#Indigenous Canadian Land
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#SteepDescent
Mountainous Parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
August 11th, 2023.
#Steep Descent#Nature Photography#Natural environment#Undisturbed Ecosystems#Hiking#Excursion#Lifestyle#Backpacking#Wild Landscapes#Wilderness Need Protection#Water Falls#Indigenous Canadian Land#Mountainous Parts of the Northern Hemisphere#Canada#The RavenKeeper
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"In a historic “first-of-its-kind” agreement the government of British Colombia has acknowledged the aboriginal ownership of 200 islands off the west coast of Canada.
The owners are the Haida nation, and rather than the Canadian government giving something to a First Nation, the agreement admits that the “Xhaaidlagha Gwaayaai” or the “islands at the end of world,” always belonged to them, a subtle yet powerful difference in the wording of First Nations negotiating.
BC Premier David Eby called the treaty “long overdue” and once signed, will clear the way for half a million hectares (1.3 million acres) of land to be managed by the Haida.
Postal service, shipping lanes, school and community services, private property rights, and local government jurisdiction, will all be unaffected by the agreement, which will essentially outline that the Haida decide what to do with the 200 or so islands and islets.
“We could be facing each other in a courtroom, we could have been fighting each other for years and years, but we chose a different path,” said Minister of Indigenous Relations of BC, Murray Rankin at the signing ceremony, who added that it took creativity and courage to “create a better world for our children.”
Indeed, making the agreement outside the courts of the formal treaty process reflects a vastly different way of negotiating than has been the norm for Canada.
“This agreement won’t only raise all boats here on Haida Gwaii – increase opportunity and prosperity for the Haida people and for the whole community and for the whole province – but it will also be an example and another way for nations – not just in British Columbia, but right across Canada – to have their title recognized,” said Eby.
In other words, by deciding this outside court, Eby and the province of BC hope to set a new standard for how such land title agreements are struck."
-via Good News Network, April 18, 2024
#canada#indigenous#first nations#haida#british columbia#canadian politics#land back#indigenous peoples#indigenous rights#indigenous land
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The Snuneymuxw First Nation and the province of B.C. have completed a significant 212-hectare land transfer, which the Snuneymuxw are calling an important step in reconciliation.
The parcel of land on Te'tuxtun, known as Mount Benson East, is located just south of Nanaimo, B.C., on Vancouver Island. It's the first of a series of anticipated land transfers agreed upon by the nation and the province back in 2020.
The remaining land, about 1,166 hectares, is expected to be transferred back to the nation in the near future, the nation said in a Thursday release.
"It's very, very exciting, and a long time coming," said Snuneymuxw Chief Mike Wyse in the release.
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#cdnpoli#canada#canadian politics#canadian news#indigenous#first nations#snuneymuxw first nation#british columbia#land back
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https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/national-day-truth-reconciliation.html
Mental health supports available
Former residential school students can call 1-866-925-4419 for emotional crisis referral services and information on other health supports from the Government of Canada.
Indigenous peoples across Canada can also go to The Hope for Wellness Help Line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for counselling and crisis intervention.
Call the toll-free Help Line at 1-855-242-3310 or connect to the online chat (Please use Google Chrome).
Truth and Reconciliation Week
This bilingual educational program is open to all schools across Canada. All sessions will be held virtually, allowing classroom participation from across the country and the involvement of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. From September 25-30, 2023, registration is required.
@allthecanadianpolitics
#current events#so called 'Canada'#settler people#National day of Truth and Reconciliation#learn the Truth#go learn a thing#reconciliation is dead#Canadian news#beneficiaries of a genocide#open learning#free resources#settler colonialism#indigenous people#indigenous land#land back
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not your founding father (mouthpiece)
My thoughts on Louis Riel being named first premier of Manitoba.
Taanshi kiyawow, Riel dishinikashoon. I descend maternally from seven Métis families from the historic Red River Settlement in Manitoba and Batoche, Saskatchewan. Notably, my Berthelett ancestors worked for the North West Company and were community leaders in the Métis settlement of Pointe a Grouette before it was systemically overtaken by French settlers who claim we formed no roots in the area (St. Onge). My Caron ancestors from Batoche fought in the North West Resistance alongside Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont. My fifth-great-uncle Jean Caron Sr. fought alongside his sons at the age of 52; his house still stands in Batoche to this day, where thousands of Métis make pilgrimages every year to remember the events of 1885.
What do you know about Louis Riel?
I can only read his words and imagine what guidance he would have provided had he lived longer than 41 years. Or imagine myself in his place as he walked to the gallows on November 16th, 1885. As a child when I visited Manitoba my grandpa and my kokum would take me to visit his grave, just as they did with my mother, who named me ‘Riel’.
We are inextricably linked through time and across our homelands. What’s in a name? Unasked for? Not yet earned? I do not yet know who I am to my people but I carry an important name and the trickster’s spirit, and with these comes the responsibility of understanding and revealing cultural and societal truths (Stimson).
I am still growing into my name
Today I am a mouthpiece
An interpreter of the past
What do you know about the trial of Louis Riel?
July 31st, 1885, Riel gives his final speech. Historical weather data shows that it was a hot day in Regina. Cooler than the days before but still hot with the swelter of the plains. He spoke long, in English, not the language of his birth.
“The day of my birth I was helpless and my mother took care of me although she was not able to do it alone; there was someone to help her to take care of me and I lived. Today, although a man, I am as helpless before this court, in the Dominion of Canada and in this world, as I was helpless on the knees of my mother the day of my birth. The Northwest is also my mother; it is my mother country and although my mother country is sick and confirmed in a certain way, there are some from Lower Canada who came to help her to take care of me during her sickness and I am sure that my mother country will not kill me more than my mother did forty years ago when I came into the world, because a mother is always a mother, and even if I have my faults, if she can see I am true, she will be full of love for me.”
“When I came into the Northwest in July, the 1st of July 1884, I found the Indians suffering. I found the half-breeds eating the rotten pork of the Hudson Bay Company and getting sick and weak every day. Although a half-breed, and having no pretension to help the whites, I also paid attention to them. [...] We have made petitions, I have made petitions with others to the Canadian government asking to relieve the condition of this country.”
“We have taken time; we have tried to unite all classes, even may speak, all parties.”
“During my life I have aimed at practical results. I have writings, and after my death I hope that my spirit will bring practical results.”
“When we sent petitions to the Government, they used to answer us by sending police [...] There are papers which the Crown has in its hands, and which show that demoralisation exists among the police, if you will allow me to say it in the court, as I have said it in writing.”
“If I am blessed without measure I can see something into the future, we all see into the future more or less.”
“The only things I would like to call your attention to before you retire to deliberate are:
1st That the House of Commons, Senate and Ministers of the Dominion, and who make laws for this land and govern it, are no representation whatever of the people of the North-West.
2nd That the North-West Council generated by the Federal Government has the great defect of its parent.
3rd The number of members elected for the Council by the people make it only a sham representative legislature and no representative government at all.”
“I have never had any pay. It has always been my hope to have a fair living one day. It will be for you to pronounce - if you say I was right, you can conscientiously acquit me, as I hope through the help of God you will. You will console those who have been fifteen years around me only partaking in my sufferings. What you will do in justice to me, in justice to my family, in justice to my friends, in justice to the North-West, will be rendered a hundred times to you in this world, and to use a sacred expression, life everlasting in the other.”
What do you know about Louis Riel?
I have done this walk in my mind so many times that I have lost count. Historical accounts of the day note that it was a chill, clear, autumn morning. The prairies stretched out, silver frost bathed in sunlight. He faced it all and was brave until the end. Despite reports of it being destroyed, former premier of Manitoba Duff Roblin and his family, and the RCMP gloat over the supposed fragments of the rope that hanged the traitor, and I wonder how long the rope would be if you lined up every single scrap of twine rumoured to be the noose that killed Riel?
Does it make you feel less guilty to call him a founding father? Canadians are only able to remember him through his murder and not through his words that can still animate his presence. Written words and objects once owned are ghosts, extensions of our bodies and spirits. When I read his letters and journals I see the urgency in his penmanship, and I think about the sweat and invisible oils of his skin becoming a part of each page as he wrote and wrote and wrote. I wonder where each journal travelled with him during his exile, and why he chose each book. There is one with an illustration of a guardian angel watching over two children, and I wonder if he thought of himself as one of them being shepherded through life by his ancestors.
Canadians argue about whether or not Riel should have been hanged instead of talking about what he had believed and said and accomplished, and what he wanted to do with the rest of his life had it not been cut short.
No one talks about his dreams or his fears, and he did not live long enough to answer the question of if he would have wanted to be revered as the first premier of Manitoba. Or, in response would he ask for clean water for all, to stop the sweeps, and starlight tours? Would he ask for the Winnipeg police to search the landfills for our murdered women instead of brutalizing and killing us? Would he call for an end to all colonialism and genocide? Or would he simply ask for a place to smudge and be in peace for a while?
When we send petitions to the government they still answer us by sending the police, before turning around and calling Louis Riel a founding father (Riel).
Canada cannot answer these questions for him by giving him that title posthumously, only sit with the discomfort of blood-soaked hands, and wonder how different things would have been had that sacred fire not been snuffed out in 1885.
I cannot answer these questions for him either
And I am still growing into our name.
Works Cited
Riel, Louis. Excerpts from his final statement in court on trial, July 31st, 1885
Stimson, Adrian, “Buffalo Boy: Then and Now.” Fuse Magazine, vol. 32, no. 2, 2009, pp. 18-25.
St-Onge, Nicole J.M. “The Dissolution of a Métis Community: Pointe à Grouette, 1860–1885.” Studies in Political Economy 18.1 (1985): 149–172. Web.
#all love to wab kinew but like....mr riel just wants community food and housing and to not get murdered and also our land rights back#like he just wanted us to live our little métis lives in peace and he hated the canadian government#my work#this was part of a performance but i would just like to post the text#native#métis#louis riel#politics#canadian politics#canadian history#métis history#first nations history#fnmi#mmiw#first nations métis inuit#missing and murdered indigenous women and girls#mmiwg2s#colonialism#canadian colonialsm#land back#history#poetry#personal writing#indian#ndn#american indian movement#north west resistence#red river residence
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The doctrine of discovery is one of the core concepts used to justify colonialism, especially of the settler variety. This is what the Canadian Museum of Human Rights says about it:
The Doctrine of Discovery is a legal and religious concept that has been used for centuries to justify Christian colonial conquest. It advanced the idea that European peoples, culture and religion were superior to all others.
The doctrine of discovery comes from a series of declarations from the pope in the 1400s that suggested christianity and christian cultures were superior to all other religions and cultures, and basically said that christian europeans had the right to invade and claim land and resources from non-christian people, and also had the right to subjugate and convert those populations. It's literally at the very core of colonial history and the myth of white supremacy and christian supremacy.
When the pope was visiting Indigenous communities in canada last summer, more than an apology for the catholic church's role in residential schools, what people were asking for was the overturning of the doctrine of discovery. An apology is meaningless as long as that doctrine stands.
Today, the vatican formally rejected the doctrine of discovery. It's a symbolic gesture, sure. But it's still a sign that things are changing. Space was held for Indigenous voices, and the vatican of all places listened to them.
Obviously, there's still work to be done, and colonization didn't just suddenly end because of this announcement, but this is still huge news, and it feels like we're a tiny step closer to Land Back.
#even 5 years ago i dont think this would've been possible you know#so even tho it is largely symbolic it's a move in the right direction and something worth celebrating#also the fact the catholic church listened to the demands of Indigenous people and responded to them so quickly??#yo @ canadian gov y'all are worse than the catholic church 🤡 🤡 how does that feel???#y'all gonna speed up progress on those calls to action or ???#no but honestly this is the kind of history i am happy to witness you know?#i truly never thought I'd see the day when the vatican said#'no actually we don't support this. the doctrine of discovery is wrong and we will not uphold it any longer'#doctrine of discovery#chritianity#history#indigenous#canada#links in the comments for reference#also just bc the doctrine was rejected doesn't mean reconciliation is done#the rcmp is currently actively invading Wet'suwet'en again to try and force through cgl's v illegal pipeline#this is a moment to celebrate yes#but it's not the end of the fight yet right#indigenous sovereignty is still being violated#land theft is still happening#and this doesn't mean that suddenly all of that is behind us
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The euro-colonial nations must be dismantled: America, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, Isreal, South Africa, ect. The only place for European nations is in Europe and it is rather silly that we tolerate such blatant colonialism that we know is bad.
It's not that all settlers need to move back to where they came from or anything like that, but Indigenous Nations, their people, and culture need to be at the forefront of politics on their land. When my ancestors moved to Canada, it wasn't Indigenous culture they assimilated into. It was Anglo-Saxon culture, and that isn't how it should be.
#colonialism#canadian politics#canada#landback#land back#antifascist#anarchism#palestine#solarpunk#blacklivesmatter#indigenous rights
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hey reminder that starlight tours (a cop practice in which they would abduct indigenous men who hung around bars only to drive them away from population and leave them to die in subzero temperatures) really did happen in Canada and that neither the Canadian police nor the government have ever apologized for their actions — in fact they do not even seem to have stopped the practice altogether — and as of 2021, despite accusations of similar offenses, no cop has been convicted for this type of crime.
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#i don’t see anyone talking about this and it makes me feel sick#dozens upon dozens of indigenous people disappear every year and no one ever talks about it because no one wants to admit that the#police and the government are most likely responsible for these disappearances#in fact the victims themselves are being blamed for their disappearances and most people brush it off by adhering to racist stereotypes such#as drug and alcohol consumption in reserves (which is exaggerated so much it’s become a normalized generalization)#so their disappearances are never discussed. never questioned. never brought to light. and most importantly never brought to justice#it is primordial as white canadians to be educated on the horrors the indigenous people of this land have experienced and it is our duty to#amplify their voices and support them. protest. protect.#indigenous rights#canada#indigenous rights canada#canadian politics#important
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"NEGOTIATE WITH INDIANS," Weekly British Whig (Kingston, Ont.) September 23, 1912. Page 1.
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Commission to Secure Surrender of Aboriginal Rights.
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Ottawa, Sept. 19. - A commission will be appointed shortly to negotiate with the Indians in the newly annexed parts of Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba for the surrender of their aboriginal rights. They will be restricted to reserves and be compensated financially for any rights they may forego.
#indian act#parliament of canada#department of indian affairs#settler colonialism in canada#first nations#land expropriation#first nations reserve#indigenous history#indigenous rights#indigenous people#northern ontario#treaty system#northern manitoba#northern quebec#canadian history
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#NorthernCrow
Nervous young Crow from the village, out of his territory, waiting the approval from the Ravens to feast on a roadkill down below.
#Northern Crow#Crow#FeederWatch#Passeriform#Birds#Roadkill#Photography#Bird Photography#Undisturbed Environment#Wildlife Need Protection#Nature#Indigenous Canadian Land#Mountainous Parts of the Northern Hemisphere#Canada#The RavenKeeper
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For years, the people of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation watched over their waters and waited. They had spent nearly two decades working with Canada’s federal government to negotiate protections for Kitasu Bay, an area off the coast of British Columbia that was vulnerable to overfishing.
But the discussions never seemed to go anywhere. First, they broke down over pushback from the fishing industry, then over a planned oil tanker route directly through Kitasoo/Xai’xais waters.
“We were getting really frustrated with the federal government. They kept jumping onboard and then pulling out,” says Douglas Neasloss, the chief councillor and resource stewardship director of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation. “Meanwhile, we’d been involved in marine planning for 20 years – and we still had no protected areas.”
Instead, the nation watched as commercial overfishing decimated the fish populations its people had relied on for thousands of years.
Nestled on the west coast of Swindle Island, approximately 500km north of Vancouver, Kitasu Bay is home to a rich array of marine life: urchins and abalone populate the intertidal pools, salmon swim in the streams and halibut take shelter in the deep waters. In March, herring return to spawn in the eelgrass meadows and kelp forests, nourishing humpback whales, eagles, wolves and bears.
“Kitasu Bay is the most important area for the community – that’s where we get all of our food,” Neasloss says. “It’s one of the last areas where you still get a decent spawn of herring.”
So in December 2021, when the Department of Fisheries and Oceans withdrew from discussions once again, the nation decided to act. “My community basically said, ‘We’re tired of waiting. Let’s take it upon ourselves to do something about it,’” Neasloss says.
What they did was unilaterally declare the creation of a new marine protected area (MPA). In June 2022, the nation set aside 33.5 sq km near Laredo Sound as the new Gitdisdzu Lugyeks (Kitasu Bay) MPA – closing the waters of the bay to commercial and sport fishing.
It is a largely unprecedented move. While other marine protected areas in Canada fall under the protection of the federal government through the Oceans Act, Kitasu Bay is the first to be declared under Indigenous law, under the jurisdiction and authority of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation.
Pictured: "In some ways, I hope someone challenges us" … the Kitasoo/Xai’xais stewardship authority.
Although they did not wait for government approval, the Kitasoo did consult extensively: the declaration was accompanied by a draft management plan, finalised in October after three months of consultation with industry and community stakeholders. But the government did not provide feedback during that period, according to Neasloss, beyond an acknowledgment that it had received the plan...
Approximately 95% of British Columbia is unceded: most First Nations in the province of British Columbia never signed treaties giving up ownership of their lands and waters to the crown. This puts them in a unique position to assert their rights and title, according to Neasloss, who hopes other First Nations will be inspired to take a similarly proactive approach to conservation...
Collaboration remains the goal, and Neasloss points to a landmark agreement between the Haida nation and the government in 1988 to partner in conserving the Gwaii Haanas archipelago, despite both parties asserting their sovereignty over it. A similar deal was made in 2010 for the region’s 3,400 sq km Gwaii Haanas national marine conservation area.
“They found a way to work together, which is pretty exciting,” says Neasloss. “And I think there may be more Indigenous protected areas that are overlaid with something else.”
-via The Guardian, 5/3/23
#indigenous#indigenous issues#indigenous sovereignty#canada#british columbia#land back#first nations#tribal sovereignty#pacific northwest#marine protected area#conservation#sustainability#overfishing#marine science#canadian government#kitasoo-xai'xais#direct action#good news#hope
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At the moment, Canada currently makes all the final decisions for the development of minerals and oil and gas on Nunavut’s public land and has the authority to collect royalties from those resources.
Devolution will change this – allowing Nunavut the final decision-making authority and the tools to have a greater voice in the management of its resources. It will further transfer the authority to collect royalties and the ability to amend land and resource management legislation.
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#cdnpoli#canada#canadian politics#canadian news#devolution#nunavut#indigenous sovereignty#land sovereignty
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does anyone know if there are any critiques of yellowjackets written by first nations canadians?
#gene.txt#bc like. a large portion of the show is set on indigenous lands#and i dont know a lot abt canadian first nations religions & spiritualities but i DO know that land is hugely important#so is the ambiguous mysticism in yj drawing on that consciously or#yellowjackets
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tw: canadian residential schools and genocide
if you live on “canadian” territory and participated in canada day celebrations today, i want you to seriously reconsider your point of view as a settler in Turtle Island (North America). remember last year when there was such a huge outcry for the #cancelcanadaday and #noprideingenocide movements following the recovery of 751 unmarked children's graves? (notice how i didn't say discovery because indigenous peoples have known that those graves were always there?)
yeah well anyways, where's that same energy this year when the truth and reconciliation report is estimating there are over 3200 unmarked graves out there? i KNEW that everything that happened last year would mostly end up being false allyship. most of the canada day events were cancelled because of covid not because people gave a damn about mourning indigenous trauma.
if you were an actual ally, this would have been front and centre of your minds today. if you were an actual ally, you would have worn orange and black instead of red and white. if you were an actual ally, you would have donated your money to indigenous organizations instead of purchasing frivolous Canada day products.
celebrating canada day celebrates colonialism, genocide and stolen land. end of story.
if you are one of my followers and have no idea what i am talking about i encourage you to read more about residential schools in canada and the 60s scoop as a starting point! support indigenous organizations and businesses if you are able!
i'm not going to sit around here today and let this slide without saying anything. i'm not celebrating canada day and never will, not after the canadian government institutionalized to "kill the indian in the child." not after knowing what my grandmother would have experienced in those institutions.
#cancel canada day#no pride in genocide#canada day#canadian history#indigenous history#residential schools#60s scoop#indigenous genocide#genocide#colonialization#colonialism#stolen land#birdmom posts#vent
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#Kanehsatake#indigenous rights#indigenous perspective#the canadian government does not represent or work for the people#postcolonialism does not exist#indigenous voices#oka crisis#no one is illegal on stolen land#mohawk#mohawk nation
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‘They’re destroying us’: Indigenous communities fear toxic leaks from Canada oil industry
“In May, Calgary-based Imperial Oil notified Alberta’s energy regulator it had discovered discoloured water near its Kearl oil sands project. The regulator soon concluded the water had come from tailings ponds where the company stored the toxic sludge-like byproducts of bitumen mining. Environmental samples showed high levels of several toxic contaminants, including arsenic, iron, sulphate and hydrocarbon – all of which exceeded provincial guidelines.
“But the company failed to notify the federal government and nearby Indigenous communities. In February, there was another leak, in which 5.3m litres of tailings water escaped from an overflowing catchment pond. This time, the community was informed two days later …
“For residents who are forced to live in fear about the water they can’t drink or the food that could be tainted, environmental justice remains elusive.
“‘We’re not talking about compensation. I don’t want compensation. I want them off our traditional land. This is Treaty 8 territory, where my great-uncle signed that treaty. They’re using our land, and they’re destroying us,’ said Rigney. ‘This is a battle worth fighting for. I can’t say I see the light at the end of the tunnel. But as long as I have a voice, I will keep speaking.’”
#indigineous people#indiginous land#indigenous rights#indiginous#oil sands#oil drilling#oil projects#oil extraction#extraction#fossil capitalism#capitalism#extractivism#climate crisis#climate breakdown#climate change#climate justice#canadian politics#canada#north america
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