Spirit of Warrior Harriet Nahanee

A new blog from my friend Dustin Rivers about the elder Harriet Nahanee who was aressted for protesting the destruction of Eagle Ridge Bluffs across the water from my place here on Bowen Island. These bluffs, a rare dry cliff with a huge arbutus grove, were razed for a bypass in the service of the 2010 Winter Olympics over much opposition. She was sentenced to 14 days in prison for an act of civil disobedience. In prison she contracted an illness and died a few weeks ago. There is a movement to have her death investigated, and you can follow that effort on the blog Spirit of Warrior Harriet Nahanee

Harriet Nahanee was a gentle and passionate warrior, and though I never met her, I know many people who have been touched deeply by her. Here is something she said about de-colonization that relfects something of her spirit:

What I would like to see is people with [traditional] knowledge to teach the small, little people how to grow up with pride. This generation is lost. My generation is lost–they’re assimilated. They don’t think like an Indian. What I’d like to see is our five-year-olds being taught their language, their songs, their games, their spirituality, their Indian, eh, their Indian-ness. I’d like to ask all the people out there to reclaim their culture–practice it, teach the children, and let’s reclaim our backbone, our culture and put some pride in our children.

[tags]harriet nahanee, vancouver 2010[/tags]