Voices

Indigenous Women on the Front Lines Speak

You are here: Home / Archives for voices book

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/

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

image

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.

image

 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

image

xo Wulfgang and Beyon

Imperial Metals AGM

image

On May 27th the Corporate Scum behind the Mount Polley disaster, where a four kilometer tailings pond emptied into Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek and Quesnel Lake, met on unceded Musqueam territory for their annual shareholders meeting.

image

Secwepemc Warrior, Kanahus Manuel, and supporters were there to greet them and remind the decisions makers of the company that they do not have permission to be on unceded Neskonlith Secwepemc territory and in fact have been told to leave.

image

Although Kanahus had the legal documentation to enter the AGM as a Proxy Voting member dozens of the Colonial Corporation of Canada’s hired guns blocked her way.

image

Imperial Metals is responsible for one of the most horrific acts of terror in this region since agents of the Hudson Bay company committed acts of violence through biological warfare, known as smallpox.  The destruction of the land upon which the Secwepemc people live and contamination of their food sources is part of a legacy of colonial violence and genocide committed by the Corporation of Canada and the Corporations they partner with.

image

Sovereign Indigenous communities living on their unceded territories, who are not a part of the so called Canadian State, all over the region are resisting the invasive and destructive actions of Imperial Metals.  The Tahltan people have been fighting hard against Imperial Metal’s Red Chris Mine, which has recently been given the ‘permits’ to operate at full capacity despite the opposition of the people responsible for the lands.

image

Members of Ancestral Pride, an Indigenous resistance organization from the village of Ahousaht on Nuu-chah-nulth territory have been organizing against Imperial Metal’s plans to open pit mine the sacred Chitaapii Mountain located directly across from the village.

image

On unceded Wet’suwe’ten territories Imperial Metals has been illegally operating an open pit copper mine without permission of the hereditary peoples responsible for protection of the lands there.  Although the mine is currently not in operations due to low copper costs, it must not be permitted to open again.

We support the Talhtan, Secwepemc, Nuu-chah-nulth, Wet’suwe’ten and all sovereign Indigenous peoples and their protection of the lands we all rely on to live. 

We’re also looking forward to visiting with Kanahus and Sacheen of Ancestral Pride in August and to be including them in Voices.

If you want to know more about how you can support these rad women led movements get at us and shoot us an email!

xox

image

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.

image

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.

image

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.

image

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

image

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.

image

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. 

image

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/

Hello Dear Ones,

Sacheen is an incredible land defender, life
giver, traditional midwife and indigenous sovereigntist.  Wulf’s been
honoured to have know her for many years and we are excited to share her
voice and work with you in our book.

Right now we are sharing this fundraiser for Sacheen and her partner Crow to take time to heal and train.  

Please share this opportunity to support and hold up two powerful protectors of the land and contribute if you can.

 <3 Wulfgang and Beyon

click here to support

Also check their webpage for more info: ancestralpride

https://www.voicesfrontlines.com/hello-dear-ones-sacheen-is-an-incredible-land/

“I feel in awe as to the tremendous life
that I get to be among because we quite honestly forget that a tree has a
life, that a piece of grass, that a dandelion, that the kinnikinnick is just so
alive. Being a caretaker is creating a system for me to actually coexist with
them.”

-Christine Jack, Ulluisc 2016

Christine
Jack is a two-spirit St’at’imc life-giver and spiritual leader.  In March of 2015 she was asked by her Elders
to protect a place called Ulluisc.  Since that moment, Christine became caretaker
and made Ulluisc her permanent home.  Ulluisc,
“a place for the people to gather”,
is high in the mountains nestled in the Yalakom Valley and is an ancestral
village site where the St’at’imc, Tsilcotin and Secwemc people came
together.  The forests, creeks, and
mountains of Ulluisc are a place where medicine grows, where the pines stand
next to the cotton woods and shade the alders; where bears raise their cubs,
deer find their shelter and eagles build their nests.  The last time there was clear cutting in
Ulluisc was 2015 the logging company responsible, intended to continue
cutting through 2016 and beyond. Christine Jack has halted their progress, and
as long as she remains it will never happen again.

For more information about Christine and Ulluisc go to the voice for the voiceless fb page and check out our Update.

https://www.voicesfrontlines.com/i-feel-in-awe-as-to-the-tremendous-life-that-i/