Salmon or LNG

I want to continue living in Prince Rupert. I am Nisgaa, Tsimshian, Haida. I grew up here. My grandmother and granny worked in canneries their whole lives. Fishing, even if it is viewed as a 'dying industry' is still a huge lifestyle, staple food, and a keystone species in the whole Northwest region. It also brings a bit of economy into town. I commercial fished this year, start up, maintenance, and general expenses for the fishing season for me was well over 60 grand. We had on average about 40 gillnetters in the fleet give or take. Do the math. It adds up. 

Canneries employ people seasonally. My grandmothers sister, and her brother both depend on the Cannery to keep them going year round. Every year, will they get enough hours for employment insurance.  Salmon is something that Nisga'as, Tsimshian's, and Haida's have all lived off for thousands of years. I heard one warrior women speak, saying salmon is in our DNA. I don't doubt that one bit. Most of our origin stories tell of a time of famine, and darkness, when salmon came to us as a gift to keep our people alive, as we were near starvation. That is why our Chiefs wear the Ermine Skin on their hats, to remember how the salmon came to save humans by providing its flesh to us as nourishment. To carry that responsibility to the land, and always be a protector for the salmon as well.

 Today, we are fighting for our Salmon. We have so much industrial development projects proposed in the harbour of Prince Rupert, it will collapse the salmon run most likely of the Skeena and the Nass rivers. We are facing three development projects in our delicate ecosystem here. Each will deliver acidic rain from the flare stack emissions going 24/7, and most likely local residents will soon become riddled with rare cancers and diseases. I recently went to aurora LNG's open house, and ask the lead for the EAO if he's willing to live in Dodge cove if they wish to have their LNG facility there, he said no. I said you don't want to be the first one getting a rare cancer. He said no. Then I said if your not willing to live this life, being threatened with pollution that will cause serious health concerns, then don't expect us local residents of this area to support that kind of life. It's not fair. 

With the Occupation of Lelu, the Lax Uula camp is giving us all an opportunity. To learn why Flora Banks needs to be saved, what we are capable of, and do we live in fear?!

101

Allies: In everyday English usage, allies are people, groups, or states that have joined in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out between them. When the term is used in the context of war or armed struggle, such associations may also be called allied powers. (1)

Occupiers: to reside within Indigenous land (all of the known North America). Technically I could even view myself as an occupier. Because I come from a Matriarchal Society, I follow my mom. If I am living on my father's Nations land, I am occupying his peoples Land. In this reference, occupiers can be seen as those who don't support the local indigenous peoples struggle, or acknowledge that they are on their land. These are the one's who reinforce the colonization of the local indigenous peoples.

Land Defenders:
We, Indigenous Peoples of the territory known as Canada who are defending our lands and waters, our ways of life, and our rights, are of one mind that:
We are sovereign nations. We have the inherent right to self-determination. We will determine our own destinies in accordance with our own customs, laws, and traditions - not in a way dictated to us by Canadian and provincial governments, and without interference by these governments. 2008 (via website: http://www.defendersoftheland.org/about )

Unity: the state of being united or joined as a whole (1)

Solidarity: unity or agreement of feeling or action, especially among individuals with a common interest; mutual support within a group. (1)

Sovereignty: supreme power or authority. Acknowledging your origin Nation, who you are, and following your people's Natural Laws of the Land. (ps- if your are indigenous YOU are not considered Canadian, but a WARD of Canada)

Grassroots:

1. the common or ordinary people, especially as contrasted with the leadership or elite of a political party, social organization, etc.; the rank and file.

2. the people inhabiting these areas, especially as a political, social, or economic group.

3. the origin or basis of something; the basic or primary concept, rule, part, or the like.

Growing Pains will happen. People living in urban areas will need to learn how to work together. Even Indigenous people's of different Nations will be struggling to Unite, without ego to accomplish the END goal of Keeping our Coast Clean from tankers. If disagreements happen, give some cool down time. Lateral violence is unacceptable. If a resolution is acceptable, it is always good to have both parties involved sit in a circle, with their own supports, with one person, or persons ( an elder or someone who is emotionally mature) to act as a mediator. Its always good to start off with a smudge, and a prayer. This is idea so that all parties can work together peacefully.


Protocols- who's land are you on? Do you know? If you don't know, find out. Every single city or town has Indigenous names for different locations within the area. ALWAYS let the LOCAL indigenous people try to lead and start off every gathering. We have our own protocols to follow, such as a prayer and welcoming statement to our lands. Have a gift for them. To thank them for the work they did for the people. ( I still have to do this one, asap. try not to leave it as an IOU)


Before Organizing

Educate yourself, stay informed of who is doing what where. Popular places for protests are the Gitga'at, the Unistoten Camp, Vancouver, unceded Coast Salish, Musquem, , and Toronto. We have recently had smaller communities gather as well, such as Kitamat, Terrace, Prince Rupert, Hazelton. See if you can build relationships with organizers in these communities to show Solidarity. The gathering I helped to organize for UN World's Ocean Day June 8th was in Solidarity with our only Front Line Blockade the Unist'ot'en Camp.

Why should indigenous women be the leaders? Indigenous women have faced the worst forms of oppression from the corporation of Canada, systemically. We face higher chances of dying violently, instead of living our natural way as Lifegivers, Matriarchs, and the ones who hold our Houses together. Its a responsibility to acknowledge our Mothers, especially if we are fighting for Mother Earth. (most of the Northwest Coast are Matriarchal Societies, we follow our Mother) Empower tem, ;istn, and they will shine.

Non-Violent Direct Action- what is it? Direct action occurs when a group of people take an action which is intended to reveal an existing problem, highlight an alternative, or demonstrate a possible solution to a social issue. This can include nonviolent and less often violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action participants. Examples of non-violent direct action (also known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance) can include sit-ins, strikes, workplace occupations, blockades, hacktivism, etc., (1)

So what do we do NOW? If your indigenous, work with people of your nation to Start a Grassroots movement. Or if there is not enough interest in this, then work with people of other nations as well to create change. We need to move beyond petitions, rallies, posters, shirts, and take some effort to organize ourselves immediately to STOP the PIPELINES.

*colonization & decolonization * will be the next blog.

So who wants to start a Grassroots Group?

(1) source: wikipedia

Home sweet home

sooo... brushing the city dust off me, i stand with a silent joy as i find myself back at home. a place where my ancestors come from, a place of rugged beauty. now all the romanticizing about being what one of my friends refers to being a 'born again indian', is officially going to be put to the test. im home, with my two children, and my sons father back on Haida Gwaii. getting a lot of 'who are you', and 'are you really registered on this band list' questions, and looks. but its still good to be back at home. even if ill always be viewed as an outsider. today we are going to the language nest, to go sit at chief matthews with the elders, and learn xaad kil. then go bring my aunty some jarred goods, and find out what i need to do/acquire to begin weaving. my fathers a weaver, and most of my relatives are carvers. i have a raven mask that im working on. will try to finish it off whenever i can find a carving buddy. i talked to my partner today, and said that we should make goals for being home. like trying less participation in colonization, and practice more of our culture, language, and build on the strengths that we have here in our community. we are living in the richest place in the world, in terms of living off the land. we have a buffet in the ocean outside our front door, and there is an abundance all around us. once we get more settled here, and connected within the community, we will most likely in the spring start scoping out some land to build on.

Happy Mothers Day

Nuuyuu dim int duway- Keep Paddling Forward

As long as the wind blows, as long as the grass grows, as long as the salmon swim, the bears live....
as long as the eagles soar in the storms, as long as the ravens dance on this land and in our hearts....
as long as the great forrests of our lands remain free from the greed of mankinds clearcutting destruction...
as long as the songs flow to the beating of our hearts healing our souls from the wrongs against our dear mother earth who we have forgotten to respect, and live with in harmony....

As long as the wind blows, as long as the grasss grows, as long as the salmon swim the bears live...
this land and what is left of it belongs to our children, their children, and their children.

Do we have rights to allow the coorporations and the federal government to keep on their path of destroying this land our ancestors where assimilated or murdered for? With the reservation systems DIA got us real good being dependant slaves to a system of colonization. As we struggle with addictions to extra large double doubles, withdrawling from the crawling on hastings street to sell our souls for a moment of freedom from a life of disappointments and heartache. We fish farm our way of life, clear cut our souls, put up wider highways to allow more export of our resources we dont have a right to access because corporations of Kanada call the police. We fight the oil spills, but I feel the spill is in my heart and soul, stained for all generations to carry a wounded knee memory, or small pox blanket in our car trunk. Free Leonard Peltier, a unsung hero who is punished for trying to stand for his land, and his people, against injustice. We cant even free our minds from this system they call Kanada, as we become cheap one night stands for a hockey game. All we want is glory, but there is no glory here.

As long as the eagles soar in the storms, as long as the ravens dance on this land and in our hearts....
We are reminded of who we are, where we come from, that our societies were run by matriarchs, not band offices, and elections, and scraps of generousity from the corporation of Kanada. We are forgetting that we never had to depend on Safeway, or welfare cheques to survive. We are reminded that our food sovereignty is at a crisis point, our wild salmon is been destroyed on purpose by governenments for assimilation and colonization. We are reminded that our lands are being polluted and over populated, as we seem to have forgotten our responsibilites to our first mother, mother earth.

As long as the great forrests of our lands remain free from the greed of mankinds clearcutting destruction...
we will have our ceremonies with fire, water, earth, and air to honour all four directions of our lands.
We will sing our songs, do our dances, carve our dancing masks, rattles,create our treasure boxes from the sacred tree of life, a single tree that has the power to create life, give us oxygen, give us our medicines, and cedar to weave, ourwood to carve, wood for the sweatlodge fire, and protection for all life on earth.

As long as the songs flow to the beating of our hearts healing our souls from the wrongs against our dear mother earth who we have forgotten to respect, and live with in harmony....
we will KEEP PADDLING FORWARD IN OUR CANOE even when they keep saying a good indian is only a dead indian, so forgive me for being a bad indian... cuz i will not sell my soul for Kanada, I will not allow my daughter to grow up with no values to this earth, I will not stop talking about our responsibilities to our next couple thousand generations on mother earth who we continue to destroy. Its a resource war, a war for our souls, a war for our land they squat on and call Kanada. Its a war for survival, and our only chance is the repatriation of our pre-assimilated values, beliefs, and laws of the land. Because we are now only clearcutting our souls , and mining our hearts till there is nothing left to stand for. Id rather stand for something than die on my knees for nothing.

Nuuyuu dim int duway

As long as the wind blows, as long as the grass grows, as long as the salmon swim, the bears live....
as long as the eagles soar in the storms, as long as the ravens dance on this land and in our hearts....
as long as the great forrests of our lands remain free from the greed of mankinds clearcutting destruction...
as long as the songs flow to the beating of our hearts healing our souls from the wrongs against our dear mother earth who we have forgotten to respect, and live with in harmony....

As long as the wind blows, as long as the grasss grows, as long as the salmon swim the bears live...
this land and what is left of it belongs to our children, their children, and their children.

Do we have rights to allow the coorporations and the federal government to keep on their path of destroying this land our ancestors where assimilated or murdered for? With the reservation systems DIA got us real good being dependant slaves to a system of colonization. As we struggle with addictions to extra large double doubles, withdrawling from the crawling on hastings street to sell our souls for a moment of freedom from a life of disappointments and heartache. We fish farm our way of life, clear cut our souls, put up wider highways to allow more export of our resources we dont have a right to access because corporations of Kanada call the police. We fight the oil spills, but I feel the spill is in my heart and soul, stained for all generations to carry a wounded knee memory, or small pox blanket in our car trunk. Free Leonard Peltier, a unsung hero who is punished for trying to stand for his land, and his people, against injustice. We cant even free our minds from this system they call Kanada, as we become cheap one night stands for a hockey game. All we want is glory, but there is no glory here.

As long as the eagles soar in the storms, as long as the ravens dance on this land and in our hearts....
We are reminded of who we are, where we come from, that our societies were run by matriarchs, not band offices, and elections, and scraps of generousity from the corporation of Kanada. We are forgetting that we never had to depend on Safeway, or welfare cheques to survive. We are reminded that our food sovereignty is at a crisis, our wild salmon is been destroyed on purpose by governenments for assimilation and colonization. We are reminded that our lands are being polluted and over populated, as we seem to have forgotten our responsibilites to our first mother, mother earth.

As long as the great forrests of our lands remain free from the greed of mankinds clearcutting destruction...
we will have our ceremonies with fire, water, earth, and air to honour all four directions of our lands.
We will sing our songs, do our dances, carve our dancing masks, rattles,create our treasure boxes from the sacred tree of life, a single tree that has the power to create life, give us oxygen, give us our medicines, and cedar to weave, wood to carve, wood for the sweatlodge fire, and protection for all life on earth.

As long as the songs flow to the beating of our hearts healing our souls from the wrongs against our dear mother earth who we have forgotten to respect, and live with in harmony....
we will KEEP PADDLING FORWARD IN OUR CANOE even when they keep saying a good indian is only a dead indian, so forgive me for being a bad indian... cuz i will not sell my soul for Kanada, I will not allow my daughter to grow up with no values to this earth, I will not stop talking about our responsibilities to our next couple thousand generations on mother earth who we continue to destroy. Its a resource war, a war for our souls,

Letters to CHN, Members of Parliment, let us work together

Dear Great Leaders,

As a supporter of Haida Gwaii Yakguudang - Respect for Living Things and someone who takes great pride in the natural beauty, diversity, history and culture of Haida Gwaii, I am deeply concerned about the lack of protection for this area near Rose Spit, Haida Gwaii.I look forward to the day when the Haida will truly find a green energy source that meets their needs and protect the environment from abuse at the same time.

I strongly urge you to reconsider the Naikun Wind Turbine Farm business relationship and see that the values the Haida have are not compromised.
I have been in contact with Vince Collison our Council of Haida Nation Representer for the Energy Committee, and Matt Burns from Naikun Wind farms via email, and try to stay as informed as possible. Im doing my own research, and having contact with many Haidas, on and off Haida Gwaii who are not in support of this devestating project.As well as the general public I have had communication with, most agree this project will devestate Haida Gwaii, and the beauty and abundance of all living things in our Territory. Since when did sustainability mean money. I have always been a proud Haida, for so many reasons. And Im very thankful for all the hard work our people do to keep Haida Gwaii beautiful, many great victories in history we have accomplished despite the challenges from Colonization and the Genocide we have faced in the last one hundred years. If this project is truly sustainable, and will benefit our future generations we must have at least one more meeting, or a week long conference here in Vancouver for our people. Many Haida's dont even know about this project, and i see the divide this Corporation has created in our Nation, which is furthering the divide and conquer tactic so many have suffered. I look at Haida Gwaii, our delicate Ecosystem, our resources, and my daughter with all the same love. The earth and water,and all life in this world are not ours to destroy. We have the way to create a sustainable future for our children, and their children, for this land is not ours to destroy for greed. I hope my words have been taken in a kind and gentle way, for this is my truth. I am making arrangements for on air Interviews as soon as possible with residents of Haida Gwaii, and others who have knowledge to share about the propaganda of this project.Matt Burns has done an interview with us before on Radio, and I always appreciate the way he is able to communicate with respect and knowledge, Howaa Matt. I would like to see something good happen for our Nation, and more importantly for Haida Gwaii.
This letter has been circulated through CHN (Council of Haida Nation) already, and im waiting for a reply. I am sharing my concerns with you Nathan Cullen, because I have read what you stand for. You talk of integrity, let us empower the future of sustainability for our children's children, and pass a Moratorium in BC Waters for Wind Farms. Ireland has a moratorium because they care about the unknown impacts such a project could impose on their land and their people. All that we do today impacts our next seven generations, let us start healing some of that intergenerational trauma Canada has created through the colonization of our lands people, and embrace a sustainable future that is not based on greed, but based on true Yakguudang- Respect for all living things. If we can say no to Enbridge, we can say no to Naikun.

I will keep doing a follow up letter at least once a week to Nathan, and Libby as Members of Parliement, and will look forward to keeping in touch. May you all have a great day!

Thank you for considering my comments.

Yakguudang Kilsly,

Patrika McEvoy, aka Big Fire Woman

No to Naikun Wind Farms

My deepest fear is that it is too late, that the greed of our colonizers has consumbed my people.

I look around, and see our children living in poverty, parents struggling to heal from intergenerational trauma, and we are all fighting with eachother.

Meanwhile we have lost all of our resources to corporations for a quick dime to get high.

We are addicted to this world, and the anger lingers on my lips like words with no where to go.

I always knew one day i would have to tell my daughter about Kanada, about greed, about the small pox, about Colonization, about Lateral Violence, about addictions, and the list grows longer.

My brother says his aunty has been fighting our Council for years, and i see our band offices signing deals behind closed doors, and sometimes our lone warriors get burnt out.

I pray my daughter never has to suffer the agonizing heart ache my generation is facing with Enbridge, Naikun Wind Farms, Treaties being signed selling our souls.

I pray my daughters generation will be heard when they say no.

I pray for these things, as the Tsunamis hit, the nuclear explosions, we continue digging ourselves deeper into destruction.

Dii Koyas Tawlang---> Yakguudang!

My precious relations, Respect all life.