Mother earth back in the hands that care

Page 7

Dear Editor:

Re: Recent court ruling in favor of Native treaty rights

A great deal of controversy seems to surround the recent court ruling in favor of Natives reclaiming use of the forests in New Brunswick. About this, there are two major points I would like to make.

First, I would like to remind you that all of those treaties, those proclamations, agreements etc., were written by white politicians, lawyers and bureaucrats. Today they are being interpreted by white politicians, lawyers, judges and bureaucrats. When these treaties were written, our people could not read or write the white man's language. Today, we are not allowed to interpret these treaties or even bring our concerns regarding their interpretation to an independent and unbiased third party, like the World Court or United Nations.

So, if anyone has a problem with those treaties and proclamations, then they should consider the ones who thought them up and wrote them, the ones who coerced our people into signing them, the same kind of people who now interpret them. Politicians.

If you could talk to them directly you would see the mindset that forged these agreements. This is a view shared by many of their own people. Read some of their own authors who write about their elected political leaders and lawyers. Such honorable men as John Crosbie, who made the statement in his book that elected politicians are liars because the public wants it that way. Or consider books like On The Take or Backrooms and Front Benches. The list goes on. These are all factual accounts about the lies that are perpetrated in the name of public good and in the public's best interest.

Look at the cheating that takes place at tax time. Lawyers and accountants are kept busy figuring out ways to evade and save on income tax. Scheming has become a national trait. That is what is behind those treaties.

If you could still speak to the Indian people who participated in these agreements, you would find a very different motivation. They would talk about teachings in respect to our sacred earth mother and the original instructions they were given to take care of her. They would explain how we have to live on and protect our earth because she is the one who provides for and protects and nurtures us. Because of this we must respect, protect and nurture her. That means living in balance and harmony with her. We as small and weak human beings should not be trying to change her because she was made by the Creator and is perfect just the way she is.

By living out those original instructions and practicing those traditional teachings for millions of years here on Turtle Island, we were able to preserve and pass on for the seventh generation what the Creator gave as gifts to our ancestors. Five hundred years ago, Turtle Island was as close to paradise as one could get here on earth. There was no clearcutting, no harvesting or management of the forests that covered Turtle Island from coast to coast. There was no extinction of species of any kind. As a matter of fact, all species were plentiful. There was no degradation, no pollution or contamination of the air we need to breathe or the water we need in order to survive. We were not contaminating our earth mother or our own bodies before contact with the colonizers who later dreamed up these treaties.

What our ancestors so lovingly and respectfully preserved for millions of years, prior to contact, their ancestors, their people, have managed to contaminate and destroy. In five hundred short years, their ancestors have managed to bring our earth mother to the point of near-extinction. And for what? Greed, power, control and progress.

Now, with this court ruling, some short-sighted, selfish, greedy, ethnocentric power elite, robber barons have the audacity to speak of the laying waste the province's forest by our people! What should be happening instead, is that all transplanted EuroCanadians should be giving thanks for this ruling and the fct that Indian people will once again begin applying traditional teachings for the benefit of all who live on our earth mother. Maybe it is not to late to turn things around. Maybe it is not to late to repair the damage, the pain, caused to our earth mother, the one who sustains us, and all that grows upon her. Then we could possibly preserve a future for our children, and for the seventh generation yet to come.

All my relations,

Dan Ennis

Tobique, N.B.