Nisga'a Matriarch Mercy Thomas Challenged the Nisga'a Treaty in Court with Chief Mountain. Here in This Video She Explains More and Stands Firmly Against The NLG and Their LNG Deal to Disturb the Graves of their Ancestors.
Published on Youtube -Nov 21, 2014
"George-Kanentiio explains:
In our society, women are the center of all things. Nature, we believe, has given women the ability to create; therefore it is only natural that women be in positions of power to protect this function....We traced our clans through women; a child born into the world assumed the clan membership of its mother. Our young women were expected to be physically strong....
The young women received formal instruction in traditional planting....Since the Iroquois were absolutely dependent upon the crops they grew, whoever controlled this vital activity wielded great power within our communities. It was our belief that since women were the givers of life they naturally regulated the feeding of our people....In all countries, real wealth stems from the control of land and its resources.
Our Iroquois philosophers knew this as well as we knew natural law. To us it made sense for women to control the land since they were far more sensitive to the rhythms of the Mother Earth. We did not own the land but were custodians of it. Our women decided any and all issues involving territory, including where a community was to be built and how land was to be used....In our political system, we mandated full equality.
Our leaders were selected by a caucus of women before the appointments were subject to popular review....Our traditional governments are composed of an equal number of men and women. The men are chiefs and the women clan-mothers....As leaders, the women closely monitor the actions of the men and retain the right to veto any law they deem inappropriate....Our women not only hold the reigns of political and economic power, they also have the right to determine all issues involving the taking of human life. Declarations of war had to be approved by the women, while treaties of peace were subject to their deliberations..[90]"
Published on YouTube Nov 25, 2015
"The
Song: Canoe Song was born from the Cheslatta River in northern British
Columbia. After hearing stories from the elders of the Cheslatta
Carrier Nation, Rachelle wanted to write a song about the displacement
of First Nations People through the exploitation of the lands and waters
of their home. She is grateful for the help of Roy Henry Vickers on
this meditative musical journey, to Lillian Campbell and her musical
brother and all-star producer Joby Baker, who took this song to a new
level.The Video: This video follows the 600km journey of a canoe named Manyhands (Nunsulsailus) from a Gitxsan village on the Skeena river to the historic gathering of nations in Bella Bella, BC for the Heiltsuk Nations' Qatuwas Festival in 2014. Manyhands brought the spirit of this song to life during its trip down the Skeena river, through the Skeena estuary and into the Pacific ocean where it joined a family of canoes and thousands of paddlers from up and down the Pacific Coast. Manyhands was honoured to paddle alongside Nisga'a, Tsimshian, Haida, Gitga'at and Kitasoo/Xaixais canoes who pulled together to represent the north coast at Qatuwas 2014.
The Canoe: Nunsulsailis is a Tsartlip word meaning many hands. This name was chosen to embody the spirit of many hands working together, supporting one another and pulling together in unison to enable a canoe (and a person) to travel safely for many miles in all conditions over the course of a lifetime. Roy Henry Vickers inspired Clipper to create a Northern Dancer canoe series, of which Manyhands was the very first canoe produced. Manyhands has traveled thousands of kilometres along the BC coast with hundreds of paddlers, including the historic 1997 journey from Hazelton to Victoria's inner Harbour.
This music video is dedicated to the people of British Columbia's north coast, who are pulling together to protect the lands and waters of their home."
Mni Wiconi WATER IS LIFE!!
