00:00:00:17 – 00:00:07:12

Singing (Tla-o-qui-aht Master Carver and Historian Joseph Tutakwisnapšiƛ Martin, Board Director, IISAAK OLAM Foundation)

Woo woo woo ho ya. 

(Eli Enns, Tla-o-qui-aht Nation Citizen, Co-Founder and CEO, IISAAK OLAM Foundation)

čukʷaa haʔuk! 

00:00:12:05 – 00:00:21:15

Whoah ho ho ho

Whoa whoa ho ya! 

(Drumming)

00:00:21:15 – 00:00:49:22

Eli Enns (Eli Enns, Tla-o-qui-aht Nation Citizen, Co-Founder and CEO, IISAAK OLAM Foundation)

We talked through in previous episodes about the origin story of Canada and how Canada is a unique nation-state in the world because of the constitutional recognition of Aboriginal Rights and responsibilities. Aboriginal Peoples in Canada are defined in three ways: First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Peoples.

00:00:49:24 – 00:01:00:19

So confusing terminology. There’s many labels, but at the end of the day, what we’re talking about is the Elder societies of the nation-state that we know today as Canada.

00:01:02:19 – 00:01:26:10

First and foremost, these many Elder societies have their own sovereign nationality. There’s a multitude of various Indigenous Nations from across the country, and their laws are founded and rooted in natural law.

00:01:26:12 – 00:01:39:17

As we talked in the last episode about how totem poles are one of many different examples of how natural law is translated. And I think…

00:01:39:17 – 00:02:01:06

…translated and applied from the world that we observe, to the social world and how we interact with one another as human beings. And so I would call that biomimicry for social innovation.

00:02:02:09 – 00:02:36:10

And these legal traditions have existed since time immemorial. That’s an important concept in Canadian law. Time immemorial is prior to the arrival and imposition of European law. Mainly British common law, but also in Quebec, French law, Napoleonic civil code, or whatever. And so when an Indigenous Nation…

00:02:36:10 – 00:03:06:07

…is activated and responding to external influences such that they see the need and have the desire to create an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area, first and foremost, what that is is a tapping into natural law and growing up through the roots, into the social world – is indigenous law.

00:03:06:09 – 00:03:22:23

And then how that bridges into Canadian law is through Section 35 of the Canada Act of 1982, which, as I mentioned earlier, is the recognition of Aboriginal Rights and Title.

00:03:22:23 – 00:03:32:20

So again, Aboriginal in the Constitution of Canada is subdivided into First Nations, Métis, and Inuit governments.

00:03:32:20 – 00:03:47:07

So broadly, this is the legal foundation upon which Indigenous Nations can act to create Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas.

00:03:47:09 – 00:04:00:02

Now, I would qualify that this is an embodiment of what I would call a Grandmother’s Authority. So in many societies, in particular…

00:04:00:02 – 00:04:13:02

…the matriarchal societies, among the Elder societies in Canada, the Grandmother has a very important role and responsibility. And she holds a certain kind of authority in the community.

00:04:13:11 – 00:04:36:02

So, for example, if she perceives that her grandchildren or great-grandchildren are in harm’s way, then the Grandmother has a unique kind of authority that she can step in with a firm but loving hand to correct even her own children.

00:04:36:02 – 00:05:05:17

So maybe sometimes her children may lose sight of what’s in the best interest of their own children. And so a Grandmother has a unique kind of role and responsibility in society to step in with a firm but loving hand and to correct her own children, but most importantly, to safeguard her grandchildren and to safeguard her great-grandchildren from harm’s way.

00:05:05:17 – 00:05:17:17

And so when we look at creating Tribal Parks or IPCAs what this is, is a kind of expression of a Grandmother’s authority within a family.

00:05:17:19 – 00:06:02:02

So if you think for a moment of Canada, the legal orders of Canada as a family, you have the King George, united, the representation of the United Kingdom in the these Royal Proclamation of 1763, the Wampum Belt Treaty at Fort Niagara in 1764, where in a way, the United Kingdom came into relationship with many Indigenous Nations from across Canada. And the Rlder Indigenous societies represent the Grandmother in this family structure.

00:06:02:02 – 00:06:20:06

And from that flows through the British North American Act of 1867 and the division of powers between Section 91 and 92, you have the creation of federal authority, the federal Crown government, and the provinces.

00:06:20:20 – 00:06:36:10

And so the division of powers delineates what is within the realm of roles and responsibilities for the federal government and what is within the realm of the roles and responsibilities for the provincial governments.

00:06:36:10 – 00:06:47:15

Flowing down from that are the creation of municipalities and regional governments, which are legal creatures of the provinces.

00:06:47:15 – 00:06:56:24

Indian band councils are created similarly through acts of legislation from what I call the Elder brother.

00:06:57:01 – 00:07:00:16

The Elder brother of Confederation is the federal government.

00:07:01:05 – 00:07:28:12

And how that played out within the dominion of North America, the Dominion of Canada, was that the British North Americans wanted to secure the 49th Parallel as the geopolitical boundary between the newly formed United States of America and so-called Canada, British North America at the time.

00:07:28:12 – 00:07:38:11

Until these troubled times was the context for the emergence of the family of law in Canada.

00:07:38:13 – 00:07:44:15

You’ve got the grandchildren or the municipalities, and the Indian band councils.

00:07:44:15 – 00:08:12:16

The children are the federal and provincial governments, and the grandparents are the Indigenous Nations. And the Crown, the British Crown, and in the case of Quebec, the remnants of New France, the French Napoleon civil code, and their legal traditions that were carried forward from the time of the Seven Years’ War.

00:08:13:03 – 00:08:41:23

Anyhow, and so when Indigenous Nations look to assert their jurisdiction in the establishment of IPCAs, I think a very helpful metaphor to kind of describe it succinctly, in layperson’s terms, is that they’re invoking a higher level of law and exercising a Grandmother’s responsibility.

00:08:41:23 – 00:08:54:24

So, and then Anaïs and I, we talked about how, like, daunting that might be for Nations.

00:08:55:14 – 00:09:14:08

Because for so many generations, we have been run roughshod over, we have been told through residential school narratives that our society is, you know, less than.

00:09:14:08 – 00:09:57:08

Our religions and spiritual worldviews were literally outlawed between 1885 and 1951. And so there’s this kind of multi-generational, I guess, like, supremacy, complex where it’s difficult to step into that role of self-determination. To now lead for oneself, you know, without looking to the abuser for acknowledgment or permission or whatnot.

00:09:57:10 – 00:10:07:04

And so we talked about the deep psychological complexities of self-determination and such.

00:10:07:04 – 00:10:21:01

And what I suggested, and what I will suggest here, is that the way we find ourselves through that is through ceremonial restoration.

00:10:21:01 – 00:10:40:09

When Nation leaders, when staff or Guardians, you know, whatever, are feeling the weight of the undertaking of self-determination, that ceremony is something that you can fall back on…

00:10:40:09 – 00:10:42:18

…and not to go too far down the rabbit hole.

00:10:42:18 – 00:10:50:11

But one of the things that I have found in my own experiences, is forgiveness ceremony.

00:10:50:11 – 00:10:58:19

And what I learned in that was the roots of forgiveness are understanding.

00:10:58:19 – 00:11:12:13

And then the flower of forgiveness is unconditional love. So the metaphor that emerged over three years of ceremony was a plant, a flower with roots that go into the Earth…

00:11:12:13 – 00:11:17:15

…and grows out of the earth, and then flowers in the world.

00:11:17:15 – 00:11:21:12

To proliferate the continuance of life.

00:11:22:02 – 00:11:50:06

Speaker 2

And there’s something in our language we say “c̓awaak-niš.” c̓awaak-niš means ‘we are one’. You might remember like hišukʔiš c̓awaak, you know, everything is one and everything is interconnected. There’s also hišukʔniš c̓awaak, which means we are all one and we are all interconnected. A shorthand of saying that is c̓awaak-niš. We are one.

00:11:50:08 – 00:12:02:01

And so that was the outcome of that particular ceremony. Anyways, that’s just a little three, four, five-minute insight into the kind of how ceremony…

00:12:02:01 – 00:12:20:11

…you know, I think the word ‘ceremony’ can be misleading. Like, you know, we’re going to sit around in a circle and hold hands or something, you know, and light a candle, or, you know. Obviously, all that is good in its own way, but I think it’s kind of romanticized, is what I’m trying to say.

00:12:20:13 – 00:12:35:23

But there’s a real, practical, psychological, and emotional processing that happens in ceremony that allows you to show up in community in a healthier way.

00:12:35:23 – 00:12:47:13

When we’re talking about IPCAs, we often think, oh, that’s the world of government negotiations, lawyers, you know, diplomacy, and certainly it is.

00:12:47:15 – 00:12:52:11

But who are holding those positions?

00:12:52:13 – 00:13:10:04

Chief and Council members, negotiators, implementers, executive directors, Guardians, Land Stewards, those are all human beings that are all at different stages of recovery in the aftermath of genocide.

00:13:10:04 – 00:13:27:12

Ninety-five, 97 percent of Vancouver Island was leveled to the ground, including all of our villages, all of our grave sites, everything. Our population was well below 20 percent.

00:13:27:12 – 00:13:40:22

Well, that’s what you have here, ladies and gentlemen, on Vancouver Island. But it’s less, we’re talking 2 percent. And that’s, ironically, that’s what’s left of our land on this island.

00:13:40:22 – 00:13:49:13

Two, three, four percent of the island is still largely undisturbed, old-growth, original forest.

00:13:49:13 – 00:13:56:13

And that’s what’s left of our fluent speakers and our people, anyway. So.

00:13:56:13 – 00:14:10:09

This is the aftermath of genocide and widespread ecological destruction, and so be it. And that’s why ceremony is so important.

00:14:10:09 – 00:14:38:02

You know, for many years, many of us have lived in shame or, you know, a feeling of despairedness. And there’s a turning point, though, in one’s psychology where you start to look at all of my scars, all my blemishes, all of my hardships are not something to be ashamed of, but the very fact that we’re still alive and we know who we are.

00:14:38:04 – 00:14:41:17

That’s a sign of resiliency.

00:14:41:17 – 00:14:52:14

And by the way, I would say it is a sign of the sophistication of not only our worldviews, but of our legal traditions.

00:14:52:14 – 00:15:20:15

The fact that hišukʔniš c̓awaak, quay-qwiik-suup,  ʔiisaak, wii-tsikiki-ach-chuu. We talked about that totem pole, that those core worldview concepts, and legal perceptions, and legal traditions – the fact that those things are still alive at all is a bit of a small miracle, and it’s a seed of hope.

00:15:20:18 – 00:16:01:19

So the whole prospect that we’re approaching here is to take that seed of hope. And together with the best of Western science and modern-day technology, to craft a safe haven, to set up a safe haven for the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren. And that brings me back full circle to a Grandmother’s authority and a Grandmother’s responsibility.

00:16:01:21 – 00:17:03:20

It’s not something that’s held lightly and should not be wielded lightly. And, but that’s exactly the time we find ourselves in where that, those kinds of bold actions are needed. 

But with like any grandmother, you know, it’s really cool because she can, I mean, maybe you can relate to this in your own way, but a grandmother has a unique kind of way of correcting, you know. And that’s a way to say, look, even with the federal government or the provinces and some municipalities to connect with a firm but loving hand

And to ha’hopa such that we can, because I’m not just worried about my own…

00:17:03:20 – 00:17:26:05

…grandchildren. I’m concerned about your grandchildren. And when we can unite that shared interest, find our common ground, build on our common ground, and celebrate our differences.  You know an IPCA is one of many tools to do that. I mean…

00:17:26:05 – 00:17:46:04

…a long trail of acronyms, and then you have ICCAs and, you know. But these are all just attempts to describe to translate complex Nuu-chah-nulth and Indigenous worldview concepts of governance to and through English…

00:17:46:13 – 00:18:10:07

…is to try to distill from these thousands of years of wisdom into some simple, like English concepts you know. Call it acronyms. Now, what we have is IPCAs. That’s what really caught on. You know, Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas.

00:18:10:07 – 00:18:16:05

But it’s not, it’s not whole and complete without the compendium, which is…

00:18:16:05 – 00:18:20:06

…the Nuu-cha-nulth worldview.

 

00:18:20:06 – 00:18:39:03

And so we have a rich ground of these bits and pieces that are left, and those are the foundations that the taproots that we need to nurture through this IPCA movement.

00:18:39:20 – 00:19:11:06

And it’s not going to be easy if anyone tells you there’s an overnight solution or a silver bullet, don’t trust them. There’s no overnight solution. There’s no silver bullet to solve this. We, in my territory on the West Coast, you’ve been at it for 40 years, four decades of trial and error and stick-to-itiveness and tenacity and forgiveness and unconditional love.

00:19:11:08- 00:19:28:23

You know, that’s what it takes. I mean, you know, there’s no. It took us 75 years to be on our hands and knees to the point where the desperation, where our people put their lives on the line in 1984 to establish the Meares Island Tribal Park.

00:19:28:23 – 00:19:33:18

And it’s going to take more than 75 years to heal and restore.

00:19:33:20 – 00:19:52:01

But somebody’s got to do it. Otherwise, we’re just passing off the burden to our children and our grandchildren. Leaving the mess for somebody else to clean up. So that’s my soapbox moment of why we should not be daunted by the complexity of this.

00:19:52:01 – 00:20:13:17

By the way, in Tofino in 1984. It wasn’t some kind of utopia where Indigenous Rights were respected. In 1997, we had to boycott every business in Tofino for an entire year because they wouldn’t give back a former residential school site to our community. Now known as Tin Wis.

00:20:13:19 – 00:20:30:11

Well, it was always known as Tin Wis, but it was a residential school there for a time. Now we have a resort there, but it took us a year. You know what the racist mayor and Council of Tofino said, “We don’t want a dirty reserve in the middle of Tofino.”

00:20:31:05 – 00:20:49:05

You know, that was late 1990s. So no, it wasn’t always puppy dogs and rainbows in Tofino, but it took stick-to-itiveness, it took wherewithal, tenacity, and most importantly, to know who we are, to believe in ourselves, and to be bold for future generations.

00:20:49:05 – 00:21:16:04

But the point is, is there’s hope. And yes, we’ve been giving our power away to the crown. We’ve been falling in love with their narrative of who we are. Let’s fall back in love with a narrative of what our ancestors say. You know? And obviously we can’t go back to the past. But we can integrate those teachings in our future.

00:21:16:12 – 00:22:10:19

So. So that’s what, call it an IPCA, call it a Salmon Park, call it a Tribal Park, call it a estuary to old-growth park, or a region, or whatever, biosphere reserve, you know. However you want to describe it in the English language. 

At the root of it, it’s bringing back to consequence, to application, these ancient, simple, but powerful teachings in a modern day concept, not in demolition of what’s been established, but in what do you call, when you – complementariness, complimentariness in Ethical Space, I guess is the best way to summon that up, for not only the welfare and well-being of our…

00:22:10:19 – 00:22:15:00

….own grandchildren, but for all of our collective grandchildren to come.

00:22:15:00 – 00:22:21:21

Forgiveness is easier said than done. Ceremony, connection to land.

00:22:21:21 – 00:22:33:13

You know, if you give, instead of giving your power to something that is destroying you, give your power to something that keeps your life up, and then you create that beautiful relationship.

00:22:33:16 – 00:23:11:04

What are the simple but powerful teachings that are residue from the very fact that you’re still living? What were the things that were shaven off or washed away through colonization, from your ancestors? Indigenous cultures? The Elder societies of your own peoples? 

Once you get to know who you are, and you can sit across the table from somebody who’s expressing their real selves, and you can be at peace with your real selves, that gives you the integrity to even have a conversation.

00:23:11:04 – 00:23:12:02

Singing (Tla-o-qui-aht Master Carver and Historian Joseph Tutakwisnapšiƛ Martin, Board Director, IISAAK OLAM Foundation)

Woo woo woo ho ya. 

00:23:12:09 – 00:23:22:13

(Eli Enns, Tla-o-qui-aht Nation Citizen, Co-Founder and CEO, IISAAK OLAM Foundation)

čukʷaa haʔuk!