Those of you who don’t live in Canada probably haven’t yet heard of the stand-off between Iroquoian peoples and developers in Ontario. The dispute concerns a piece of land called The Haldimand Tract, the jurisdiction of which is under dispute. The Six Nations people who live nearby, and on whose traditional territory the land lies, moved to stop a housing development there five months ago, with the idea that until ownership over the land is settled, building houses wouldn’t be a good idea. The dispute has been angry and a little violent, but recently, the provincial government and …
It’s a Tsimshian expression that means “of one heart.” It was also the name of a very powerful appreciative summit I facilitated last year on youth suicide in northwestern British Columbia. Today Jane Morley, the Child and Youth Officer for British Columbia, and the convener of that gathering released her special report on the summit and its results. The report is available as a .pdf from her site. The gathering was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. On May 4th 2005 I saw nearly 200 Aboriginal youth step into a gathering rife with fear and trepidation and …
I piece I wrote here after the BALLE conference in June was republished on the Sustainable Review website. Nice of them to re-publish my work. Would have been nicer if they had contacted me and asked me to fix the typos. Ah well…the price of glory! Categories: firstnations, sustainability, local, economy, BALLE
Jeff Aitken left me a comment with a useful framework for inquiry form Apela Colorado. These are principles of indigenous science: 1. The indigenous scientist is an integral part of the research process and there is a defined process for insuring this integrity. 2. All of nature is considered to be intelligent and alive, thus an active research partner. 3. The purpose of indigenous science is to maintain balance. 4. Compared to Western time/space notions, indigenous science collapses time and space with the result that our fields of inquiry and participation extend into the overlap of past and present. 5. …