Health, Environment, Land, and Treaties

A recent opinion piece in a Canadian news magazine spoke about First Nations people in Canada and their attempts to access social program dollars generated by a provincial casino. The author's comments incensed a fury in me that I thought was dead. For years I had this simmering anger deep within me, but it had been tempered by time, compassion, and understanding that everyone's perception of Canadian history is different. Though we live in the same country, many of us have different histories. Maybe it's not so much a different history, but a difference in cultural perspective, or a difference in what we choose to see as our collective history.The comment was, "in a country as free and prosperous as Canada, a failure to thrive is more likely a failure of individual determination than discrimination." The comment was directed at Aboriginal peoples of Canada. One thing is for sure, the writer was astute enough to realize that Aboriginal people have not "prospered" on Canadian soil. His reasoning, however, is less insightful. He presents a pretty neat package all sewn up with the rationale that if you are poor, "Hey, it's your own fault." I never realized that poverty, disease, and despair were career choices. Failure to thrive in Canada cannot be a result of an oppressive Indian Act levied by a white government. Failure to prosper and become wealthy cannot be the result of losing access to natural resources which have been licensed away to white corporations. Failure to thrive cannot be the result of living on lands contaminated with toxic and radioactive wastes. The author reasons that we are poor by choice.Our history is clear when it comes to understanding the agenda of the settler government and its treatment of native peoples. It is just within this last century that native people have been able to access legal counsel. It is just within this last century that native people have been granted the right to vote. Perhaps discrimination is absent from a white viewpoint. However, from this end of the stick, discrimination is still alive and well. Within our provinces, governments ignore Aboriginal and treaty rights to lands which have now been deemed Crown. Provincial governments undertake to manage and distribute natural resources without Aboriginal consultation. Canadian governments have determined to mine uranium, produce weapons, and dump wastes on the land without any input from the original inhabitants. Contaminated lands surround the First Nation communities in Canada. Radioactive wastes are abundant. Uranium mining and milling wastes are stored in perpetuity near main water systems feeding Aboriginal communities.

Prosperity comes from the land. Without access to the land, there can be no prosperity. Even in this age of techno-smoozhery, the land is what we all depend upon. It is the land which ensures we have food to eat and that we are healthy. There are very real and significant spiritual connections to the land we call Canada. To be dispossessed will surely make us unhealthy.

In the United States there is currently a legal action that is examining the very question of this spiritual connection to the land. The case is related to forestry issues; however, the argument presented by the forest companies states that recognizing spiritual/ecological significance is unconstitutional. The argument is that the state has made a decision based on religious beliefs. I thought, how absurd. However, looking at the land we live on and respecting it as the giver of all life is not a religious belief but a philosophy and a way of life.

I can imagine legal experts will examine this in great detail. But it is quite simplistic and palatable to believe that we draw from the earth what we need to survive. If this is not done with care, we endanger our own livelihood. It is not rocket science. It has nothing to do with the current catch phrases, like sustainable development, protecting ecological biodiversity, etc. It has more to do with respect. Our ancestors have taught us respect and reverence for the great Mother Earth. We have named the sun, father and we have named the moon, Nokomis, grandmother. We have named the earth mother. Our earth is a mother with many children. A mother always has enough to share with all. These are fundamental principles in my society. I find them absent in the thinking of many people in government, science, and industry. I try to find ways to make people easily understand what we are talking about when it comes to Aboriginal traditional belief systems.

If I were talking to a scientist I would say, "Hey, do you know that First Nation peoples are indicators of environmental health. We are the front line. When something goes wrong or breaks down in the system, we are the people closest to the failing system. We are at the bottom of the totem pole (so to speak)." Maybe in scientific language, "we are near the bottom of the food chain." I would tell the scientist that our Elders were concerned about radioactive waste so close to our drinking water. I would say that even though we did not have all the technological gizmos to measure radiation that we knew this was bad stuff. I would say that my grandmother did not want to drink the water because it smelled different than it did 80 years ago. I would say that our legends told us to leave this stuff in the ground. I would say to the scientist, "Hey, are you there? Where did you go?"

It's kind of like being a guinea pig in an experiment that someone has abandoned.

For many years Aboriginal people have complained about ill health effects because of their proximity to uranium mine waste. They have complained to governments and scientists and doctors and academics. The waste is still there. This is a regional/community reality.

On a national level, we hear that the Canadian government wants to help the world disarm and reprocess weapons grade plutonium from Russia and the USA. On a global level we hear that the world is looking to sign treaties to prevent nuclear proliferation, weapons proliferation, war. The world is quite polarised depending on your perspective. At this level, at the grassroots, we are clamouring in Canada for clean drinking water and clean up of radioactive wastes on our homelands. We are struggling for access to fundamental things like trees and fish. At the global level people want peace. People want to put plutonium some place safe.

We have treaties. We have treaties that were signed with the monarchs in England. The Canadian governments have inherited these treaties but they do not yet honour them. My ancestors signed a treaty to co-exist in 1850. Without respect that treaty will not be honoured. It has the force of law — if you have enough money to bring it to the legal system. It has the force of law — if the judge wishes to interpret the spirit and intent of that treaty. Mostly we have seen literal translations.

Every day, we struggle to have our treaties honoured. Every day, we struggle to teach our history and share our perspectives with the people who share our land. We have made only moderate gains. Our treaties are not complex agreements about preventing war, or ending nuclear weapons production. Our treaties are simple agreements about co-existence on this land. Our treaties were agreements on how we would live together, then, now and into the future.

I commend those people who undertake the work necessary to develop agreements for peace. With this experience, I can only say there is a long and difficult task ahead. I don't believe that peaceful co-existence is impossible. What we all need is a little bit of respect for the land and for each other.

Miigwetch.

Peche

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