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Indigenous Women on the Front Lines Speak

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These are our friends who we have been throwing down with for the past couple weeks. last night we collaborated together to create this gofundme in order to get the resources that these warriors need to fight off these billion dollar companies. please consider donating <3

Today the Secwepemc Women’s Warrior Society and Ancestral Pride launch the Imperial No More Campaign. We are launching this campaign to stop Imperial Metals before they cause any more violence and devastation to the lands, waters and our lives. We are seeking support to protect our unceded territories and to ensure the children of all people can eat the salmon and breathe the air, we cannot do it without your support.

“We the people are the Protectors and Land Defenders and with our allies supporting this indigenous-led resistance, we will make a stand to stop Imperial Metals from violating our rights. Not one more mountain will be mined, not one more water way destroyed in the name of profit, not one more tree logged to create roads for these mines.” –Kanahus

Kanahus Manuel of the Secwepemc Women’s Warriors Society, mother and artist and Sacheen Seitcham of Ancestral Pride, Grandmother, medicine maker and traditional midwife have been organizing resistance to the illegal mining operations of Imperial Metals on their territories since before the devastating tailings pond breach in 2014. We stand to protect Yuct Ne Senxiymetkwe and Chitaapi Mountain from Imperial Metals.

Despite their efforts Imperial Metal’s Mount Polley mine continues to operate and in November 2015 the province issued a permit for the company to discharge their toxic tailings into Hazeltine Creek, the same waterways affected by the 2014 breach.

“The Time is Now, We Cannot Wait Anymore”

The creeks, rivers, lakes and ocean are all connected. The poisons being discharged into Hazeltine Creek flow through the connected waterways. The salmon which return to the rivers form the oceans must pass through the toxins never cleaned up by Imperial Metals. This is not just an Indigenous issue, we all live downstream. The destruction of the land by mining is violence and enough is enough.

Two full years after the catastrophic breach of Mount Polley’s Tailings Pond, Imperial Metals continues to operate illegally destroying the land and endangering the lives of all the surrounding people.

Over the last week the Secwepemc Women’s Warrior Society and Ancestral Pride have been taking direct action with the support of allies to show Imperial Metals that we will escalate resistance until they cease and desist all mining operations on our Indigenous territories.

On August 4th we marked the 2-year anniversary of the devastating Tailings Pond breach with a gathering of Indigenous land defenders, allies and supporters to shut down the mine and to assert sovereignty over our unceded territories. There were workshops, feasting, training, ceremony and information sharing.

After skilling up together we completely blocked all workers from returning to work and stopped mining activity.

On August 9th the Secwepemc Women’s Warrior Society and Ancestral Pride successfully occupied the Imperial Metal’s Vancouver Office. Imperial Metals ordered thirty police offers to violently assault Indigenous women and supporters, with four arrests and many bruised bodies. Spirits remain high and we know the world is watching, we have support from around the world.

“Colonial violence is real! The mining companies in central and south amerikkka are already killing indigenous people for protecting their land and their ways of life. We are quick approaching that time here in kkkanada and we need to know where everyone stands? Will you put your bodies on the line to fight for the future?” -Sacheen

It is time to gather the resources to SHUT IMPERIAL METALS DOWN!

What the funds will be used for:

All funds raised will be used to develop and maintain the campaign to Stop Imperial Metals. Up to this point Sacheen, Kanahus and their supporters have been operating on their own funds and small contributions from their networks.

Here is where the funds will be used:

• For the materials and equipment necessary to hold events, direct actions and provide documentation for media releases.

• To repair our vehicle and cover the travel costs for members of the Secwepemc Women’s Warrior Society, Ancestral Pride and their supporters to be where they need to in order to continue pressure on Imperial Metals and their shareholders.

This also means we will be able to connect with the grassroots community, indigenous and non-indigenous most affected by Imperial Metals mines.

• To ensure we have the necessary funds for any legal fees that arise when the RCMP come down on our supporters and us.

• For awareness spreading materials and activities.

• To provide capacity building featuring Guerilla Media training, grant writing opportunities for other indigenous land defenders and our supporters.

• To build homes at Tska7 (Ruddock Creek) and Chitaapi (Catface Mountain) to assert our rights and title over our territories by living on them. This is most important as occupation is key to stopping resource extraction!

• We plan to host a large gathering that can bring together members of effected communities and our supporters to strategize and build a stronger movement to resist Imperial Metals on all affected territories.

“Colonial violence is real! The mining companies in central and south amerikkka are already killing indigenous people for protecting their land and their ways of life. We are quick approaching that time here in kkkanada and we need to know where everyone stands? Will you put your bodies on the line to fight for the future?”

For more information:

Imperial Metals is engaging in mining practices and operations that are in direct oppostion to the protocols and inherent rights and title of the Secwepemc, Ahousaht, Tla-o-qui-aht, Wet’suwet’en, and Tahltan First Nations.

www.imperialnomore.com

www.ancestralpride.org

www.facebook.com/yuctnesenxiymetkwecamp/

https://www.youtube.com/embed/WvahN7pdXek

https://vimeo.com/107615821

https://vimeo.com/113344620

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

https://www.voicesfrontlines.com/these-are-our-friends-who-we-have-been-throwing/

I don’t have the heart to sit here and see it happen.  Right now they’re drilling on Digby Island to
see how far they go before they reach rock bottom and then they’ll understand
how much, they call it bio mass waste, they have to take out, which is all the
living peat moss and rare plants and then they’re just going to dump it on the
other side of the island. 

–Goot-Ges

We realised people need to occupy that Island.  We learned form Enbridge that we can’t count
on the government of Canada’s processes, we can’t count on petitions, we can’t
count on protests; the government just ignores all this stuff. And we need
the people who have legal rights and title to that land.  It’s unceded territory.

–Christie Brown

Goot-Ges is a Haida, Nisga’a and Tsimshian woman from the
village of skulls, Gingolx, in the Nisga’a Nation whose clan is Raven from the
house of T’tanihaulk.  She is a
land defender, freelance writer, radio producer and independent mother of
three.  In August of 2015 in
collaboration with four other Indigenous women Goot-Ges began an occupation at
Lax U’u’la, which continues to protect the island and surrounding waters from
destruction to this day.  Her work is
rooted in cultural practice: prayer, story telling and medicine as healing and
an integral aspect of resistance to ongoing colonization.  She has founded and supported countless
projects assisting her people in healing inter-generational trauma and ending
gender based violence.  

Check out
Goot-Ges’ most recent project Yakguudan, which means ‘to respect all life’ in Haida.

Christie Brown of Gitxan and Scottish descent has worked to
defend the lands, waters, salmon and lives of her people against the Northern
Gateway pipeline and Petronas’ Pacific North West LNG export facility.  Her creative forms of resistance merge the
contemporary tools at hand with the revitalization of traditional skills and
hereditary systems.  In August of 2015 in
collaboration with 4 other Indigenous women Christie organized and began an
occupation of Lax U’u’la on unceded Tsimshian territory.  Christie’s work defending Lax U’u’la, the
Flora Banks and it’s protective eelgrass and the Skeena River continues to this
day.  

Support Christie and her work
upholding Tsimshian Law to protect Lax U’u’la for future generations.

https://www.voicesfrontlines.com/i-dont-have-the-heart-to-sit-here-and-see-it/

Three hundred and thirty million juvenile salmon come out of
that river, through the estuary and you know that’s a victory right there,
that’s a victory… I know one day our future generations will talk about what we
have all done together no matter how it turns out that will be a victory. 

–Goot-Ges

About three years ago I had a dream that I was in a long
house. I was sitting around thirteen grandmothers and they were all speaking to
me in all the west coast languages.  I
could hear a little bit of Sm’algyax, a little bit of
Nisg’a and Haida and then all up the line I could here there was one
grandmother from each different nation.
They were talking to me and I couldn’t understand everyone but I think
my spirit knew. They said, “you know we’re going to be losing our salmon and
we’re asking you to go find the salmon warriors and to bring the people back to
the land to protect the waters because if we lose our salmon we are not going
to be who we are supposed to be anymore.” 

-Goot-Ges

Goot-Ges is a Haida, Nisga’a and Tsimshian woman from the
village of skulls, Gingolx, in the Nisga’a Nation whose clan is Raven from the
house of T’tanihaulk.  She is a
land defender, freelance writer, radio producer and independent mother of
three.  In August of 2015 in
collaboration with four other Indigenous women Goot-Ges began an occupation at
Lax U’u’la, which continues to protect the island and surrounding waters from
destruction to this day.  Her work is
rooted in cultural practice: prayer, story telling and medicine as healing and
an integral aspect of resistance to ongoing colonization.  She has founded and supported countless
projects assisting her people in healing inter-generational trauma and ending
gender based violence.  

Check out
Goot-Ges’ most recent project Yakguudan, which means ‘to respect all life’ in Haida.

https://www.voicesfrontlines.com/three-hundred-and-thirty-million-juvenile-salmon/

Rocky Mountain Fort: A Dream Deferred?

This is a reblog from Helen Knott

Helen Knott is a 26 year old Dane Zaa and Nehiyawak woman from Northern British
Columbia. She is in the continual process of reclaiming her traditions,
reclaiming her language, and revitalizing what she can for the future
generations, including her son.

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore—

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over—

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

  • Langston Hughes

When I returned to the Rocky Mountain Fort I was initially happy, for
the bank had not changed. I weaved through the trail, hands lingering
over leaves my feet remembering the path to where our camp was. The
change of season brought growth and green that was not there through the
bitter winter. Well to be honest, by northern standards it was a light
winter but by southern standards it would have been a version of hell
freezing over. I led the group I was with through the willows and tall
brush to the hill that we carved snow steps into earlier this year. I
took a deep breath because I knew that once I walked over the crest I
wouldn’t be able to unsee what I was about to lay my eyes on.

All that was left of the Rocky Mountain Fort camp was a stockpile of firewood that was more
like gold to us on the cold nights. My eye could see all the way to the
cut line that lay on the crown of the adjacent hill. I could see the
bend where the Moberly River lay, a trek that would take me twenty five
minutes in the snow. All that was left of the living forest were the
unburied skeletons of trees piled in the middle of the clearing.

I didn’t want to feel too much there in front of the people I was
with. I didn’t want to make a show of tears even though I could feel the
emotions rise up. I walked around silently trying to figure out where
everything had been when we called that place home. I busied myself so I
didn’t have to acknowledge the knot in my throat.

We dared to dream there. Spent nights imagining the healing camps
that could take place on the land and the workshops that could be held
for the people. Dreaming is a dangerous thing, when it is a dream
deferred. I sat on the stump, oblivious to the conversation buzzing
about me, and I pondered the words of the Holy Man Black Elk when he
said, “A people’s dream died there. It was a beautiful dream”. Sorrow.
Grief. Pain. The saga of displacement and loss continues. We dreamt and
maybe we knew on some level it wouldn’t last forever and that an
injunction was inevitable but we dared to have hope. We had too. The
hope kept us warm at night and kept us going when we wanted to quit.

The group I was with walked far into the clearing and I stayed behind
to try to process some of what I was feeling. As I sat there I began to
hear the birds surrounding us, I studied the ground and traced the red
lines of strawberry plants that weaved themselves across the earths
floor. In spite of being stripped down, the earth still pushed forth
life. There were hip high poplar trees sprouting up and plants that
pushed upwards towards Grandfather Sun’s warmth. I couldn’t even spot
where our skidoo trails had been because the Earth had regenerated from
our footprints as well. It was in that moment that I could feel it
inside of me… Hope.

Only a small fraction of land has been cleared and the earth is so
resilient that it has already begun to heal itself. It is not too late
to stop this dam. It can and will be stopped.

I seen it there at the Rocky Mountain Fort in the dirt, amongst the bodies of elderly trees, I seen it, I felt it, I heard it..

“They tried to bury us, and they did not know that we were seeds”

We are still here.

In Spirit,

Helen K

The other day on the island I took my kids for a walk to go
and pick berries.  We didn’t find any
berries, but we found lots of medicine. 
We just stopped and prayed with each medicinal plant that we came
across.  Instead of harvesting that
medicine we just sat and prayed with it while it was alive and talked to the
spirit of that plant, that life form.  We
asked it to keep protecting the whole entire island. 

–Goot-Ges

Our wild foods are the last part of our culture
that a lot of us still have.  We’ve been
losing it over generations and through this we see ourselves losing our last
connections to the earth. No, you’re not taking that too.

 –Christie Brown

Goot-Ges is a Haida, Nisga’a and Tsimshian woman from the
village of skulls, Gingolx, in the Nisga’a Nation whose clan is Raven from the
house of T’tanihaulk.  She is a
land defender, freelance writer, radio producer and independent mother of
three.  In August of 2015 in
collaboration with four other Indigenous women Goot-Ges began an occupation at
Lax U’u’la, which continues to protect the island and surrounding waters from
destruction to this day.  Her work is
rooted in cultural practice: prayer, story telling and medicine as healing and
an integral aspect of resistance to ongoing colonization.  She has founded and supported countless
projects assisting her people in healing inter-generational trauma and ending
gender based violence.  

Check out
Goot-Ges’ most recent project Yakguudan, which means ‘to respect all life’ in Haida.

Christie Brown of Gitxan and Scottish descent has worked to
defend the lands, waters, salmon and lives of her people against the Northern
Gateway pipeline and Petronas’ Pacific North West LNG export facility.  Her creative forms of resistance merge the
contemporary tools at hand with the revitalization of traditional skills and
hereditary systems.  In August of 2015 in
collaboration with 4 other Indigenous women Christie organized and began an
occupation of Lax U’u’la on unceded Tsimshian territory.  Christie’s work defending Lax U’u’la, the
Flora Banks and it’s protective eelgrass and the Skeena River continues to this
day.  

Support Christie and her work
upholding Tsimshian Law to protect Lax U’u’la for future generations.

https://www.voicesfrontlines.com/the-other-day-on-the-island-i-took-my-kids-for-a/

The government never changed its
agenda: take away their land, take away their food sources, especially the food
sources, if you take away the food you take away the people and then we would
become even more dependent upon them, fully assimilated and believe that we’re
Canadian.  This makes us more wiling to
participate in the destruction of our lands and waters for so called financial
benefits or economy or jobs. 

–Goot-Ges

I feel at times in my life I’ve been really
disconnected from the earth.  I’ve lived in the city, you know spent a lot
of time in places where there is just concrete around you and eating foods form
stores where I have no idea who harvested the foods and no idea how to be
responsible for feeding myself.  I have come to realise that here we have
everything we need in this region to live and thrive and the more wild plants I
learn that I can eat the more grateful I am and realise that we don’t need to
be looking elsewhere and manufacturing all kinds of harmful awful things that
are bad for you.  I’m grateful and I feel like when there are things that
you are grateful for you have to work damn hard to keep them and honour
them.

–Christie Brown

The way things are going today as indigenous people we’re
heavily criminalized for saying “I want the right to clean air,”
“I want the right clean water” and “I want the right for our
food sources to be protected for not only my generation, but my children’s generation
and the next generations to come." 

-Goot-Ges

Goot-Ges is a Haida, Nisga’a and Tsimshian woman from the
village of skulls, Gingolx, in the Nisga’a Nation whose clan is Raven from the
house of T’tanihaulk.  She is a
land defender, freelance writer, radio producer and independent mother of
three.  In August of 2015 in
collaboration with four other Indigenous women Goot-Ges began an occupation at
Lax U’u’la, which continues to protect the island and surrounding waters from
destruction to this day.  Her work is
rooted in cultural practice: prayer, story telling and medicine as healing and
an integral aspect of resistance to ongoing colonization.  She has founded and supported countless
projects assisting her people in healing inter-generational trauma and ending
gender based violence. 

Check out
Goot-Ges’ most recent project Yakguudan, which means ‘to respect all life’ in Haida.

Christie Brown of Gitxan and Scottish descent has worked to
defend the lands, waters, salmon and lives of her people against the Northern
Gateway pipeline and Petronas’ Pacific North West LNG export facility.  Her creative forms of resistance merge the
contemporary tools at hand with the revitalization of traditional skills and
hereditary systems.  In August of 2015 in
collaboration with 4 other Indigenous women Christie organized and began an
occupation of Lax U’u’la on unceded Tsimshian territory.  Christie’s work defending Lax U’u’la, the
Flora Banks and it’s protective eelgrass and the Skeena River continues to this
day. 

Support Christie and her work
upholding Tsimshian Law to protect Lax U’u’la for future generations.

https://www.voicesfrontlines.com/the-government-never-changed-its-agenda-take-away/

They call this place Heaven on Earth. 

–Goot-Ges

I’m grateful and I feel like when there are things
that you are grateful for you have to work damn hard to keep them and
honour them.

–Christie Brown

I believe there is room for growth for our
people to go back and completely let go of this way of life and strengthen,
strengthen that land and that water and all the life within it.

–Goot-Ges

Goot-Ges is a Haida, Nisga’a and Tsimshian woman from the
village of skulls, Gingolx, in the Nisga’a Nation whose clan is Raven from the
house of T’tanihaulk.  She is a
land defender, freelance writer, radio producer and independent mother of
three.  In August of 2015 in
collaboration with four other Indigenous women Goot-Ges began an occupation at
Lax U’u’la, which continues to protect the island and surrounding waters from
destruction to this day.  Her work is
rooted in cultural practice: prayer, story telling and medicine as healing and
an integral aspect of resistance to ongoing colonization.  She has founded and supported countless
projects assisting her people in healing inter-generational trauma and ending
gender based violence. 

Check out
Goot-Ges’ most recent project Yakguudan, which means ‘to respect all life’ in Haida.

Christie Brown of Gitxan and Scottish descent has worked to
defend the lands, waters, salmon and lives of her people against the Northern
Gateway pipeline and Petronas’ Pacific North West LNG export facility.  Her creative forms of resistance merge the
contemporary tools at hand with the revitalization of traditional skills and
hereditary systems.  In August of 2015 in
collaboration with 4 other Indigenous women Christie organized and began an
occupation of Lax U’u’la on unceded Tsimshian territory.  Christie’s work defending Lax U’u’la, the
Flora Banks and it’s protective eelgrass and the Skeena River continues to this
day. 

Support Christie and her work
upholding Tsimshian Law to protect Lax U’u’la for future generations.

https://www.voicesfrontlines.com/they-call-this-place-heaven-on-earth-goot-ges/

Food Donations for Unist’ot’en

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Hello Deer ones,

 We are about to head
out again, on July 15th, to visit Unist’ot’en for the Youth Art Camp
and also to visit with Kanahus on Secwepmc territory. While in both of these places we plan to
complete more interviews for the book while throwing down with some rad youth
artists and offering support to the land defenders still working to shut down
Mount Polley Mine and Imperial Metals.

The material and financial donations y’all contributed last
time were so incredible and honestly we couldn’t have shown up the ways we did
without all of you.  Thank you for
collaborating with us and holding us up the way you all have.

We are again reaching out for donations to help us get
supplies up to camp and you will find below the promised list from our wonderful
friend and the amazing cook up at Unist’ot’en.
If you are able to contribute any of these items (food unopened) that
would be amazing! 

If you would like to make a monetary donation you can send e-transfers to voicesfrontlines@gmail.com.  Please let us know whether you want the funds to go towards general supplies or for the cash to be given directly to Freda or Kanahus.

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 Food Items:

Cilantro
Bragg’s Liquid Soy (cheapest at Sunrise foods)
Cheese (esp hard cheese like parmesan)
Cornmeal
Fresh veg and fruits
Meat
Asian style noodles
Rice noodles
Polenta logs
curry paste, especially green curry
Unsalted Nuts
Mushrooms and dried mushrooms
chocolate chips
Olives
Sundried tomatoes
Zatar spice
Nori sheets
lemongrass
fresh chillies
sushi vinegar
rice vinegar
rice wine vinegar
red wine vinegar
Shiro Miso paste (large size)
Kimchi
Corn tortillas
veggie sausages or chorizo
canned tuna in oil
Cannelini beans (white kidney beans)
medium ground coffee beans
Truffle Oil
Olive Oil
Coconut Oil
Textured vegetable protein
Preserves
Canned chilies (esp in adobo)
Pickles
Smoked or preserved meat
Sesame Oil
Coconut cream or milk
Coconut flakes
Smoked wild fish (cheapest at Elenka Foods or farmers market)
Tofu
Fresh herbs

Non Food Items:

Large cast iron cookware (esp with lids)
Oven mitts (any condition, but w/o holes)
Epi Pens
Allergy pills
Tea towels
Skateboard
Spare tires from wheelbarrows
Bronner’s liquid soap or ecosafe Camp Suds
Hatchet
Axe
Whetstone
large metal coffee percolators (20cup one at Army&Navy is $22)
hand powered food processor (known as Mouli)
solar dehydrator
solar charger for usb devices
Books: permaculture, gardening, plant identification, first aid, bush craft,
indigenous issues, feminism, queer theory, how-to books, carpentry, mechanics,
guitar tabs and song lyrics.
Handheld garden saws and gardening tools
Bicycles and parts
Garden or fishing netting
Tents
Medical sutures and butterfly stitches
Fishing line
Wooden cutting boards
Coffee grinder
Herb plants (especially thyme, rosemary, basil, cilantro)
Fishing floats
Rope and twine
barbwire

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xo Wulfgang and Beyon

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We left Lekqungen Territory to cross the Salish Sea on the last day of May on our way to Lax U’u’la (Lelu Island) in Tsimshian territory.  On our first day out of so called vancouver we stopped in at Ulluisc to deliver donated food supplies, cash donations and photographs to Christine Jack, the caretaker and protector of the mountains there.  We were also able to sleep along the banks of Wedzin Kwah in the Gitemden Clan’s territory.  Wedzin Kwah is the life giving river that flows through Wet’suwet’en territory and has been fiercely protected by hereditary leadership of the Unist’ot’en clan.  Wedzin Kwah is a tributary to the Skeena river and we would eventually follow the Skeena along the highway of tears to the sea.

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Lax U’u’la, is located at the mouth of the Skeena river.  Adjacent to the island are the Flora Banks, an area made up of glacial silt from the last ice age where eelgrass flourishes.  The Flora Banks and the eel grass that grows there is a crucial habitat for young Salmon smolts who as adults will run the Skeena river.  The eelgrass provides shelter from the strong currents and tides while the smolts acclimatize to their new lives in saltwater and adult salmon re-adjust to begin their journey up the river.  This is a place where one generation of salmon passes another.  The straight next to Lax U’u’la teams with porpoises, humpback whales pass through the region and wolves hunt the deer who find bountiful food on the island.  We were told the ancestors and wild spirits of the animals protect Lax U’u’la.

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It is on this small marshy island, covered in berries, ancient cedars
and eagle’s nests that Petronas and Pacific North West LNG (PNW LNG)
scheme to build an export facility for gas fracked in the North East of
so called bc.

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There are 8 facilities planned for the Tsimshian’s territories around colonial Prince Rupert.

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In August of 2015 five Women of Haida, Gitxsan and Tsimshian descent, with the support of the Hereditary House Leader for the Gitwilgyoots tribe responsible for Lax U’u’la, began an occupation of the Island.  Since that moment they have been offering their prayers, utilizing the medicines of the island, raising their children and going out onto the water to courageously stop the work of surveyors hired by PNW LNG.  Many warriors and supporters have joined these women in their fight for the land, waters and air.

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We were honoured to have the opportunity to sit down with Christie Brown in her home and talk about her experiences protecting Lax U’u’la and beginning the occupation.  Once on the island we joined Goot Ges and her three children who harvest medicines there, offer prayers and join supporters in stopping industry on the water.  We were able to assist with cooking meals for supporters, constructing a cedar smokehouse, building a composting toilet and joining patrols to protect the island. 

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If you are interested in learning more about Lax U’u’la you can check out their facebook page or this short documentary.

If you would like to support the Land Defenders who are out there protecting the salmon, waters, land and air there are two specific needs:

The first is for financial donations to fuel the boats necessary for patrols, and you can donate to the go fund me, or e-transfer funds through: Lelu_island@hotmail.com.

The second is a need for people to be out there on the land.  Supporters are welcome and skills related to working collaboratively, navigating conflicts, care work, boating, cooking and construction are super helpful.

If you have questions about accessibility or anything at all, please do not hesitate to contact us!

xo beyon and wulfgang

https://www.voicesfrontlines.com/we-left-lekqungen-territory-to-cross-the-salish/