CPT Aboriginal Justice Delegation, Final Day: Sacred Fire

18 Aug 2014

Note: these are my own observations/reactions/musings, not Christian Peacemaker Teams’ official communications. Please also follow Caitlin’s delegation blog, Peace Pigeon, and the official CPT Aboriginal Justice tumblr!

Personal ethnographic note: I am white, a Quaker, of Jewish descent, and from San Francisco, California, Turtle Island.

##Sacred Fire by the Logging Blockade

In our last night in Grassy Narrows First Nation, Judy Da Silva and other friends from Grassy invited us to share a sacred fire with them at the site of the Grassy logging blockade, Canada’s longest continuing Aboriginal blockade site (some pictures from the history of the blockade). The friends that so graciously welcomed us into their sacred fire circle (and the whole blockade site feels to me like a sacred space) included the Grassy Narrows Juniors (Edmond Jack, Dorian Assin, and Ninoondahwah Richard), who sang beautifully around the fire (video).

As soon as I sat down in the circle around the fire, it felt like a worshipful space to me. In fact, it felt like I had immediately been dropped into the deep stillness of a “gathered” Quaker meeting, which is one of central religious experiences through which I enact my personal spiritual life. I was amazed at, given that Anishinaabek culture is new to me, and the friends at the circle are new friends, how comfortable and how deep the shared spiritual feeling was. It was also all the deeper for being informal, and unplanned: just snatches of singing, snatches of chatting and laughter, some smoking and drinking tea, brushing away of mosquitoes, and some times of shared silence.

As the night grew darker, the conversation deepened in its tone, and we began to hear stories from Edmond Jack about his many long-distance walks (or pilgrimages?) for aboriginal human rights, like this 2,000km walk to Toronto. He started doing such walks at age 13. (You can also see what Edmond said about the recent Supreme Court decision here.) Judy came up with the idea of an aboriginal human rights walk by settler/white people, a solidarity walk, to show that we need to combat the racism against aboriginal people so that their voices can be heard by settler communities. She said it’s important that to show people that it’s not just “those Indians” who demonstrate for aboriginal justice. She reminded us that a former CPTer, Matt Schaaf, once said that settler people should take on the job of combatting racism, and free up aboriginal activists to fight for their survival and the health of their land. A walk like this would also be a recognition that colonialism hurts all of us (even though settlers benefit economically, while aboriginal people physically suffer from it), and alienates us all from each other.

(By the way, IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN PUTTING TOGETHER SUCH A WALK/MARCH/PILGRIMAGE, PLEASE CONTACT ME, on Twitter: @quakerscientist.)

We all chatted, quietly, reflectively into the firelight about how we could work towards greater justice for aboriginal people. Judy shared some instances of racism with us that she had suffered or witnessed, including a deeply upsetting incident in which a white woman attempted to kidnap a young Anishinaabe girl by walking off with her in public, in daytime, in the middle of a city. It’s hard for me to imagine the profound denying of the personhood of aboriginal people that it would take to do something like that.

She also recounted two incidents where she experienced racism while accompanied by a white/settler ally, and the ally was frozen by shock and unable to respond. We discussed this issue for a while, how our discomfort with conflict and sheer disbelief of overt racism and oppression can cause us to miss those crucial few moments where we could meaningfully intervene to decrease the hurt and violence of an unfolding situation. We talked about strategies for training ourselves to respond better as allies, in the moment, when racism and violence pop up in everyday life. We all agreed that it takes a lot of deliberate practice in real-life situations, and this practice could be importantly augmented by explicit training using role-plays. We are often collectively, culturally in the habit of avoiding conflict (and sometimes paralyzing when it arises), and in the habit of ignoring (or being blind to) overt racism.

It takes careful, regular, sustained effort to overcome these cultural habits and habituate ourselves to placing ourselves in the middle of conflict and violence in order to expose and diffuse it. (We briefly discussed the linked excellent, short article on responding to this challenge by George Lakey.) Perhaps there’s a new role for Christian Peacemaker Teams in places like Kenora, where racism against Anishinaabe people is commonplace, to train white and settler people to get in the habit of intervening in racist or violent situations, as they arise on the street or in daily life. These skills are particularly needed in the frequently conflict-averse (by nature) ally settler community. And a movement of people who, by default, step towards conflict rather than away from it (in nonviolence and with compassion for all parties), could draw more allies to aboriginal human rights by their collective witness, freeing up aboriginal people’s time and energy to fight the other important battles that need to be fought. And of course, these skills can be taken by trained people to any conflict zone, or any other situations of overt prejudice.

Before we left the sacred fire circle, the Grassy Narrows Juniors honored us (and CPT as a whole) with a song, giving us their blessing for our safe and successful travel away from Grassy Narrows.

##Carrying the Message

A few days ago, we met with J.B. Fobister, a trapper, owner of the general store in Grassy Narrows (the only store on the reserve), and a member of the Trappers Council, who were the plaintiffs in the recent Supreme Court case. They had hoped that case would establish Grassy Narrows’ right to prior and informed consent (and so, right to veto) any logging operations on their territory, and to establish that the Crown (i.e. federal Canadian government) has the responsibility of care for First Nations’ land, and would be the negotiating partner with First Nations rather than the Ontario provincial government. Sadly for the people of Grassy Narrows, the case went against them, giving the Ontario provincial government the power to lease rights to First Nations’ land for logging and other activities. (He did note, however, that the case had one positive outcome: it also established Ontario’s responsibility for the social welfare of First Nations residents, which the province had denied and tried to shunt off onto federal authorities in the past.)

We asked him how he thought Christian Peacemaker Teams could best help Grassy Narrows in the struggles, and he answered first by saying that “CPT has been one of their best allies”; we were not expecting such high praise, but it’s very gratifying! JB went on to say that the most important thing we can do right now is to keep bringing people out in delegations to Grassy, and keep publicizing the struggles of the people there against the violation of the land and the constant squeezing of their ability to support themselves and survive. I hope we are able to carry this message effectively, while always putting the efforts of the Anishinaabeg people first. They are the heroes in this story, and as Noam Chomsky is fond of pointing out, aboriginal people all over the world are “on the front lines” in the fight for the survival of our species in the face of environmental destruction.

And to whoever is reading these posts, PLEASE SHARE THESE STORIES! I can only fulfill my responsibility if my settler readers help me, and so fulfill some of theirs, too.