Oren Lyons at Lummi with Tom Sampson, Jewell James, Jay Julius & Jill MacIntyre Witt

okay my name is jewel James my Indian name sassy off from the Lumbee Indian nation back in the 1980s the there was a group called the Alliance of American Indian leaders that formed and it was the late Roger Jourdain late window Chino late Joe dela Cruz late Sam cakey laid our cabal late Larry Kinley late Kelsey ed mo and I don't know however Abril birds alive or not but I know Dale Riesling and Ron William Ellen is run ellen is ron was the young tribal leader it came on board at that time and that was just a staffer for Larry Finley yeah the Alliance I had organized a meeting of themselves with the National Indian Health Board and they brought Oren Lyons in to teach us about Indians and the Constitution and prophecy of the Iroquois Confederacy and how it influenced America's form of pop popular sovereignty yeah and uh it was a real powerful moment and for me it became a life-changing moment you know when uh Lawrence said that when he would pick up those teachings and you become a wolf runner and I took that to heart because uh he brought in his elder and we planted a sacred tree a tree create peace ceremony on the mall and so that bound me spiritually to the teachings then later on Wendell I mean a rudder drew day and he brought up the pipe and he also had a ceremony bound us all to the teachings and so we we couldn't just walk away if we believed in the spirituality and so I took it to heart you know over the years I used this uh the battle for the treaty rights exemption it was that one of the primary motivators I had on Constitution and treaties made and so it was the main argument that I'd use and lobbying US Congress and we organized our campaign to get Indian fishing rights exemptions but now it's now it's law 7873 is the Indian fishing race exemption when we did that we had the third most powerful man on the hill fighting us he said there's no way that this and he quoted this chicken shared Indian language is going through and of course Lummi burn boats and we kept kept on going we battle them in we won later on we did the interpretation so that all 16 sixteenths of the fishing rights pie is totally tax-exempt it's the only Indian resource industry in the United States it's so broadly interpreted that all parts of it is tax-exempt in the United States government in the state governments cannot caps any part of it so I was a major victory and over the years I based on orange teachings on the Indians of the Constitution I would always hit the IRS wherever they're gold I'd bring it up that you're in violation of the United States Constitution and I would cite the laws you know uh article 1 section 2 Clause 3 excluding Indians not taxed article 1 section 8 article 1 section 8 Clause 3 I Indian Commerce article 1 section 2 Clause 3 Cloutier Dee's knock tap Article 2 section 2 Clause 2 treaty negotiation powers article 3 section 2 Clause 1 the courts can interpret the treaties made article 6 Clause to tweeze of cream law of the land article 6 Clause 3 all official statement of federal are bound by those treaties that supreme law of the land on the Fifth Amendment when they amended the US Constitution they made sure that tribal Indians now this is a real distinction tribal Indians cannot be represented cannot be a member of We the People and cannot be taxed yeah and so the reconstruction Congress in 1860s after the Civil War made sure that that language was in there section 1 of the 14th amendment said subject to the jurisdiction thereof when they out when they when they asked what that meant it meant if you want a relationship with India tribe you have to negotiate a treaty if you want a commercial relationship that's authorized under the Indian Commerce Clause elders are not Indians are outside the Constitution and the tribal Indians owe their allegiance to their tribe first and foremost so John Elk later on 1884 from Omaha Nation test took a test case thought you went all the way Supreme Court they said John Elk you're a tribal Indian you cannot be one of us under the United States Constitution you owe your allegiance to your tribe if we want to relationships with you we'll letter treaties or regulate commerce with you and so on l+ he was classified as a tribal Indian but during this time you know from some 1872 on the united states developed what they call the religious crimes code and so that now beholds the Sioux the Northwest Indians all across the United States Indians would go to jail for cocking her language doing a song dance or Sarah mourning and that that lasted till 1924 when a woman named item a Adams a lawyer took on the Indian rights and said let's give them First Amendment under religious freedom under the US Constitution and so the United States enacted that act in twenty-four on two reasons one American any religious freedom under the First Amendment to for in honor of the veterans that served in World War one and so up from 1924 to 1978 we did not have religious freedom so we had to get to the American Indian religious freedom at in 1988 the United States struck it down so it doesn't protect any sacred sites for places in the night we lost eagle feathers we out just lost the right to peyote and a Native American church which is over ten thousand years old prisoners lost the rights to rituals thanks to a Reuben snake and Oren lives and others that became a part of the religious freedom project the nineteen in the 1990s we got all those court cases overturned and you've got the American II really just Freedom Act amended okay but still in 1956 the you know the Tax Court one took a case against the Quinault and Coleman one indeed defend his rights though during this time the tribes couldn't defend it they weren't allowed into court it was between the United States and a citizen Indian they said you made a citizen in 1924 so including us and a citizen has nothing to do with tribal rights and so they kept the tribes out we were so busy fighting termination trying to stop relocation trying to stop them from ascending in States under Public Law 280 that we didn't have the effort we didn't have the authority to hire our own lawyers and to be in a Tax Court and to defend our people BIA controlled everything and we're considered incompetent and so tribes are set up for the in 1956 but capoeman defended 1/16 of the industry yeah the rights of his own because he owned the timber on crust land he got trust income but all fifteen sixteenths of the rest of the industry became taxable now the court said in ordinary affairs Indians are citizens and so we have to know what are we never got that be finding the RS just came in and said all you Indians are citizens and they never distinguished with an ordinary affairs versus tribal Indian or an allegiance to your tribal nation doing tribal activities within your Indian Indian country and so it's been a battle because the IRS goes after individuals and usually they can't afford to pay the taxes the penalties or the interest or in the fines and so they settled and so it's a lot of cheap victory then it has built up the precedence now part of our problem was that up in order Liza's teachings these are parts of the Constitution that stops them from having jurisdiction over Indian tribes if you they live by the Constitution and then these cases up on top that support tribal government and treaty rights government-to-government relationships these places they're not that clear but they support sovereignty okay and not as clear as if it was our inherent sovereignty our traditional inherent sovereignty but this is a sovereignty that's interpreted through white eyes white law white judges and so they're recognizing some of it okay down here these are the cases that say Indians are incompetent non competent and we can do as we please basically they're saying there are no rights the Indians have that we have to respect and so this undermines not only our government but our status as tribal Indians and so on on this side here which says treaties interpret as we understood them ambiguities resolved in our favor absolute changes my trade your snatchers in Indian sovereignty is intact down here the basic tenant is u.s. guardianship over nations and individual Indians as words and so in Johnson B Macintosh I know Orin and many others have gone across the United States Tom up in Canada talking against the discovery doctrine the discovery doctrine was a way that discovering European nations who discovered art our lab and discovered us the first question nation to discover us had first claim to the territory yeah but they're really the only claim they had was to establish a relationships with us but then took us the Catholic Church's ol Lester infidels pagans heathens atheists and then you have the obligation to conquer them and so under that those papal balls papal bulls the court Pope was supporting these Christian nations now this during the time of reformation as well so while discovery is going on they're competing amongst countries regardless of how to reform that church list of that not everybody's a Catholic but they're still Christians and that we're considered as non-christian now in Johnson V McIntosh that what was going on here is way before 1823 almost seventy years earlier not a colonialist came into Indian country he said one buy your land and so if King George says on the proclamation of King George stay out of Indian country only I could establish relationships and so that case went on and it got developed it was a rigged case so basically the same party on both sides soon itself but Marshalls Chief Justice Marshall took the case him Andy's dad had applied for two hundred fifty eight thousand acres inside Indian country and just so happens by coincidence the decision he made guaranteed him and his dad got all that land okay and he get feel bad so he said Worchester the state of Georgia has to stay out of Cherokee territory but later on you say Indians are dependent domestic sovereigns like Ward's to the Guardian and so he structured to schizophrenia this is there's two personalities in Indian country and if they were not schizophrenic and then the US Constitution would keep them out just as Lauren has taught us in a 1986 it would limit their jurisdiction inside our boundaries and they would regulate commerce with us if they wanted to change our relationship but after D by treaty and so on without that schizophrenia these cases would have been more strong core sovereign and so what I recognize based on words teaching is that most lawyers are defending ng country don't know they don't know the original relationship and that is still alive under the Constitution it's still valid under the Constitution has never been amended to stop the our changes check and balance system that was written in yeah and thank God to the Iroquois Confederacy and later they added the Choctaw Confederacy's that there were major influences on the evolution of popular sovereignty and so you're I'm really happy as I will forever to be able to finally report to you because it's been 86 90/60 those 30 32 years they put me on this journey and what goes on ceremony for you your elder and Rogers ordained I was tied dude this truth this truth advocate this truth in all the battles and so Walter echo-hawk wrote a book on in the courts of the conqueror and I cook yarn Walter that's good book I'll read it again so I wrote read it again and I thought why didn't you map it out Walter I go why don't I map map it out you know so and so I mapped this out and so far where we presented the idea was that eventually this would be a computerized system for all tribal leaders being able to track these teachings versus these teachings and to know the difference and so uh due to budget constraints I was able to get out there but I know Nigel would be willing to Ernie Stevens said won't raise all the funds for it you know going up Walken art says we need this we want to be a party to it and so the basic idea is do I hand it off to Joe and see if they want to take it further but the thing about this whole campaign is that now we're dealing with taps ation and so I know most leaders don't understand that excluding Indians taps like you taught us is still valid law it's still a part of the 14th amendment in the 1924 app does not amend the US Constitution and so we are still tribal Indians they said work what are excluding Indians not that those are the tribal Indians they're outside of our jurisdiction we do not have Dominion or jurisdiction over them and so we Excel exist but 1940s solicitor issued an opinion and he left he tracked all this information it looked like he's going to say Indians the Indians are right there separate from us it looked like it he put all that evidence in there and then he said but you made him citizens so there no longer exists any tribal Indians so by a stroke of a pen all tribal Indians across the nation disappeared politically and legally and so we became these incompetent capsule citizen Indians and so my argument is is that um in ordinary affairs that's that's one word right we're gonna be a u.s. citizens under this 24 rock in ordinary air fares when we're out there living with them walking with them talking with them worshiping with them doing everything like them voting for their government and then that's an ordinary affairs but when we come home or allegiances to our people and our tribal nation governs over us and protests us that's tribal Indian that's what the tribal internet expects that under the sovereignty of the Indian nation and so over the years we have battled for these different definitions of what is not taxable this stuff down here is a tribal Indian rights you can't touch this and we're slowly expanding it over time as a tribal Indian we have rights under the Indian self-determination out the self-government amendments the American Indian great protection repatriation act America it really just freed them out the American a new arts and crafts at all these different laws out or napkin are specific to tribal Indians only tribal Indians can do that you can't be a citizen and do this this is limited to Indian country and so if you're 19 you try to do this you're going to get sued and you're going to get stopped you're going to get not of Indian country and so especially like the American Indian arts and crafts act that we just got amended a few years ago this above this line is the areas that we say large area fairs Indians are citizens and so if you're out here in the city Seattle or San Francisco or Chicago or New York and then yeah you could be out there as a taxable Indian but our challenge is to differentiate between them in ordinary appearance Indians citizenship tribal Indian status and ceremonial activities if we ever get a we with the test case I set up by fighting for the exact the exclusion of all Indian totem pole art all Indian art is tax exempt land I just won this week the idea was to create enough ambiguity in the IRS as understanding that it may have to go back to Congress and then that's where we that's where we come in and then where we get the definitions that we need on what does the tribal Indian like Jarnell the court already defined it in 1884 and there's still a standing case and what our Indian citizens yeah what are in regards to their duties the state or federal government and what are tribal Indians regards to their duties to tribal governments and what are some oniel activities well in my presentation that I handed you the literature on well hope becomes the booklet on ceremony opportunities it's all of this all of this wherever our traditional knowledge and a crucial song down since ceremonies all of that handed down from generation to generation or ceremonial activities because we're reciting to our children how to live in a way with the world around us that was taught to us by your ancestors and so even though we wanted to my case became an example they already ordered they see all of us to stop auditing Indian artists it's under sellable activity and so that's that's in place now and they're processing the paperwork but it's not national yet our goal is to get them to the table and to keep fighting based on this prep these this relationship to a constitutional relationship the 3d relationship the government-to-government relationship demand consultation we like a United Nation Declaration of Rights of digits people free and prior informed consent and so we got to exercise that and demand the consultations and summer state although it's too late you should have done that in 2015 you know hey we resisted for 500 years and we're gonna be here for another 500 years resisting whatever it takes you know uh if we are successful that hopefully will undermine that foundations the squire versus the Pullman where they got to step back and say oh wait the court said in ordinary affairs and we should have limited it to things outside of Indian country and so Rudy Reiser said in 1986 in front of the house hearings dealing with the Arizona Republic's news article that BIA was stealing everything which Cobell proved well Rudy testified that you you appropriate a billion dollars for Indian country for Indian Affairs but you take out four billion in taxes okay they take out four times more than they allocate you know so the other things that are down here of course is Indian health treaty rights and housing stuff and so those are exercised as tribal entities within our Indian country and so the whole plan is to keep being a wolf brother for you here at Lummi they don't know I became a runner for your nation that you gave me that yeah and I think and all one thing I could say is that it guided me in everything we've done on this side I kept the life so this this was my opportunity to finally report to you and let you know that I heard you and I put it right here now keep it there and thank you for being who you are because I remember you and the chairwoman of Toronto we'll both people now if you're a chairwoman of Geronimo's jeez I forgive her name right now yeah that she was born in captivity in between the two of you we heard the message of survival so the Alliance is gone but I think their messages of life and we do have the setting resolutions at health center concurrent resolution 76 and House concurrent resolution 331 that said America's form of constitutional government isn't based on the teachings of the Iroquois and Choctaw confederacies and the relationship is by treaty and government to government so thank you for being a teacher it's amazing what you've laid out here is a history and we haven't really fought the fight yet they just bring in and out of course my brother milk by little we've been backing them up because of this kind of work and the battle for sovereignty is coming this would be the groundwork of it up to the people to to do it I mean you know talk about law and so forth but if the people don't back it up and we'll get in the fight you're not going anywhere yeah so the foundation is build that spirit and the people to to battle they're gonna take things away you know that's how they'll deal with get past that and stay state of course yep I would say the next ten years global warming it's gonna make a lot of definitions no matter who you are I'm gonna watch your laws no matter yeah it's gonna bring a common servant and they may have to go back to our values to survive yeah it's not over at all but this kind of work is really important very important so we've got it laid out and we have to put that in an some kind of our contacts that we can refer to and they can refer to because you're dealing with them under their level of law yeah but with the principle in the back behind it that's that's strength back so the doctrine of discovering later on which will give you a further base to work from all right that's where it's at right there and their their car their car but you have to bring it through up to that down a court case that's you start with them but just before that and what he refers to in that court case yeah it is as far as their week and taking us a long time to get that four dollars so the doctrine of discovery is an amazing takeover of whole Western Hemisphere you know by declaration by Fiat evidence that ok this is all mine now and people living here had no idea what they're talking about but and then a battle began up alright this is how we're gonna do it but in that declaration don't fall this is all mine now to made a mistake or they didn't understand and they said that the Indian nations have a right of occupancy same right as a rabbit or a deer in the woods well the Indians are never there like that it's a legal perspective and they said that they always have that right an importer order for you to actually take the land they have to give up that right and it's not by decoration I by these laws because we have a good and so they need consent of the people before them to actually tell you that's inert that's the mistake that's in the doctrine of discovered but they were you know in those years that they were just taping anything whatever they're thinking it's got to come to this point but within their own position for the position they took their week I know I done Marshall said in that mapping all cash we know it's all based on a lie but if we admit it to lie then we have to give it all back and we can't do that so we have to act as if the lie is true I should move over here down you guys [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] this cello chassis here leads it's a lot of beauty tipsy off them out Santa cheeks of gloomy Johnson he would talk to sinfulness Poonam just sleep gonna swallow queen of quality as well Hanukkah Kunis Annette capital e targets include Satine clearly but I miss College SEM sweeten allylic 1s leg nope pianist College enters dear friends relatives elders and respected women I don't know the mummy language but I'm still learning on behalf of our family on behalf the nation thanking each and every one of you for being here in our hands love to each and every want to be hi Chris yeah we're very happy to see you my friends and relatives hi Christian Oh I squall miss geologists iam Toni alerts in its net Saxon Jensen its net chuckle um Eason good day my dear friends and relatives my name is Toni Hilaire my name is SATs Anton I come from Lemmy I like to thank you all for being here today special thank you to councilman Solomon Secretary of the Lummi and Business Council and the Blackhawks singers thank you for sharing this song thank you to all the past tribal leaders that are that are here some of them already left but also thank you to the the people that are here running for local office as he said fleetwood here in April Parker hi Scott for being here today also special thanks to our alliance for traveling to be here from the Seneca nations of the Iroquois Confederacy a long time lacrosse player and well renowned advocate for indigenous rights thank you for for being here remote stood today by the Lummi indeed Business Council and the children of the Setting Sun productions to have a conversation on climate change with Chairman J Julius Oren Lyons Tom Samson Joel James and Jill wet in 2007 oren lyons spoke to the united nations and he said he quoted a man and I'm sorry if I got his name wrong Akio matzah were uh that value change for survival if we don't change our values we won't survive and in response to that advice we were here to have a conversation with these five to discuss the urgent need in our community the challenges that we face and everything that we need to do to to to change our perceptions to change our values for the betterment of all humankind as well as Mother Earth so I think we'll start off with Chairman Julius to respond to that advice and then we'll just go down the line and mainly have more of a conversation than just one question of than the Chancellor and then I think we'll open it up for questions after that hi Scott hi Scott Tony yeah Darrel all those who helped put this together those who are here to witness take it a jewel and Tom and Jill for all of your work and the value you bring each and in your own way and the example you guys have led by the work you've done in the past to pave the way for these young ones myself and many others too you've guided us and shown us by example how to continue on this necessary work Oren it's an honor and privilege to be sitting here today thank you for coming to Lummi nations homeland I know there's history here with yourself and past leaders Sam Kagi Vernon Lane was my grandfather and many others Willie Jones and Henry K G and the list goes on and on and on I'm just very honored and privileged to be here and to share a few ideas and thoughts and really listen and learn and love love I'm excited to grab onto the takeaways that I'm gonna get from you and the youth are gonna get from from each and every one of you mummy nation is facing many climate change challenges policies by policymakers from the past we're living in the reality of those bad decisions that were made in the past that got us to where we are today really made it a focus to not point fingers to point blame because we don't have time I'm of the belief I quote governor Inslee and years of living dangerously he said we are the first generation to feel the impacts of climate change but were the last generation who could do anything about it and I really take that to heart I personally was born fishermen put on the water and on a boat at a very very very young age so just for myself in the last 44 years I've seen major change on the water the river systems the Salish Sea the salmon the herring the orcas and everything that is important to us as native people because for us here on the west northwest 164 years ago is when we entered into our treaty in 1855 and in 1855 we often share and when we have an opportunity to share with groups of people whether it's a small group like this or Beth brownfield invited me to Portland to speak in front of 5,000 people no matter the amount or who it is in what audiences or Jill inviting me to speak with on the stage with Al Gore and Governor Inslee no matter who the audience is it's a short period of time my great grandma I walked this earth with and held her hand and she was born in 1892 and she died when I was five in 1980 and one thing that really resonates with outsiders is I was one hip I was one hug away I was one handshake away from pre-contact but they were raised and I was raised by individuals who grew up with individuals who were here before there was contact it wasn't that long ago and within the challenge I've found that we see all across Indian country is how do you create empathy how do you create empathy and understanding when we take our values and we live out our values even today you witnessed our culture and the importance of keeping that strong how do you create empathy when the values of a country that we are a sovereign within are different and not in line with who we are still today in who we've always been for since time immemorial we were great stewards of this land and for us in particular were big on salmon we're big on water Salish Sea the river systems the streams telling the story of what it once was when this when they were in 1855 when the treaty was signed you can walk across the backs of salmon on every River you look out into the Salish Sea and all you see is this and you look at testimony from 1927 and the land claims the natives back then talk about this is all you would see and it was as far down and deep as you could see with the eye that's how rich this place was this garden and one thing I found interesting is tapping in to policymakers on the outside that we are partners with that we are neighbors with one thing that is really resonated is our beliefs we all have a belief most of us indigenous people believe in the Creator we have a higher power and those who are citizens of the United States or than the United States itself you look on every piece of money it says In God We Trust and I don't know what the exact percentage is it are but faith has somehow or has been a way to create that empathy I have found and one of the questions that I posed to others when fighting to protect our sacred lands or burial grounds or treaty protected areas are sailors see when it's hard to create buy-in and when jobs versus burial grounds of Indians is you know outweighed over here because of their values in economic development and things like that in what we've witnessed over the last hundred you know a couple of centuries I posed the question to a Christian is the jordan river sacred if so why and what would you be willing to do way over here in this country were there proposed development in a proposal to dry up that River there would be an uproar even here in this country why and then I posed the question the water that Jesus was baptized in is long gone it flowed into the Dead Sea what makes it sacred why does it mean that much to our faith in trying to create that empathy because it's not it's gonna take a team it's gonna take a movement it's gonna take these youth working together with outside communities to really instill value change in this entire country on this entire planet and that's one thing I found and I just wanted to share that quickly because in my eight short years of being elected to leadership on council we faced gigantic battles against the largest coal port proposal in North America proposed on our sacred lands on our village site and impacting our treaty rights the breeding of invasive species in our waters and then the collapse of that those net pins and then these invasive species going into our rivers systems while the salmon are running and trying to make it home habitat coverts you know we just want a Supreme Court case on culverts with Washington so I just wanted to touch on that but I'm really here to to listen and share some thoughts when I heard value change when it comes to climate change I think we're putting in that work I see it all throughout Indian country and and all throughout I see it in many places this desire to create change and I think it starts on the outside a lot of it is policymakers in acknowledging what policies got us to where we are today in the justification for these policies that destroyed and capped off rivers dried up rivers consumption of water pollution fish consumption rates the list goes on and on and on how did we get here but more importantly policymakers making these decisions for us today looking seven generations ahead how do we create that change and I want to thank you for all of your work each and every one of you because I have taken a piece of each and every one of you and I really value your leadership your philosophies your theories your your will your courage and I just think each and every one of you for being here thank each and every one of you in the in the audience here for being here and I look forward to this conversation hi Scott I'll see em this trilogy I said he could show change its Yannick let's take shots I saw Koster Lee looks and her name's nice young Squires it's extinguish this cooking has changed its head well look Sanders July most associate of stuff that sucks anodes are scratches and they said tissue looks I continue just upon up still asks this sauce from this column a landings co-chair this to work on disks and Netanyahu who treatise just one angst pays will you are telling all this questionnaires and swallow the so trades and Cessna teacher but you know it's an Aquarius at slumming I think sit outlet a 30 a her small attraction squelen as mother cooks and Chilean releases of Solaris sequoias and young enough I was co-chair monarchs excelling attaining Hong Lux is a yellow crystal Air Canada Hong exquisite the thing is that its newest a satirical hey Luce a questionnaire Oakland Chilean it since Napoleon I was mullet disco chain has changed and say well except when a missus quayle step I first of all want to thank the loving people for organizing this gathering I was told many years ago when you're grateful to someone that we must stand up and I'm grateful to this man I've known for a while it is said by our teaching there will be a person who will come from where the Sun rises and he's going to bring a message to us he's going to tell us things that they have experienced because they were the first ones to come in contact what do we call neutral ago the first foreigners and as we listen to these people who came to us listen to the message about their experience and the lessons learned from where my friend comes from my great my granddaughter married into a mohawk some 16 years ago that comes from Equus hosni and she comes home every so often and talks to us about what they do but today we gather together to share our experience and the knowledge that comes from ancient time there are so many things that we have to say so that our children and the children not born yet have to know it is not an easy time for all of us I speak on a show in Victoria called indigenous voices and I talk about the environment that my friend talks about we said you know we the word environment talks about the land and what it is and I always say to them the first citizens of this land were not human beings we were the last to be created and were not very good caretakers my great grandmother used to sit outside and a follower in the summertime and she talked to me at nighttime the moon look at it grandson no it's quality something the moon is tipping the sakai into the ocean remember this moon don't forget it and she told me to you see this tree over here it's the winter time now look at it it's got its winter coat on and I just asked my great-grandma how do you know it's this coat well it's called the moss that grows on a tree it's real sick and when the moss is like that that's gonna be a cold winter all of our people knew these things they learn to listen to the tree they learn to listen to the moon they learned to the messengers that the Sun brings to us each day humans are the worst predators in the world we have no boundaries we tend to believe that if we make something new it's gonna be better tomorrow when I listen to that kind of talk let's speak at several universities talking to young people some of them are our fourth degree lawyers are going to be law people and they asked me how do you know these things that's because I have a language I listen to my great-grandma she's the one that told me my great-grandmother was 125 when she died and I lived with her the first seven years of my life and I never spoke English till I went to school and then I began to learn another language but it's experience of my friend here that talks so many times across the country and in other countries that were grateful or and that you bring these messages not only here in North America but across the world because the world is got to listen to us we are the last place on earth there's still a chance to save this planet but if we don't listen to our history to the history of this land our children will have nothing to celebrate the celebration of the coming of the salmon the celebration of the first child born these are going to disappear because we have not learned to listen I listened to my great-grandma my young friend here talk about empathy she used to cry when she talked to me I want you to listen to me when I'm crying and sometimes when she was crying she'd sings a song the song of sadness because maybe she knew what my future was going to be a struggle that we face today but we learned to songs every song belongs to somebody or something whether it's the wolf of the bear the clam the oyster the crab everything they have their own songs and they we don't know what they are the trees tells us about the weather the tree of a woman she's a widow woman she tells us about the coming of the wind and she whispers to us it's these kind of teachings that have gone are not being talked about in the schools anymore we talk about history we talk about the environment we forecast even tomorrow for me I'm just grateful to wake up in the morning and I'll say thank you because there's only this day that I can celebrate and be grateful not only for each other and grateful to my friend that's here and to the young leaders that are coming up we have to learn to walk carefully and we have to learn to listen in early winter or people go back to the longhouse and they sing their songs a lot of people just say well they're just dead they're Indian dancing they're not they're bringing back the history of who we are the songs of the bear the songs of the wolf the songs of the salmon the songs of the killer whale these are all songs that we know today's people have not learned that yet they create they create values that are far beyond our ability to to manage with them their talent is something we have to deal with when I speakin and Victoria on indigenous voices I'll say the corporate world really runs this country they are the government it is not who gets elected it is the Prime Minister the presidents and all the people who get elected in North America they are not the leaders the real leader is the guy who owns the money and the guy who can pay the people to do his job we have to understand the corporate world the corporate world can be useful if we have a say in how they do things and we see that in Canada right now regarding the Kinder Morgan pipeline the Prime Minister that country promised us we will listen to you and we will carefully make our own assessment based on your information they haven't done that so we learn our lesson then about who owns this country called North America it is not those of you who vote your vote don't mean a heck of a lot when it comes to the value of the corporate world and I tell that to the politicians in British Columbia you better listen to your constituency if you don't hear what they're saying you have no business representing them I'm not a very popular person when it comes to talking about politics because I I got out a little bit 1983 I was chief of my village for 25 years and I woke up one day and I said that's it no more I will not be a messenger for the government and I quit I had no idea what I was gonna do my wife asked me what are you gonna work I said I don't know what about the kids I don't know we're just gonna have to work hard and we did so orang I want to thank you for their the words that you've brought not only here but across the country continent and other countries you've been the voice from the east from where the Sun rises they say and that voice has been good for us you cautioned us like many other leaders of cautioned us I'm half nez perce my mother was a desperate woman and her families went to war in this country and one of the stories that I read from their history when the dispersed were at war and some of the Nez Perce and other tribes joined the army to fight against the no support dispersed and they said we were sad when we saw our brothers on the other side fighting against us and then again is another listen sometimes our people cross the line and they become part of the problem that we are striving to protect mother earth so as we train our young leaders we have to make sure they understand the values the culture the history to make sure they understand what it is the tiniest little ant is important to us the serpent that crawls on the ground they are messengers do all of these things meant something to us and maybe orange you didn't know you were talking about us but you were and you're talking across the country so I want to thank you on behalf of the Coast Salish people and those us who live what we call the sensuous telling all the people who live at the edge of the water I want to thank you for the words and the messages that we've got not only in discontent but across the world I stress yes yes what what no one has scan no I said from our language thank you for being well that's our greeting scan Oh same word for peace Yamaha's scanner and in our language your answer is kosher Doukas what you say is true it's a I was so pleased to come to let me country again and it's been on my mind for a long time first I want to introduce myself my name is Joe it goes off to uni nothing I'm Wolf Clan and my mother was wolf seneca nation my father was an eel on a dog nation and to clarify the introduction in the hood in our journey we are matrilineal we go by the mother site for I identity and when my mother came to underdog say young lady my father I returned they raised families six boys and one girl I was brought up at on a dog that's how I live but her Seneca but my mother's side all our family six boys when we were sitting and then they asked me to sit on the on a darker Council and my youngest brother Kingsley lives we were quite young at the time and she said a clan mother Rita Peters she has holding five titles because there were four other clan mothers that were am ia somewhere so she had these titles she had to fill them titles and whoever process within the hood inner Shawnee what people call succession French ecology required English call us such nations and our proper name hardener Shawnee as Mohawk Oneida Onondaga Cayuga Seneca Tuscarora that's our Confederation doled and we have adoption policies in our Confederation and so part of the process of becoming on a Chiefs Council or heaters Council has to be honored Olga so I I had to consider as my younger brother we would have to go and we would have to take our name off the Seneca Nation and be adopted into the underdog nation it's a long process and you can't do one without the other so I asked my youngest brother and I said Rita says you should come along with me and he was pretty wild and I was pretty wild myself I just said he said well what do you think I said I don't know he's he wants you to come with me okay so we went to the leadership of the Seneca Nations Caracas New York and we told them what our ideas were and our position that we had to remove ourselves now from from the role Seneca people they were reluctant to let us go but said well they said you understand what what that means is that you know your land or don't have any yes I said we understand all that so this is all our and so we were taken off the rolls of the Seneca Nation and then we didn't belong anywhere and it took almost five years before they adopted us so we were kind of in no-man's land for but then we're adopted and they clan mother said you have a choice here you can be adopted into the clan that I want you to sit for which was a turtle I said do I have a option she says yes you do it says if you want to keep your clan and then the position that you're set for in a turtle will be temporary until we find somebody that's from the turtle to take your place she says but it's yes you can maintain your identity as a wolf and I did as well as my youngest brother so we were temporary and I was 55 years ago 55 years on that council temporary it's hard to find leaders very very hard to pilot that's willing to commit now our system at on a doggone hoodie nashoni is still the old system it's still the traditional system that was established probably fourteen fifteen hundred years ago there's no elective system at Onondaga there's no BIA there is no government but us because of that because we keep our way it's not easy and so I wanted to clarify the introduction because he introduced me as a Seneca I'm not a dog wolf we have on one side of our Council and on a daughter we have the beaver clan snipe clan that little bird snipe clan turtle clan a wolf clan that sits on this side the house and on the other side the house we worked across is a deer clan a bear clan and the eel clan and a hawk and innocente a carnation they have the same clans but they had one more and they have the Heron clan and the different nations the Mohawk nation has three clans turtle wolf bear and Cayugas have six so forth so it's not all the same across but the glands are the same and then what I found out over periods of time was that a wolf is a wolf is a wolf whether I'm in New York or whether I'm in Arizona there's a wolf class that's my family I know you have a wolf clan my family well one so it's a broad family the way we do and what I found out I learned over a period of time was how our system the clan system tied us to the earth brilliant brilliant system because we're tied to the earth wolf this is my brother I look after him I worry about him I think about him his work and the same with all and when I traveled around I found out that I have a whole nation my goodness they had a cloud clan they had a wind clan but all tied to the earth brilliant so we're relatives out there everything you see out there is our relatives and close close related and I listen to the Lakotas in their prayers at the end they always say all my relations and when they say all my relations they mean every fish that swimming every tree that's growing every grass that's our family that's your family it's our family but our brother from across the sea he's lost that relationship doesn't understand it knows it's there but lost it and that kind of give him license to take advantage and do things that's - your own relative that you shouldn't do in a confederacy so long ago when they put us all together the peacemaker the great peacemaker gathered us long ago it's a long story I won't go into that because it's so long but established our relationships and the clans what he said to the leaders at that time go into the woods and the first thing you see come back and tell me I saw a beaver henceforth that's your family I saw a snipe that's forced that's your family so he established that to us and it's matrilineal the women our lines run with the women whoever the mother is that's who you are not the father the mother and as you well know the mothers think different than the men they're concerned about life and are concerned about families are concerned about things and the men they have other ideas sometimes and they have other work as well so there's always a balance there's always a balance but it takes a man and a woman to make a family children however to look after children and so the work is equal as you know but over the years of my travel and so forth I see the women work harder than the men and no doubt about that they work harder than the men and they kind of overlook our sometimes not growing up fast enough they kind of you know they have a lot of patience with us luckily fortunate for us and so it's been a good a good relationship with good family it's a good balance look after responsibilities of the earth here that's our responsibility and the two common laws that I see in my travels I see that there are people and I say our people I'm talking about native people in these lands here they have to common law to rules and the first law the first rule is respect respect for yourself respect for the nation respect for life respect for everything that's a law that's a rule the second one is to share share what you have everything afters that's a big law that's a big rule to share the old days the hunter would go out in the woods and he would find his mark and leave meat hanging in a tree for next person that comes through he's sharing and the youngest hunter the first time and the first kill he takes that meat and he goes to all the elders and he gives it to them that's his first rule first law to share and that's what our brother from across the water doesn't like he's the opposite way mine he says me it's hard for us to fight that but we've managed to to do that just two days ago I was down to yell more we had a traditional circle of Indian elders and youth meeting so annual meeting and we bring in the traditional leaders from all over the country and we're hosted by a Nation this was Nisqually solstice and I McCloud family and we'll next year we're going to be hosted by the northern China and lame deer they have taken to staff so that's where we'll be meeting next year and to re-energize the nation and the people back to their traditions I was very pleased to see the dancers and the songs here it really raised my spirits to see that little little boy boy he was dancing that's the future sometime not too long it's gonna be this big he wanted to take care of them but you got good start and that's to your credit that you keep those songs and you keep those dances that's the foundation of us that's our foundation our ceremony that's who we are to give thanks so the two rules to be thankful to share make sure and respect respect for life respect for everything and above all respect for yourself today's times watch this change over a period of time my older brother here we've seen a lot of changes you know I grew up early on I done a daughter when there was just one card error the rest was all horse and wagon I grew up in that horse and wagon I could harness a horse I could ha I could set up a wagon I knew how to do that because you had to that's what it was and we raised all our own food everything we grew everything basically I grew up in a country this in New York Central New York yeah and I think I was four years old the first time I saw white men it was four of us we were playing along the road in the bushes and here comes a a rag man he's got a wagon on a horse and he's white man selling racing who you scary to us we were hiding in the bushes and we watched him go by you know but he was an old man and he had a white beard and he had a black hat and a black hawk oh he didn't see us I mean I think oh boy yeah and we learned that our mothers would bargain with him for whatever it was you know so after what we got to know who he was but that was the first time because we were growing up in underdog I never never went anywhere but we run around in the woods there and we never we never played or on the road we're always in the woods that's where we were we're swimming all day we could feed ourselves out there we know what we could eat we don't have to go for lunch or nothing repeated ourselves age groups run together you know we out there fishing swimming running playing it was really nice I didn't realize how lucky we were to be able to have that kind of a life I didn't know that now we didn't have much you know people were hungry a lot all the time but you could go next door and you could get a carrot or a cup of potatoes or something kids run next door without potato yeah you'll know they're gonna make some kind of food some worse so everybody share everything and so I had a community you could go in and out of anybody's house and they'll take care of you you know what's your mother's name how is she doing hello everybody so we had this big kind of a family run nice it's not like that now things have changed so when I was asked to take a council position I was already working in New York City is a commercial artist I had established a business a new advertising and I was asked to come back and take leadership help that's pretty hard actually it was probably why our marriage didn't last does that decision to go home and I did so like I said I've been learning the first thing I had to do was pay attention before that security that underdog was always there to choose weird everybody was so he didn't worry about it because there was just there but then when you began to take on that responsibility then you know I thought it'd work it's at the total commitment and the traditional system was you don't receive any pay there was no such thing 1500 years ago you had a duty and had work and that was what you did and since we've kept that system that's the way it is yep today there is no payroll for our leaders they take care of us they do as best we can but the things are different but fundamentally the rules the laws are the same and I think from what I understand that Six Nations is the last standing traditional government still in charge of land in North America now every other government whether in Canada or the United States has an elective system not where I come from and we have the first treaty with the blossom in United States 1775 when a Continental Congress requested a meeting with us and the new headquarters called Albany New York that's where mohawk fire was at one time at camp there and of course we don't her father so they were gonna be ready for a big fight but we saw the fight we've been working them for 400 years and they asked us to join I'm gonna make a point here but it takes a little longer so I have to bear with me and so at this time they're getting ready to fight and the Continental Congress 62 members of the Continental Congress asked the six-nation Confederacy to come and sit with them and we did a long story to that I won't go through that but we had a meeting and at that meeting they told us about the problems they were facing and we knew about that because we knew the leaders we're in constant discussion with him whether it was in Maryland or whether it was in Maine whether it was in Georgia our leaders were there so we knew who we knew what was happening we were all aware and there was a split in the Christian doctrine Catholics and you had the Church of England which was not Catholic that's but and that split carried over into the colonies so we were aware of that as well and it was coming to a head and I was 1775 so they asked us to join them and our leader said we know your father we've been dealing with their father for a long time we know you and we think we think that this coming fight which we know is coming because our minds are split like yours we have people thinking this way that way we're making preparations so it's well known that probably one of the worst thing you can do is step in between a family fight everybody know it don't get your nose in there otherwise they both turn on we said it's a family fight between you and your father we don't think it's a good idea and we had this discussion with your father just three months ago in Oswego same thing and they said good because that was our second request if you're not going to fight with us don't fight against us and we said we will take that position as we said to your father we stand back in a neutral position you'd settle this between yourself but you're in our land there's no wave so at some point you're gonna see our men in the field on both sides but when you see them there remember that they're there as an individual and are not representing their nation nor are they representing the Confederacy or free people and we can't tell people what to do but you will see and that's the way it was and so I move up to 1983 you had a president at that time he was a Hollywood actor I remember him and he was reenergized the draft remember the draft and so I noticed what he did you know so all of a sudden our young men were getting letters in the mail saying you know report to your dress they said we're gonna do this we said bring them to us don't ignore it bring me here we'll fill it out and we'll send it down to them and say you can't drive to our met and so this went on for a while and then we got a call from the United States Selective Service System saying can we have a meeting with you guys and we said yes of course what's the subject this is your men are refusing our draft we said good we'll have that discussions please come on so we set the time we met with the Mother's Day 1983 as I said you set the time on Mother's Day we said every day is Mother's Day every day so we had the meeting and they said we know what your position here is not new we know that but we don't know we're worse where is it where does it start and we were ready but our men lined up at the wampum belts laid out and we went back 17:44 we told him where to talk about discussion in 1744 when six-nation was are providing and presiding over a meeting in Lancaster Pennsylvania about land as usual you know the colonies and six-nation was presiding because all the land was Indian land and we were trying to protect the interests of our people home nations the land so they were squabbling between themselves a colonies him and one of the Onondaga chiefs stood up and he said to them you know you people never gonna amount to anything until you we learned how to work together why don't you make a union like ours the principle of peace that's the principle of our peace equity to be fair to everybody and to be united we're the first United Nations Iroquois way back based on the women's side the women are in charge of the clans we have five leaders clan mother principal chief deputy faith keeper man faith giver female that's her in every clan they have duties her duty is to find those leaders choose those leaders so it's the clan mother that chooses the leader but it has to be ratified by consensus by the clan and then ratified by consensus by the council Chiefs and then finally ratified by consensus by the six-nation Confederacy so you guys don't walk in there and if you get chosen to be sitting there you better think about your history because they're going to know everything you ever did and I didn't realize that then I got cause there oh my gosh but the nisshin's cut you a lot of slack anyway 17:44 is sundog chief septum you know he's just not gonna be you got to work together and in 1775 then don't ever met the speaker for the Continental Congress set to us at that time er in 1744 in Lancaster you advised us to make a union like yours we are now taking your advice that's where your United States started from you don't know that you haven't been told that it's not in your history books but it's in the history it's in their congressional records of the United States it's not a figment it's written down word for word what they said we're going to make a union like yours based on peace equity Union and so I said I was going to make a point and I come all the way around to that but you have to know the history in order to understand the point and so you'll find that most Indian nations and speakers have this way of doing things they have to take you from the beginning so that you can understand you can't just tell somebody you have to show the process and it was a great experiment I would say you know you know what the first flag was for the Continental Congress anybody here know the first flag it's a pine tree as a pine tree and what is what is the symbol for the hooded nashoni it's a great white pine piece and when they called us 1775 they said we want to rekindle a relationship under your great tree of peace you don't know that I'm telling you that's your history now we have treaties after the Revolutionary War and I won't go through that one very hard fight the first treaty is that the new United States made was made in France 18 1783 and that was the peace between England and the colonies now now the United States the second treaty that the new United States made was with the hoodie nashoni 1784 because they had to we were a force we were a power 1784 and we said I said a lot of bad things happen but let's forget that and I will have a union so we began that treaty another one 1787 nother one 1789 1790 1794 treaties between nation and they stand every year delivered through our nation's the Six Nations from the United States treaty cloth every year they know they hold that Trudy and in 2016 they invited us to the White House and to the renew a 1794 treaty peace and friendship so treaties are real you have a very powerful treaty here and all the work that this man has done that's enormous work at your history and where he started something you know 1823 going back there's more history and that starts with the Vatican when the discovery of this land was made by a mercenary from Italy carrying under the flag of Spain when he landed they the year after how's that the year after he landed the Vatican made a statement that they owned all the land that this the whole continents they owned that all now and our people mommy you guys were catching fish over here we weren't thinking nobody knew what they were saying made that declaration called a doctrine of discovery it's just an announcement we now own all this oh really oh oh yeah and you know the history and violet but all that right there it's amazing to me I'm just dumbfounded that work this man has done here but back there there's more work and the Vatican is now contemplating rescinding that doctrine but they don't all agree I would say that they have a radical Pope at this point he's he wants to do what's right I would also say that I think he's in physical danger for that position I won't be the first pope fascinated by the so-called Holy See powerful group a long time but anyway there it is and that brings us up to the contemporary times so the discussion about peace and friendship going back to those treaties that we have foundational to what we face in the future if this discussion of what we're looking out there now and what so having a discussion is nature nature we have affected the process of life in the world we've affected it and we don't have a wrench big enough to fix that ice is melting ice is melting fast faster and faster and so I would say is that we have to put aside and I'm talking now about the human family can't be Indians or black people or yellow people or white people as our family the human beings were a family we come in all colors we come in all sizes but we're still one family and if we're going to survive as a species that's the way you have to think all the sides to all of that society we now have to work together for all that little that little guy that was dancing so hard that's the responsibility look after him and that's you know the meeting that my friend over there put together that's the discussion that's were growing off her long time this has been going on but now I was they say it's time to your cut paid that's it there are no second chances on this one no second chances we're in it now we're in it we're in climate change it's going to go on and it's going to get worse and the only way we're gonna survive as a species is to work together common cause and remember the two laws respect and share if we follow those two laws we got a chance we have a chance but it's got to be that way 1950 I was 20 years old and there were three or 2.5 billion people in the world all told the whole world 2.5 billion people and here we are like 68 years later seven point six billion people in the world within this last 16 years almost triple the population soon to be eight where's the water where's the food where's the land where's our relationship we have responsibility to those people in Africa we have responsibility to all those people if you help them where they are then they're not gonna be moving but water is the issue and water is not adjudicated evenly around the world so if you don't have water you're gonna go look for it you know we're pretty strong we can go of 70 80 days without eating you can starve a long time try to go ten days without water try to go for days you're gonna go you're gonna call look for water that's what you're looking at right now today you mentioned the River Jordan the River Jordan is down to one third of what it was before it's mud today right now I know water you have to have a bigger vision you have to think global because this is a global problem a global problem requires a global solution you can't fix one side and not the other cuz no that's not the way nature works I did all of us so it's for our common good as a human species to try to survive this crisis that we we brought on you can't go home you can't blame the trees you can't blame the salmon they didn't do that sauce they don't ever saw guys you know poco a poco pretty smart he said one thing and I always remember what he said he's reading he says I have seen the enemy and it is us poco truer words can be said so my message stand here is so thankful to see your dancers and your songs that's a credit that's a credit to your nation because that's where it is that's the spiritual strength that you need there that's where we have to go this is a spiritual crisis and it can only be a spiritual solution so that's up to all of us here now Tom and I have been in this a long time but we're not sure I know through the last time I spoke to the UN I went like this I said don't let this fool you no fight is on hard one but we can do it you do it for this guy here you're gonna do it you just got a share and you just gotta have respect those two can save the world donate to really really happy to uh be sitting here with these elders I love and respect I really want to thank you or for having a major influence in my life Tom hi stuff my name's Saskia it means younger than Seattle we've come from one of the three Chiefs three sisters of Chief Seattle I'm proud to know that I'm Island Holcomb Elam mainland Holcomb am straight cellulation or Sochi I'm from Nanaimo and Katie and semi AMA nuke Zach loved me Jamestown column scarred yet the wall me Snoqualmie these are all the way that we were brought together through our traditional marriage in the past you know they arranged the marriages so that would have alliances amongst our people and I'm proud to know that I'm CL would have promised the Native American church peyote Church sweat lodge and I love to sing with the shakers when I can my mom was Catholic and every time she put us in for the teachings as soon as she left we ran out the back door and headed for the woods you know so that was the place to be and we sneaked back in the church so we'll be there when she picked us up but uh born and raised on the Lumbee Indian Reservation had many opportunities to leave but this is where I was raised that's where my children and grandchildren will be raised you know the question on global warming is a big one song dance ceremony oral tradition traditional knowledge traditional medicine legend myth folklore symbology in our spirit societies our traditional forms of government and our extended family systems have allowed us to keep our awareness of who we are alive and we fought termination extermination genocide relocation in Christianity and still survived the United States by law and policy has sought to exterminate and eliminate our tribal awareness because they knew it connected us to the air the water in the land the animals the birds everything our teachings taught us that were the pitiful human beings were the last children of creation and all things took a form on behalf direction of the Great Spirit but when they transform they gave us something a gift because we're so pitiful we needed our older brothers and sisters to help us and so the Cree gives us something the birds the bees the salmon the clam the crab you name it the bear of the wolf the Cougar everything helped had power from the time of creation and if we're really needing help the Spirit was there for us to lift us up and our longhouse people from the longhouse of the earthquake to the longhouse of the island okhla alum and their teachers and sharing with us the streets a leash we knew how to be lifting it up through ceremony song doubts and spiritual teachings we said it was nothing the worst thing you could say about somebody at one time was they had no teachings it was so horrible you would whisper it but you're not even supposed to whisper it that's how bad it was to say something like that about somebody but through our extended families and our kinship we have a little teachings here and there and collectively we have a lot I was always happy to know that the elders would say that tree will sing to you but you have to do something you have to live that life you have to fast you have to control what you see what you hear what you say what you eat what you breathe what you feel in your heart what you think in your mind and how you pray and the work you do with your hands and where your feet bring you the elders we're strict at one time that if you're really dedicated to these ways you would become somebody the spirit would help you and so that's still alive today and it's a reflection of how much of the commitment to that is lost and how much damage the United States and their religion has done to us in their politics of society by the manifestation of sixty to eighty percent of our children are involved in high-risk behaviors suffering from generational transgenerational historical trauma and oppression anomic depression we've been attacked in every direction the way we live the way we ate the way we hunted the way we fished the way we worship the way we spoke everything was unacceptable our grandparents and great-grandparents were confronted with the outside telling us everything about you is unacceptable you have to be like us walk like us talk like us worship like us speak like us think like us work like us live in houses like us live in society like us and make us your leaders and so that's oppressive and oppressive to traditional people's in traditional societies you know and if you've come afraid to speak about your culture and your traditions and your beliefs but at one time we had so much knowledge it created a cosmology if we had an awareness that all things are connected to our spirit through its spirit and if we're real pretty full something out there would take care of you you don't kill off everything as Alice said we had ethics we had values we had teachings we had organized government society the diseases killed many of us off but we still survived that's why chief Seattle said at one time we numbered more than the stars in the sky but that time is no longer he was a child whose parents survived smallpox these diseases came wave after wave killing 90% of the people that were left each time from the time of Cortez on village after village perished robbed of your parents your uncle's your ask your grandparents time and time again waking up and the whole village is dead coming back from hunting and fishing the whole village is gone you have to unite start over find somebody to marry to start your community over you know in all of our communities are full of these stories of survival reorganization and regrouping we gathering starting over Sharon what teachings were saved from every trial before us you know we brought Emoto over here he's gone now but he taught and shared with the world that what do you think we'll go right to the water and the bodies of the other person anger hatred or love or respect he said water was to be respected more than it was to be loved and he showed a picture of the earth to water and it formed the crystals of love water that flows over the earth through the earth on the earth that comes from the sky will have those crystals water that's impacted by humanity breaks down and has no form we are the polluters their destroyers and one time it's been said the skies darkened with waterfowl geese and ducks the water was full of salmon and halibut bottom fish crabs oysters shrimp and cook clams wherever we looked in the northwest there were Platts in the water and up to the top of the mountain we only worked three months out of the year and we dedicated nine months to spiritual celebration and sharing you're only a great person if you gave it all away but you still had rules that limited your harvest you couldn't take too much there were see albums of the family leaders in the community that made sure that you're taught not to destroy not to take more than you need now they have recorded songs of plants from the grass to the trees everything has a song like our elders have said now they can record it older sings different from a maple a maple sings different from a cedar a cedar sings different from a fir and they say that they sing a song that says I am sick come and take me and the bugs will come and take that plant out because it's sacrificing itself back to the earth it's sick martyr in ways we kill up the bugs and sell off the sick plots but nature had its way you know no and one time we're taught that your first breath was sacred and your last breath was sacred what you did in between with every breath is a measurement of what you're taught it says how you lived your life you know I've always tell people that Columbus got here and he said would I hit a and deals won people in God but he owed the Queen and if he'd left that on the record then the Pope would know and if the Pope knew he had forbid the conquest of the Western Hemisphere because they're in Christian in God people so he had to take in deals in God and create in deals and we came Indians and we have lived the lie of her since I call it the first corporate lie and it began the authorization of plundering and raping the environment and destroying the indigenous peoples that were connected to it and that's significant now you see corporations under United citizens corporations are citizens - corporations are people too and so they can line the pockets of politicians and undermine all regulations and laws that protect the environment for your children and great-grandchildren I'm sorry to say the Republican Party is the worst thing on the earth today for what they're standing for they're sacrificing the future of the visioned Iroquois shared and helped create known as popular sovereignty we the people of the United States we the people of the state we the members of the Lummi Nation it's all a part of what was taught in the beginning that we hold our leaders accountable they're disconnected from reality you know when I'm proud that we've been able to unite churches here's our colleagues right here environmental group citizens groups tribes and stopped all six coal port proposals they were planned for the West Coast United United we stood that's what the Iroquois Confederacy was about United we had an alliance before Vancouver came here with the Holcomb Elam's in the Straits a leash our relatives we had to unite against our northern enemies about 1692 that's who was called to the point Eliot Treaty the Alliance of the dwama stencil Amish we knew who we were but now you look around and the streams are full of silk just under Lamia area alone a hundred thousand truckloads of silt have flown out of the clear-cut mountains in fills Bellingham B my grandfather's time that that drop-off was just below Marietta itself that was the drop-off deep water that little bank above Marietta used to have the waves crashing over it cover going over the cars that what buy it in our lifetime Bellingham Bay has been filled we buy water from Lake Whatcom that everybody else has dumped their sewage into 13 cases of e.coli every year Fukushima is on our shores within one year the tribes of the plains had to live the reality of no longer are there any Buffalo that should have been a warning we should be planning for the day after salmon and seafood of course the United States will recognize Fukushima because it means the major collapse of all fishery and economies around the Pacific Ocean unless you want to use a Geiger counter at your food table to test everything that comes out of the water hamper to sleep leaking more and more radiation every day we send all of our garbage to pick a chat this all washing the wet runoff is a scream of poisons entering into the Columbia let's talk to do a group that says you know the difference between this energy this is mail they say there's a female energy and they're saying that now you could take the garbage the most polluted water or a cement and break it down into its molecules and create energy with no carbon imprint we've got solar panels being opposed we're the worst example I used to always tell people United States our is the pig of the world we consume more we want more we use it faster and waste more than anybody else in the world and we think that our lifes is the role model for all others it's not you know I'm happy to know that in 2015 the Vatican issued a statement encyclical laudato si basically the Pope was saying we taught you that God created all things and gave you dominion over the world but we should have taught you is that God created all things all things are sacred have respect for God's creation now it's too late we may be too late we need find ways to undo the damage every church should start every sermon with those words God created all things all things are sacred rapport respect God's creation just that handed down to the children from now on but we live in a global society led by the United States that has no respect for the public trust they don't care they don't want to leave anything for their grandchildren or great-grandchildren except for a world destroyed and polluted the public trust doctrine has been around 1,500 years and it's been oppressed and shoved away because it means you have to stop leave some for the future generations and that's what our teachings were about that's why this guy was so full of waterfowl and the rivers and streams and lakes were full of fish leave some for the future generations don't take too much now the deer and the elk and the wolf and the bear the otter you name it or extinct or Gordon extinct in our life daily another thing has disappeared we have to believe that our elders gave us something they gave us teachings they shared with us they're the role models you know I know for the last eighteen years we gave away totem pole after totem pole after told and Paul it's because if the Spirit gives you a gift you have to share it earth can be taken away from you and we know myself and how satirist Carver's we must have given Lummi Nation seventy pieces of totem art there's another fifty out there that we gave throughout all across the nation and up into Canada you know because it's the symbols it's the stories the legends the myths the teachings that we have a relationship with the world around us that's not just the bearer or eagle or a hawk that's a symbol awakened because all races red black white and yellow at one time we're connected with the earth when you're in the womb you heard your mother's heartbeat somehow as the society we can't remember it even if we all got together as the Americas creed but as Indian people we have our drums in regalia our rattles our voices we hear those songs we hear that heartbeat we're mother earth people mother earth spirituality is still alive with us is still a part of our advice we're not empty and it's because of the strength of the intertribal teaching in the willingness to share but how do you awaken a whole national society when even their religion advocates domination when their politics are enriched by exploitation and guarantees another term in office those uh we gave a poll to Beaver Lake Cree because tar sands myth this young lady and her sister was throwing off the 33rd floor that she was activists against the tar sands and she was crying and she made chief down George's daughter cry an elder we heard that mother at grab mother crying and so we brought a totem pole to Beaver Lake Cree to tell them we hear you we stand with you we unite in your campaign we want you to know that we believe in your traditions in your knowledge that was her goal you don't they say that if you keep sacrificing and willingly giving the Spirit will have pity on you you know uh the day before we're ready to leave the ancestors came and they said sing that song for us they sat me down in the dream I said what song they said you know the song I woke up singing that song you know no before that in the 90s a whale came to love me and we tried to save her a minke whale and we prayed to be one mind one spirit to be able to lift that whale and move her into deep water but I'm tired were against her we only could move her twenty feet even with the federal state travel enforcement threatening to prosecute us we wanted the water to save that sister she was crying people were crying after she died because they heard her death song she gave us a song we sang that song up in Canada and and in two thirds of the United States also all things have a song we're just so insensitive we can't hear him anymore we can't feel the world around us we become indoctrinated you know I like the teachings of dr. Greger Canadian native science he tried to explain that relationship that this is a way of living with the world it's a way of managed your relationships this is a way of believing that your actions can be accountable and controllable two traditional teachings from one generation to the next all of our stories are full of legends and admit our teachings of sacrifice and control you sacrifice and control your behaviors and your beliefs and in the end the spirit will be generous with you that song the elder said T of I wanted to sing just one verse if I may and it's simple but I feel like because we gave all these totem poles see the spirit gave me that to share you know it's a manifestation of belief and this is repeated over and over again all across the Indian country it's just that we our culture and our spirituality have been attacked so much we don't like to talk about it the oppressors are eliciting when my great grandparents on my mother's side and great grandparents on my while fathers had their bowl ciale would they practice in the woods but they sent runners over to watch make sure the farmer in charge was asleep they couldn't bring out the drums they had to use sticks to keep practicing because those the days of the Indian religious crimes code and you went right to prison no trial no jury no rights no lawyers straight to prison and the BIA said if your family died while you're in prison as to your own fault because you're a heathen you chose to do that that happened to all the reserves I was just talking to a one of the ladies that works here she's from Lu and she was reciting the damage is done to her grandparents and great-grandparents to her generation the oppression the beatings how they'd watch their people almost beat to death still in her lifetime for being who they are it's not over the pain is still here yeah and I think the native indigenous experience is a reflection Felix Cohen said like the miners canary the American Indian marks a shift from fresh air to poison gas in our political atmosphere our treatment of the Indian even more than our treatment of other minorities marks the rise and fall in our democratic faith he had just studied all the laws of the United States that applied to Indian country this schizophrenia and he had an awakening and that's what Lauren's talking about Warren's been busy in the United Nations all his life and he elders before him Woodrow Wilson modeled the League of Nations on the Iroquois Confederacy that was the role model for the United Nations I was proud to go there and find Orrin at the United Nations debating that in helping draft and argue for the United Nations Declaration of Rights indigenous peoples and all aspects of our tribal existence of society or included in that declaration we want to heal in all these areas you attacked and destroyed these are inherent rights you have denied in the pressed you have silenced our voice we're down in Earth Summit couldn't even participate or sub we had to go to Global Forum no indigenous voices at Global Forum just nation modern nation-states the conquerors the exploiters patting each other on the back and telling each other what a good job they're doing but we know it's not true Oh [Music] [Music] [Music] we remember we loved you we let you go to the other side Oh [Music] that's uh the verse the elder said sing that song the elders on that side the ancestors they always talked to us they advised us to dreams no Nam I know that I've had a vision in 78 a real vision I know I had near-death experiences I know I see things past present and future through dreams I don't know what goes on for you I just know that the teachings of the elders is that I'm tied into it there's no way around it and I really believe I dedicate myself to the protection of our people because of those dreams those visions I'm here for a reason yeah and I love our ancestors because they whispered in the ears of our elders who teach the children like that little boy dancing dancing to the heartbeat of Mother Earth he was dancing to her art beat that's what it's about yeah and until we know that tell you could hear your mother's heartbeat you can't hear the heartbeat of the earth it's all about the conquest 17 fathers sun-god religions created in the last 5,000 years seventeen male-oriented religions in the oppression to the mother earth teachings they all lived the same life all had the same teachings all became the same example we've called them collectively avatars not saying that they're not right not saying that they were wrong it's just that they have a teaching you go back in the Hebrew teachings you back to early Christianity and they said Dada a seed in you yeah a seed a sea a little tiny seed inside you and one day it blossoms boom something happens and you absolutely believe in the spirituality in God there's something greater than you and that blossomed and nobody can tell you otherwise you'll never stop believing and that's what it is an Indian country in all those trials we follow that path trying to awaken our spirit but if we don't then we just remain pitiful and our days are numbered and we perish but there's enough there's enough hearing the collective voice that's being handed down by the elders to keep it alive but if we don't become more active in the sharing and the teaching and the calling for changes in society then we accept the destruction of the world is poison and the pain that's going to leave our kids I lost two kids and I car pulls for their memory I'm dedicated to it in their memory and they came back to me after that I know the spirit is real absolutely real unfortunate as a parent to have undergone that not everybody gets that i only share it because our elders taught that our ancestors are with us they feel all of these empty spaces they love us on that side but love's different but they still watch over us that's why we have to walk the talk that's why we have to pass the teachings on we're being observed they're implanted in our minds and our hearts and we're being tested if we don't unite and get the voice out there then we're what witnessing the downfall of the American Dream and I'm proud of the American Dream to the point that the Iroquois shared a sacred vision with the United States and they became a role model for 167 other constitutional popular sovereignty nations in the world just as the vision said it will go to the east to west and north and the south the red to black the white and the yellow they told the United States it's going to go in the four directions and it did the hope for Humanity is through holding government accountable because we empowered them we have a mind a body and a soul and we treat ourselves right and practice the teachings then we become a sovereign person and through our collective sovereignty we charge our leaders with the responsibility so it is pretty yeah somehow someway somewhere with someone we can create a bigger voice we you're losing you're losing their deregulating they're poisoning the rivers the lakes and streams you know Christianity say the devil's on his way I think he arrived with his power signs who's neo-nazis it's always sending the message out it's all about profit rape and murder not only of the world the children the original resident concentration camps are reservations then it was the Japanese announced the little children of Mexico you can see the pictures that's who we become it has to be us we're responsible we're letting the handcuffs go on babies it's a diversion also because we don't know how powerful our voice could be we're just seeing more and more police power being exercised like the brown bands of Hitler it's spreading I think we better look at mine Kampf and start comparing it's on your doorstep we have to awaken that we are better than that no it's not just society but the environment now they're arresting anybody I searched protesting that's that's Gestapo there's no more freedom of the press they don't want your voice getting out so they limit face books and any other text messes them you might thought you're reaching out with let's hope for all of our grandchildren we don't despair it's hard it's hard not to but we should take that and use it to energize us ourselves to drive us harder man I was surprised when I found out there's a granny organisation that will go chain themselves to a railroad tracks and lay down in front of trains and trucks you know we don't talk about them enough but I'm proud to hear from Lauren that traditional elders have gathered he helped get me to some of those meetings it's good to know that the story is still being told the teachers are still being recited but we don't know how to cross over and teach and share our fast enough you know they say the Sacred Hoop was broken it can't you can't break the spirit you can't break god you're not that big it's just that you forgot but it's still red black white and yellow all four races are still a part of humanity you still have teachings it's just that when you see the natives here doing her or the natives of Maori or Australia or Africa it awakens something there's something bigger older than Christianity something greater in the teachings about this oneness of life that's what the whale synched song it came to us I just about ate swallowing it's that oneness one song one people one place one spirit one power that's oneness with everything that's what the whale brought to us when she died on our Beach telling us to remember the oneness of life that's the song that house of terrors is every place we went we're trying to awaken our elders say you never know when somebody's going to be listening especially children you tell that child right there and you never know who he's going to become he may be the one I was down in Australia a set there by the late Larry Kenley to work with the Aborigines of Cohen Yama and they were oppressed and they were afraid they wanted native voices to come there and say don't be afraid to exercise your sovereignty believe in yourself they they knew that they knew it they just wanted others to come there and tell them don't be afraid be who you are believe in yourself they want from a village to owning nearly 4 million acres today since the mid-80s they're buying back their territory they're taking it back they put on badges and uniforms and walk through and told people leave their territory they acted with authority even though nobody in the white government gave them that authority they gave it to themselves and said you have to leave you have no right to kill these crocodiles or these Wallabies what their and we gave a speech I was talk to these little children Nicol want you to talk to our children oh my god how Mike what am I gonna talk to a little four and five year olds I brought my fluid I brought some Ark and I was talking to the children the way I heard saying that you could be the one in this little girl was in the audience and a few years ago I got a knock on my door there's this Aboriginal woman standing there and she asked if I remembered her and sorry no I don't she goes well because I was only 4 going on 5 when you talk to me you pointed at me said I could be the one you said I could be the one I could be the one to get my education to get ABI and the Masters and be the example of other Aborigine girls and I believed you and I did it I'm miss Aborigine of Queensland I go to other little girls and teach them you are the one you are the one I come here to say thank you because I believed you and that's what the elders say you talk to them like that but we have to talk to each other like that because we have our doubts you have your doubts that you're right but we know right from wrong in our minds in our heart and the government knows - there's something corrupt in government and that's where power the people today means more than anything ever in our history Thomas Jefferson said every now and then you need a revolution that's you're pondering father so thank you for letting me go on hi Scott sure I'm pleased to represent the female aspect of this conversation Mother Earth is in me and I'm a nurturer I don't come from the lamination but I live here I was born in Seattle and and share the earth coast salish nations and people so I'm grateful to share this land with you and and for your teachings from the east and I to clarify the introduction my name is Jill MacIntyre wit cuz I did get married but Joe Witt sounds like a dessert topping so I don't go by that so for the record as far as my ancestors go thirty years ago I was married and learned that I'm part Filipina because I think my mother's side of the family was ashamed about the Filipino man that got my grandmother pregnant my great-grandmother pregnant so I carry that with me and I'm proud of of that piece of piece of me and not ashamed for my skin color and I have been involved with climate justice work for some time I was fortunate to live in four different countries and learn from various peoples from around the world first in Australia with Aboriginal culture and spending some time on the Great Barrier Reef and the amount of respect I felt for the brief and the teachings I learned about the reef I felt like everybody needed to know about the Great Barrier Reef because of its fragile ecosystem and how we're all in this together plant animals humans as part of that so I made a collection of algae for the my University's herbarium to help people learn about the reef and I had no idea of what was going to happen in my lifetime that that would matter and that those plants in my lifetime would suffer and the animals there it makes it hard to speak because so much has happened in my lifetime and I've done a lot of work with indigenous communities and the voices from them I hear is oh we have the answers if only they'll listen to us and hearing you share your stories brings me to a place of realizing that right now we have that common struggle with the climate crisis and how we at this point in time need to weave this and create this story together collectively in unity and it will be our greatest greatest achievement if we're fortunate to have it written in the history books that's what keeps me going is to think about the young children the seventh generation out that will be reading about us because it's our time as Jay was mentioning about were the last generation the people alive today to decide whether or not humanity survives and I look forward to being a part of that with all of you and sharing this time and space to know that it will be those children wondering what was it that brought them together and allowed for them to unify and allow us to survive and I think the indigenous wisdom and knowledge and tradition and stories passed down if they could be shared and heard and respected and believed and carried on with everybody cuz we're all one I think we can get there that's what gives me hope I wake up every day and cry as do probably most people maybe in this room or on this planet and I am grateful and thankful for the time I spent with the lemming youth canoe family in Paris because I got to witness people from the sorry aku dance with the Lummi the songs and the dance they did together and you've witnessed it I imagine in your travels and four years ago we had 195 nations agree that we needed to tackle climate change and in these last four years we've only seen an increase in emissions which is not the direction we're supposed to be going so we share that right now in this space and time that we're going in the opposite direction so for the young people my message is simple and that is join the other young people that are in this movement we have Greta Tim Berg from Sweden who is wakening the whole world to not just climate change but the climate crisis the climate emergency and shifting that narrative to help people understand the urgency and how there isn't much time she strikes every Friday because what she's learning in school isn't what's going to keep us surviving so she says why do I need to be in school and September 20th there's a global climate strike for climate activism all around the world for everybody to join the youth so I want to put that out there in hopes that be but we'll join that in their communities wherever they are whatever form any community wants it to take its global it's a great question than what form will that take and it reminds me of what you said about the corporation's running our governments and I always spoke about how our vote is like our dollar is like a vote and how we spend our money is like a vote and I'm I'm been thinking lately about how maybe as a society around the world maybe every Friday while Greta is having everybody strike that we strike by not spending our dollars our money imagine if the global economy stopped every Friday and that would be about a 17 16 17 percent reduction of Commerce that get their attention right I think big things I'm fasting every Friday to join Greta but that's a personal choice and I know not everybody can do that but if everybody did that imagine our food system feeling that that might be a thing to do for Mother Nature because the way we consume on the earth and the way we grow food and the food waste imagine if every Friday we just took a break from that how a Mother Earth win hear our prayer so I agree about governments being round by corporations and I'm ashamed of what's happening in Canada and it's happening here I do still believe that if our leadership isn't working we just change it out and we're seeing that with Alexandria Ocasio Cortez another young person doing amazing work that gives me hope our elections come hopefully soon enough that change can emerge I I'm a pathological optimist so I find the good in the cheat oh that's bad sorry I'm not a name caller but our current US government is waking people up to the in justices in our society and institutional racism and the systemic change that we need to see and and be a part of and jool what did you say about the detention camps at the border as a distraction or a hmm a diversion right yes this is true and I think we have to remember that there are a lot of distractions keeping us from addressing the climate crisis and I think that's where climate justice comes in because social racial economic and environmental justice is climate justice and wherever your heart takes you do the work because we're all born at this time I share this space in time with you and the other seven billion plus people and I feel like it's up to all of us to to do the work because we have no other choice and and you give me great teachings today to carry on the work I know it's for life so it's not like we can burn out burn outs not enough and so if you're feeling burnout then figure that out cuz get a good night's sleep and wake up as he as if each day is your last that's what I do and I'm very thankful to the Lummi Nation for really working tirelessly to have your treaty rights honored and respected to stop the coal port and I owe you a debt of gratitude so your your work on that and trusting your neighbors in Bellingham to join the fight with you and work together was I think a role model for the rest of the world on working with our non-native neighbors to work on solving big issues so if you are a non-native and wherever you are in the world I ask that you be an ally for your native neighbors because they'll need their backs covered when their frontline communities are at risk and with our institutional racism in our prison system we are treated differently because of being white then people of color as you all well know so we need to stand up and and help where that's needed just like we saw the veterans when they came out and helped in Standing Rock so I'm not going to be long-winded but they're not long-winded I just don't have very many teachings to offer except to share my respect and the space with you so thank you real quick if we can give them a round of applause I can't help but notice how well-behaved and patient an attentive our youth are here today really really thankful for them thank you to our speakers for your your words of wisdom of peace and equity unity to respect and to share all of the historical knowledge your ideas for the future and especially hope and I backed I've watched a lot of Oren Lyons videos as I'm sure many of you have and I heard him say that you know as it's a responsibility of our leadership to never take away hope from the people and seeing them today and seeing our youth here listening to that brings all of us hope and I'm really looking forward to all of us working together on the next steps and so I also want to apologize when I first had spoke I said that we open it up for questions after that but we've we've actually ran out of time so I guess with that just another round of applause for the speakers [Applause] thank you all for being here yeah [Music] good don't go work one day avatar every day as if it's my last I learned that from one of my mentors that's what I looked at Monday the time yeah trying to do more [Music] elimination ejection I just wanna thank you 30 plus years it was worth more finances and before contact yeah something came from nature something was done by their hands thank you this woven blanket symbol for he can you sense it thank you well we also wanted to thank jewel with that good I did bring in that memory in terms of the sovereignty our ancestral ways it's good well I want to thank you for that and to express to the illumination that I appreciate your support and the fact you're still doing what you're doing here I really appreciate that gives me a lot of strength when I see the dancers in the song so you know thank you also we have very good thank you and jewel if you can come over for just a second I know that people wanna talk to you guys earlier on you you expressed that Warren had given you the construct for sovereignty cultural sovereignty and the elder that he had brought so we gave him this score called something either the wolf's and we also want to hover your sense for that memory because it's in the upcoming generation these younger ones that we want to do it not because the young women that we had here they were on time time for some reason others so they were enabled it actually cover year so because of our moderate process we put media before a culture sometimes and politics before called vultures and that we always have to remember that there were a patient people and we have to respect that yeah regardless and and that if it were you know I they said young people I turn around oh there's one it's really turned around oh yeah but old people that's okay too then we also just want to thank a relative J Thank You P select/deselect want to thank you for your participation today and thank you with the blanket with that as a handshakes yam and stifled didn't want to thank you and Jill who ran away oh she had to go I won't say but nonetheless Kahn behalf let me thanking you for your participation and sharing your your experiences that bring something from the past and something for the future so hi sister comes right here yeah your office Wow okay okay bye this is just a beginning no yeah okay yeah you opened up a good door our yeah good it's a war plan yeah picture really quick one picture should we go should I be on the end where I'm no you're good right where you are okay thank you trees you

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Length: 178min 23sec (10703 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 24 2019