A call to protect Mother Earth
By Danny Beaton
Our Sacred Fires and Fire Keepers are needed now more than ever. Pipe Carriers and Sweat Lodge Leaders focus on healing our Elders and leaders who will defend our children’s and their children’s future.
The Tar Sands mega project in Alberta started the dirtiest oil extraction in the world, fully documented by Environmental Defence Canada. It is the biggest source of climate change, global warming, and turbulent weather, especially affecting tribes such as Cree, Athabaskan, Dene, and Gwich’in, with massive contamination. The extent of land and water pollution is far beyond what any scientist could imagine: the Athabaskan River and Mackenzie have been contaminated since the 1990s, and groundwater toxins have reached the ocean.
The Anishinaabe brought their urgent message of environmental genocide to Toronto, while Chief Rudy Turtle of Grassy Narrows, Elder Moonias of Neskantaga, and Cecilia Begg of Kitchenuhmaykoosib-Inninuwug said contamination and pollution date back to 1962. Logging and mining have also poisoned the Attawapiskat community in James Bay up to Swampy Cree communities with groundwater contamination, and polar bear and beluga whale with cancer from diamond mining. The Anishinaabe want protection for their children’s children and all species, if their traditional culture is to stay healthy and strong. They have travelled by canoe from Attawapiskat and set up a blockade to bring attention to The Ring of Fire mining, which is being promoted as the future for Ontario’s economy. Indigenous leaders and Elders are concerned about Mother Earth’s natural economy and the hunting and trap lines that will be threatened. When you look down at Northern Ontario from a plane, you see the majestic wonderland of the Boreal Forest, the largest intact forest in the world.
Oren R. Lyons, a traditional Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan and a member of the Onondaga Indian Nation Council of Chiefs of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, or the Haudenosaunee (People of the Long House), said: “Our forests are our refuge and homeland, where we grew up and live. We have also always travelled by rivers, Great Lakes, so we need clean, pure water for our Seven Generations to come.”
The late Wilmer Nadjiwon, former Chief of Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation for 14 years, said: “When I was growing up in Cape Croker, you could bring home deer and fish to feed a family and community. Even now, you can go for a walk and count 30 or 40 deer in one night. Our animals still have a good life here, but we must protect our Sacred Mother Earth. We must work together in unity to achieve our goals.”
Anishinaabe/Ojibwe and Cree people need the support of southern tribes on the other side of the Medicine Line. No one has the right to sell Indigenous territories or homeland.
Everything that is happening to Mother Earth is a continuation of all past negativity. It is negative thinking that goes against life; positive energy does not go against life. We need positive thinkers, wherever you are, to speak out for sacred Mother Earth and our children’s children, just like the friends of the Lubicon Cree Nation came out and started a boycott to help the Cree Elders and people back in the day. Society should not look away from the threat to Northern Ontario or anywhere development threatens life and future generations. We need to build our work and life on protecting Mother Earth, not destroying Creation. Our Elders, Chiefs, and Clan Mothers have told us this story repeatedly: peace, power, unity, and equality are the natural law. It is the Great Law, and when people come together for justice and harmony, all life can survive and be happy.
Mohawks, Cree, Anishinaabe/Ojibwe, and all tribes have the Spirit of Our Ancestors to guide us through our way of life and ceremonies. Fish life needs clean water; our four-legged ones need fresh, clean water; winged ones need clean forests; our insects drink the same water as all life. Great Spirit, watch over us and guide us.
In the Spirit of Our Ancestors