Indigenous History Month: Celebrating Land and Water Protectors
An offering for Indigenous History Month. Sign-up to CPAWS-BC for the latest BC conservation news, updates and action alerts to your inbox.
Sage smoke softly rises, delicately piercing the warm sun rays of spring as I smudge in mindful reverence, offering gratitude to my fellow Indigenous communities across Canada. June is National Indigenous History Month – an opportunity to celebrate contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples to nature stewardship in so-called Canada.
The conservation movement has a history of erasure and exclusion of Indigenous Peoples. Early settlers created an unnatural dichotomy between uninhabited wilderness and settlements that included the forcible removal of Indigenous People from the land. Alongside the loss of language, stories and experience on the land we’ve lost how to live in balance with Mother Earth. Healthy Nature provides everything we need: food, shelter, and medicine. It’s up to all of us together, to return the favour as caretakers of the lands and waters. Indigenous-led conservation has a role to play not only in reconciliation and healing, but also in building a stronger future together.
It is ironic that those who have played the least role in causing climate change, namely Indigenous People, are the ones who are being affected the most by it.
Many species have been vastly reduced because of the human footprint. We clear cut trees, which then affects the salmon and other life. The soil no longer has anything to hold it together, and so we see mudslides in the heavy rain season.
With your support, CPAWS has been defending lands and waters in BC for over 30 years. Our work to protect lands and waters has been shouldered by Indigenous Peoples for thousands of years. Since time before memory, Indigenous Peoples lived in balance with Mother Earth –taking only what’s needed and taking care of Nature in return for the gifts of food, water and medicine.
I believe we must bring our voices together and uplift Indigenous Knowledge as a solution. What CPAWS-BC does is for the benefit of all walks of life, humans, animals, birds, plants, forests and the list goes on.
A double whammy of climate change and accelerated species loss threatens our survival and of Nature we love. Despite all odds, new models of Indigenous-led conservation are already underway that can protect us all as Nature copes with the rising tide of development.
As the sound of singing and drums ring across ancestral lands and waters, I invite you to join us throughout June in celebrating and supporting Indigenous Peoples in their pursuit of preserving their Territories, and culture and in healing nature and humanity. It is not too late to do something, as we saw through the pandemic, when industries were forced to shut down or scale back, air quality improved in many of the most polluted cities in the world, people could see the tops of the Himalayas previously not possible due to pollution. Birdsongs and wildlife reclaimed city streets. So we can change what we are doing and minimize our impact on the wild places we depend on.
Thank you for being here. I am confident that we are on a solid path together to ensure that lands, waters and wildlife we all share a connection with will be protected now and forever.
Yours in conservation,
Kevin Barlow (Mi’kmaw)
Executive Director, CPAWS-BC
Community Events and Happenings:
- Meet the Matriarchs: Squamish Nation Knowledge Sharers. Join three generations of Squamish Nation knowledge keepers: Kultsia Barbara Wyss, T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss and Senaqwila Wyss Friday June 3 at the Museum of North Vancouver.
- Reframing our Worldview – Honouring Indigenous History and Experience. Join Kevin Barlow, Executive Director of CPAWS-BC on 20 June at 6 pm (PDT) for tools and strategies that non-Indigenous people may use to self-assess possible biases and gain a stronger understanding of the richness of Indigenous history in Canada.
- Tune in: APTN Indigenous Day 2022 Live in Winnipeg or check out your local Cultural Center or Friendship Center volunteer opportunities, supports and celebrations on National Indigenous People’s Day this June 21, 2022.
- Watch the Recording: What can Mother Trees teach us about climate justice? J Kevin Barlow (Executive Director, CPAWS-BC) joined Suzanne Simard (Professor of Forest Ecology, UBC), Hannah Askew (Executive Director, Sierra Club BC) in discussion with UBC Sustainability.
- Workshops at The Compost Education Centre in Victoria. SEMSEMÍYE: Indigenous Pollinator Stories, Indigenous Plant Walk and more.
An offering for Indigenous History Month. Sign-up to CPAWS-BC for the latest BC conservation news, updates and action alerts to your inbox.
Sage smoke softly rises, delicately piercing the warm sun rays of spring as I smudge in mindful reverence, offering gratitude to my fellow Indigenous communities across Canada. June is National Indigenous History Month – an opportunity to celebrate contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples to nature stewardship in so-called Canada.
The conservation movement has a history of erasure and exclusion of Indigenous Peoples. Early settlers created an unnatural dichotomy between uninhabited wilderness and settlements that included the forcible removal of Indigenous People from the land. Alongside the loss of language, stories and experience on the land we’ve lost how to live in balance with Mother Earth. Healthy Nature provides everything we need: food, shelter, and medicine. It’s up to all of us together, to return the favour as caretakers of the lands and waters. Indigenous-led conservation has a role to play not only in reconciliation and healing, but also in building a stronger future together.
It is ironic that those who have played the least role in causing climate change, namely Indigenous People, are the ones who are being affected the most by it.
Many species have been vastly reduced because of the human footprint. We clear cut trees, which then affects the salmon and other life. The soil no longer has anything to hold it together, and so we see mudslides in the heavy rain season.
With your support, CPAWS has been defending lands and waters in BC for over 30 years. Our work to protect lands and waters has been shouldered by Indigenous Peoples for thousands of years. Since time before memory, Indigenous Peoples lived in balance with Mother Earth –taking only what’s needed and taking care of Nature in return for the gifts of food, water and medicine.
I believe we must bring our voices together and uplift Indigenous Knowledge as a solution. What CPAWS-BC does is for the benefit of all walks of life, humans, animals, birds, plants, forests and the list goes on.
A double whammy of climate change and accelerated species loss threatens our survival and of Nature we love. Despite all odds, new models of Indigenous-led conservation are already underway that can protect us all as Nature copes with the rising tide of development.
As the sound of singing and drums ring across ancestral lands and waters, I invite you to join us throughout June in celebrating and supporting Indigenous Peoples in their pursuit of preserving their Territories, and culture and in healing nature and humanity. It is not too late to do something, as we saw through the pandemic, when industries were forced to shut down or scale back, air quality improved in many of the most polluted cities in the world, people could see the tops of the Himalayas previously not possible due to pollution. Birdsongs and wildlife reclaimed city streets. So we can change what we are doing and minimize our impact on the wild places we depend on.
Thank you for being here. I am confident that we are on a solid path together to ensure that lands, waters and wildlife we all share a connection with will be protected now and forever.
Yours in conservation,
Kevin Barlow (Mi’kmaw)
Executive Director, CPAWS-BC
Community Events and Happenings:
- Meet the Matriarchs: Squamish Nation Knowledge Sharers. Join three generations of Squamish Nation knowledge keepers: Kultsia Barbara Wyss, T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss and Senaqwila Wyss Friday June 3 at the Museum of North Vancouver.
- Reframing our Worldview – Honouring Indigenous History and Experience. Join Kevin Barlow, Executive Director of CPAWS-BC on 20 June at 6 pm (PDT) for tools and strategies that non-Indigenous people may use to self-assess possible biases and gain a stronger understanding of the richness of Indigenous history in Canada.
- Tune in: APTN Indigenous Day 2022 Live in Winnipeg or check out your local Cultural Center or Friendship Center volunteer opportunities, supports and celebrations on National Indigenous People’s Day this June 21, 2022.
- Watch the Recording: What can Mother Trees teach us about climate justice? J Kevin Barlow (Executive Director, CPAWS-BC) joined Suzanne Simard (Professor of Forest Ecology, UBC), Hannah Askew (Executive Director, Sierra Club BC) in discussion with UBC Sustainability.
- Workshops at The Compost Education Centre in Victoria. SEMSEMÍYE: Indigenous Pollinator Stories, Indigenous Plant Walk and more.
Photos by Adam Combs