Women inspire support from reader in Tobique

Page 6

Dear Editor:

Recently, I witnessed an event that touched my heart and my spirit deeply. It had been a long time coming and, when it did, it was no surprise that it was the women who led the way.

It was our women who led the people in our community to take back their power from those elected Indian Act leaders who appear to have forgotten our traditional ways.

It was an historic event and I believe the reverberations of these women's voices will be felt far and wide, all the way back to the ancestors and as far ahead as the seventh generation to come.

It will be felt for a long time to come and I feel honored to have witnessed it. For many of us men who have a tendency to become complacent, it was a wake up call.

The people in Tobique, N.B. are demanding to be heard. They want accountability and respect from their leaders. They want the traditional attributes of our leaders to find themselves once again in our present day leaders, attributes like integrity, truth and trustworthiness. The imposed democratic election system has not produced this kind of leadership.

The issues and concerns brought to the forefront in our community are the same issues and concerns that need to be addressed in all Native communities.

It has been the same since the first reserve was established and certainly since the Indian Act became the ruling legislation for Native people. We are all concerned about the lack of accountability, abuse of power, corruption, mismanagement and nepotism from the leaders in our community.

We are all concerned about the lack of proper housing, lack of proper infrastructure, and the lack of proper resources for the elderly, the children and single mothers. But, it took our woman to bring it to the forefront once again.

It was our women who marched on Ottawa more than 20 years ago to protest some of these same issues. It was a woman, Sandra Lovelace, who challenged Canada before the United Nations, and won.

The UN ruled in favor of Sandra Lovelace and all Indian women in Canada and forced this country to make some major changes with respect to the treatment of Indian people in the Indian Act. But here we are, 20 some years later forced to fight for some very basic human rights like proper housing, and adequate resources for the care, safety and well-being of the young, elderly, single mothers and children.

The women showed us once again during this recent event in our community that they have had enough.

They are taking back the power that so many of us gave up willingly, without any resistance at all. For most of us, including myself, this power was surrendered to intimidation through our lack of concern and lack of awareness of the imposed Euro-Canadian system that differs greatly from the traditional principles of leadership that were observed by our ancestors before contact.

We became complacent. We gave up. What can I do about it? I'm busy with my own life, my own family, my own business, my bingo, my TV, my alcohol and drugs, etc. Let someone else do it.

Well, someone else has done it. Our women remembered the traditional teachings and they were not willing to allow our people, our children, and all the generations yet unborn to suffer any longer. Many of us have forgotten the real purpose for our earth walk. They remembered that it is to grow and develop from our experiences and to be of service to humankind.

The original instructions from our ancestors need to be passed on. Those original instructions tell us to love and honor the ancestors, the people and the seventh generation to come, We are to love, honor, respect and protect our sacred Earth Mother and all living things, all of creation.

I want to thank the women who had the vision and the heart, the respect and the courage, to stand up and speak out about these things. To these women who have begun to take back the power, I send peace and healing prayer hoops. I pray they remain strong and steadfast on their path as the teachers ho draw us all toward our own healing paths.

I'm very confident there will be similar stands by the women in other Native communities. More and more will band together to awaken us all so that the self-destructive ways of our present society can be brought to a halt.

Only then will people return to the healing life path. And it is very important for us all to remember one thing. We must remember what and who the enemy is.

The enemy is not our own people, even those who have strayed from the traditional path and fallen into corruption and greed. The enemy is the system that nurtured these kinds of leaders.

That system and the thinking that goes with it must be destroyed so we can all survive and live in peace and harmony once again like our ancestors. That is what we must pass on to all the generations yet to come.

All My Relations

Dan Ennis