that help us to maintain a level of health to which we have become socially, physically and psychologically accustomed over these past millennia. As this Human Right stands within a 'Protected' status at the highest levels of International Convention, no threat to these Human Rights must be allowed as acceptable by any level of the International Community, including the country and the people of Canada.

As the Haisla People, in this, 'Modern age', our traditional food harvesting and trading activity continues to bring us on many journeys. It brings us physically out onto the lands and the waters of our Traditional Territory. It brings us into contact with the lakes, the rivers, the creeks, the pools, the waterfalls and the marine waterways, where our ancestors based their lives. Where they raised their families, and fought to protect their homes and their freedom and their right to live and to thrive; where they performed ritualistic purification ceremonies; the places where they found their spiritual sustenance. Our harvesting activity brings us to the shores, where we find the rock faces that contain the petroglyphs, which remain as gestures of greeting to us, and that go to signal the continuum of our habitation of these lands; it brings us to those remote parts of our Territory, where the dugout canoes of old were built, and disembarked onto journeys of the historic Haisla lifestyle. We are able to walk the same routes, wade into the same pools, climb the same mountains, to see the same beauty, to feel the same love for the light in the eyes of our children, as they play on the shores, drink of the fresh waters, and eat the foods and the fruits, of the waters and the land, that continue to nourish us. Our harvesting journeys bring us to what remains of the Old-Growth Forest, to the rivers, the valleys and the mountains, that even now, continue to mark the boundaries of our Territorial Lands and Waters; the Territory that has always supplied us with the wide variety of resources upon which we have always depended, for our lives, and for the lives of our children.

The bones of our ancestors are to be found, near and far, in recessed places across our lands. Our journeys across our Territorial Lands bring us to such historically significant sites, where we find remains of the bent-wood boxes that contained the skeletal remains of those same ancestors, and that remain there throughout our lands; their tools can be found on the shores and in the forests; their stories are in the hearts of our elders; their spirit is in the souls of the children who are reborn to us; and their memories live in our dreams.  Those who have gone before us are with us in spirit, and celebrate with us as we revisit, and reconnect with the pristine places that remain of our ancestral homeland. They laugh with us in our times of happiness, and they stand by us in our times of grief. They move with us as we wander over the land and across the waters. They sit with us at the tops of the mountains that we climb; and for those who learn to listen, they speak to us and let us know that they are near.

Along the pathways of our journey, we find the 'Cedar plank trees,' that were left by the hands of our ancestors, and which stand as part of a large body of internationally recognized, legal Archaeological evidence, as to our true place in this country, and in this world.

The act of drinking of the fresh waters of our Traditional Territories is one of many forms of traditional prayer. Each individual is free to choose and to develop their own particular form of prayer. The act of sitting at the edge of the waters of a lake, a river or at the marine tide line, to simply enjoy and appreciate the intrinsic, solemn and immaculate beauty of unadulterated nature, this is for me personally, an act of deep and intense expression of gratitude; of Northwest Coast style prayer. To live each day with a deep appreciation for the wholeness and the purity; the sanctity of nature, this is the language and the voice of our Traditional Culture, and as well, another form of prayer. This is the realm, and the practice, and the voice of our Traditional Spirituality; in essence this is the nature and the way of our religion. In this way, we continue to practice the religion of our ancestry.

At this point in our history, we the Haisla People find ourselves facing the ultimate threat to our place in this world, namely the potential destruction of the precious and irreplaceable ecological integrity of our Traditional Homeland environment; the demolition of our social, cultural, religious, and Spiritual base; the emaciation and the destitution of the ecological heart of our Homeland Territory.

Long after 'Big Oil' and its money is gone from our Homeland Territory, what will be left of our home? What will be left of our lives; our families; our friends? What will be left for our children and future generations? What will become of the remains of our Traditional Culture? The answer is, destruction, destitution and death.

If my ability to hunt, and to gather, and to engage in related traditional practice were lost or compromised, it would affect me in the following ways:

A.    Economic / Health:  I depend heavily upon the natural food resources of Haisla Territory, to sustain myself and my family. Meats and sea foods that are harvested from our Territorial lands and waters, are free of chemical additives, hormonal additives, and preservatives, and continue to provide us with greatly increased levels of health, vitality and quality of life. The medicines that we gather from the lands, and from the waters, are also a great source of health benefits, as we continue to take up old remedies, and to discover new medicinal remedies to be found and derived from plants and trees of our Territory. If my ability to hunt, gather and to fish were lost or compromised due to industrial destruction of habitat, I myself, as well as my family, would suffer greatly as a result of a severe decline in the quality of our diet.  Haisla elders and others in the community who share the fruits of their own such harvesting activities, would also suffer the same loss. The loss of this resource would be a social and an economic catastrophe for many Haisla People. 

B.   Socially:  Our harvesting and sharing of traditional food resources of Haisla Territory is truly a social event. It brings us together as we find ourselves out on the lands and on the waters, in the acts of harvesting the foods and other resources. At these times we learn from one another, and teach the young, the lessons that we have learned about the harvest, about self determination, and about leadership. We cement old friendships and develop new ones. These interactions effectively become events of social and cultural development and assertion, where we hear each other's renditions of old stories, and of past personal experiences, on the waters and on the land.

This is effectively a recording of our living history, as well as the re-establishment and the reinforcement of cultural norms. For us, as The Haisla, it is ultimately a community building process. It is through such social activity that the Haisla Culture continues to find its basis.

The loss of harvesting practices, due to the loss or the destruction of our natural resources, would mean the loss of this social activity that is crucial to the continuation of Haisla Cultural identity, and the longevity of Traditional Haisla Cultural Practices and Society. This would truly be a tremendous loss of quality of life, at many levels , for myself, for my family and friends,  as well as for  the local and extended Haisla Community.

C.          If I were to lose either my access to, or my ability to enjoy the vibrant nature of my homeland due to destruction by industry, my quality of life would be incredibly diminished; and the quality of life for my family and friends would, without question, also be incredibly diminished.  Our spirit would suffer greatly. I believe that the resultant suffering would cause tremendous heart break, and that the issue of such loss among our people would be immeasurable, and for many, insurmountable. I believe that as a direct result of associated social degradation, and cultural shock, and a general sense of loss, the youth of my community would suffer greatly, and the incidence of alcoholism and drug abuse would increase steeply, and the suicide rate within my community would escalate beyond any historic milestone.

Greg Robinson, Haisla

After a long beautiful night travelling with a full moon through Gardner Canal, a spectacular dawn spilled across the waters. I've heard people, who have travelled all over the world, say that Haisla Territory is some of the most beautiful of all the places they've been. I believe it.

The thing about photos is that they can help us to get an idea of what was there in front of the camera, but they can never bring us the true depth and breadth of the beauty in the landscape, seascape etc. This land contains an amazing bounty in terms of the aura that serves to invite a raw spiritual connection to all things natural, the essence of which makes up a large part of our humanity.

The humanity of Indigenous Peoples has been under assault for centuries. We must draw a line at this point in history and, in the interest of protecting our future, reverse this process of assault; and these words are my first effort in that direction.

The truth of this matter is that, now, it is not only Indigenous Peoples who are under the gun here, it is all humanity.

We cannot allow an oil corporation, and/or a money-blind federal government, to destroy the natural world in the interests of their personal and collective financial and political gain.

Oil Spill on the Douglas Channel