Voices

Indigenous Women on the Front Lines Speak

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The voice of Christine Jack, a Two Spirit St’at’imc spiritual leader who was asked by her Elders to protect Ulluisc from Aspen Planers, a company which has already been responsible for multiple clear cut blocks on the territory. Ulluisc, which is the ucwalmicw name for the territory means “a place for the people to gather” as it is an ancestral village site where the Secwepemc, Tsilhqot’in and St’at’imc people met and traded.  Christine has taken this stand in order to protect the ancestral village site as well as allow the land to heal as it is home to a diversity of life.

This is the latest update from Christine, Caretaker of Ulluisc recorded during our last visit in May of 2016.

If you are interested in making a monetary donation cheques can be made out to Christine Jack and mailed to:

PO Box 1188 Lillooet bc V0K 1V0

In June, Christine is seeking supporters to assist with the building of an ishtkin (pit house).  If you are interested in helping out supporters are welcome on the territory.  See the Ulluisc Update we posted for more info.

look here for more information 

(Source: https://player.vimeo.com/)

https://www.voicesfrontlines.com/the-voice-of-christine-jack-a-two-spirit/

PLEASE SHARE AND FOLLOW

Voices: Indigenous Women on the Front Lines Speak is many, many things involving many, many people.

Voices is the creation of a hand made, hand bound book and series of posters featuring interviews and illustrated portraits of Indigenous Women and Queer/Two-Spirit Land Defenders.

Voices is the process of traveling so called british columbia to front lines in support of Indigenous Land Defenders protecting their traditional and unceded territories. It is the strengthening of existing relationships and the growing of new ones.  It is participating in resistance to the stranglehold of colonialism that threatens to destroy all of us.

Voices is an act of honouring the Indigenous Land Defenders who raise their children on the land, living their lives unwavering in the way of industrial expansion.  Voices honours those who blaze the trails of what contemporary anti-capitalist and anti-colonial resistance can look like while teaching new/old ways of being in relationship to the land and each other.

Voices is Ulluisc, it is the Unist’ot’en Yintah, it is Meagan of the Lekwungen, it is Chipati Mountain and Ahausaht, it is Lax U’u’la.

Voices is possible through the willingness of Indigenous Women and Queer/Two-Spirit Land Defenders to share of themselves, it is possible through the love and support of our friends and chosen families who feed us, care for our hearts, offer their cars, accompany us to the front lines, provide materials and supplies, funds, grant editing, connections and advice.  We are the multitude of the hands who hold us up.

Voices is an artistic collaboration and labour of love by beyon wren moor and Wulfgang Zapf.

In the fall of 2016 beyon and Wulfgang will travel to Halifax for a residency with Radstorm where they will hand make the book and posters.

The books and posters will be available for purchase in the Winter of 2016.  A large run of Zines will be an accessible accompaniment to the hand made book.  We will be touring Turtle Island to share our work after the Winter launch, we’d love to visit you.

All proceeds made from the books, posters and zines will go directly to the Land Defenders featured in this project.

** a note on the title.  We made the decision to say only Women in the title and to not include the words two spirit and/or queer.  One honest reason for this is it keeps the title shorter.  We also mean to use Women in an expansive sense to include non-binary gender people as well.  We have been engaged with the language we choose, and recognize that the english language is always lacking when describing and naming queerness and cultures outside of white settler culture.  For us we felt we lost more by trying to get too specific with colonial words and boundaries then we gained.  People’s own languages have important, powerful and beautiful words to describe gender and that many of these have been lost through the violence of colonialism. We wish we were able to use these words.  We did not want to participate in further erasing those words by using colonial replacements as if the ‘queerness’ of Indigenous people can be properly addressed with a colonial word like queer or that the diversity of indigenous gender can be captured by an important yet often generalizing word like Two-Spirit.  We recognize also that this decision acts to invisibilize queer/two-spirit indigenous people and that we end up using these words in order to say what we mean while lacking other words anyway.  Deer ones, we are in process.

https://www.voicesfrontlines.com/please-share-and-follow-voices-indigenous-women/

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GOODMORNING!

Today we post the first of many progress updates related to this project. we hope that you will follow us downstream though each bend as we move forward and between places and collect these stories and images. In these updates we’ll let you know where we’ve been and provide information and requests from the Land Defenders who we’ve been working with.

Love wulfgang and beyon.

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On the 7th of May I travelled by bus and thumb through the Coastal Mountains to Ulluisc (Ooloosh), part of Xwisten territory, St’at’imc nation.  Once at Ulluisc I had the pleasure to sit quiet among the Pines, Poplars and Cotton Woods with the sound of the river and winds around me.  We harvested wild onions, t’seweta, arnica and pine tips, smoked and canned a deer hunted by Christine and Badger, and built additions to the outdoor kitchen and storage areas.

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The earth was warm and the kinnikinnick we sat upon full of life as Christine and I spoke about her path, healing work and hopes for the land and decolonization. This conversation is the first of many, which will make up the content for the book beyon and I will hand make this fall.

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For a year and two months Two Spirit Spiritual Leader Christine Jack has been living at Ulluisc as caretaker of the territory at the request of her Elders.  Ulluisc is the ucwalmicw (people of the land) name and means, “a place for the people to gather.” It was given this name, as it was a village site, meeting place and trading grounds for the Secwepemc, Tsilhqot’in and St’át’imc people.   Logging company Aspen Planers was attempting to enter the territory to clear-cut even more of the forests than they have already gotten their hands on and they built a road directly over an ishtkin site.  Christine, her children and her supporters have put an end to the destruction of Ulluisc so that the people and the land may heal.

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This June Christine and the Elders plan to build an ishtkin (pit house) at Ulluisc, which will become Christine’s home as she follows her path on the land until the end of her days.  Supporters are needed for this endeavor and are welcome.  In addition Christine would like to invite spiritual people to seek her out and visit her at Ulluisc.

You can learn more about Ulluisc here:

https://www.facebook.com/reoccupationofjunctioncreek/

And if you want to learn more about the St’at’imc people the documentary “Spirit of the People” is a really wonderful documentary and you can watch a short excerpt here: https://youtu.be/tSFvqGWf_7o

If you are heading out to Ulluisc it is important to be mindful of how you are on the land and to be respectful as a guest there.  This means taking nothing without consent and ensuring nothing you packed in is left behind.  Bringing foodstuffs (particularly fresh fruit and veggies and if you have any food allergies- appropriate food for yourself) is a good idea and the weather can change rapidly in the mountains so prepare for the wet, the hot and the cool.  There is no alcohol or violence tolerated at Ulluisc.  Be prepared to work in reciprocity for all you will gain joining Christine in her work on the land, as there are many tasks to keep the camp running and everyone comfortable.  Lastly, my advice is to listen and allow yourself to be open for we all have so much to gain and learn from one another.

To get to Ulluisc: Stay on the Yalakom road following the yellow kilometer markers go past the Ore Creek Campsite, go past the yellow 44km marker, go past the turn off to Lac la Mare (stay on the road that goes along the river), keep staying on the Yalakom road until just past the 50 km mark.

As far as accessibility goes the ground is rocky and uneven in places and structures around the camp are not accessible by wheelchair.  There is a ramp up to the cabin, but I do not believe it is not wide enough for wheelchairs.  There is an outhouse to relieve oneself.  Dogs are welcome however it is integral that their human companions be responsible for them at all times!  If people have questions feel free to contact us through our queries page.

To make monetary donations cheques can be mailed to PO Box 1188 Lillooet BC V0K 1V0.

Here are some suggestions for things helpful to Ulluisc:

Any meat, fish or produce you have preserved yourself either canned, smoked or dried <3

Any medicines (teas, tinctures, salves) you have made yourself (please include info. on ingredients and use)

Sunflower Oil

Coconut Oil

Olive Oil

Apple Cider Vinegar

Coffee

Dried Fruit

Nuts/Trail mix

Oats

Honey

Chocolate

Brown Sugar

Hot Cocoa

Almond milk

*Large Rubber-made containers with secure lids.

First Aid supplies

Batteries

Seeds for edible plants

xo Wulfgang

ox beyon

https://www.voicesfrontlines.com/goodmorning-today-we-post-the-first-of-many/