In Mexico and Canada, a budding environmentalist learns important lessons in awareness and responsibility. WORDS AND IMAGES Brian Jones     Growing up in Mexico in the 1990s, I always loved nature and wildlife, particularly the great diversity of species that one can see in jungles and on beaches along the country’s Pacific coast. When

Biocultural community protocols can help Indigenous Peoples communicate ancestral laws and responsibilities to external actors. Ira Provost . Piikanissini is a Blackfoot word that means “the Piikani way of life and being.” The Piikani people are members of a confederacy of Blackfoot Nations. According to ancient stories and songs, the Piikani have existed in what

A wilderness hike reminds a young woman that privileges come with responsibilities. WORDS AND IMAGES   Jessica Herman . “Alright, good luck then,” my friend Michael offered, scooting away on his aluminum boat after he dropped me off on the western edges of Átl’ḵa7tsem, or Howe Sound, north of Vancouver, British Columbia. Oh no, I thought

Indigenous Adoption Stories Knowing one’s origins can bring healing and closure. Marie-Émilie Lacroix and Marco Romagnoli     “I could hand you a braid of sweetgrass, as thick and shining as the plait that hung down my grandmother’s back. But it is not mine to give, not yours to take. Wiingaashk belongs to herself. So

By learning how to swim against the current like salmon do, a woman finds her way back to the source of her language and identity. Daniela Boccassini   As our times’ bewildered becoming keeps unfolding, two simple words from a French medieval poem have accompanied me every step of the way: contreval l’iaue. They sank

Art that chooses to meet evil with beauty: A response to the discovery of mass graves of Indigenous residential school children. WORDS AND ART   Rose Imai   The first news stories came flooding into our consciousness telling of the unmarked graves of thousands of Native children Children who had been forcibly taken from their homes to

WORDS AND IMAGES Severn Cullis-Suzuki The Haida people know the cost of disease. They have lived on Haida Gwaii, an archipelago off the west coast of Canada, for the past 14,000 years. In their recent history, after the first encounter with Europeans in 1774, waves of smallpox, measles, and other contact diseases ravaged the Haida

Darryl Whetung Our spirit isn’t red skin, or light skin, brown skin, white skin Or if we have red hair, brown or black hair, when will the buffalo herd come back here? Are we raven or are we eagle? We are families, we are equals It’s our wigwam, it’s our war song, or the moon that

Severn Cullis-Suzuki The Haida people know the cost of disease. They have lived in Haida Gwaii, an archipelago off the west coast of Canada, for the past 14,000 years. In their recent history, after the first encounter with Europeans in 1774, waves of smallpox, measles, and other contact diseases ravaged the Haida population. From 30,000-strong,

Chloe Dragon Smith On the Land We feel The roots beneath our languages— Twisting and turning, gnarly, knowing. On the Land We learn With bodymindheartandsoul, The truths that shaped our words Long before they were spoken. Language is more than words and Words hold more than any language Could ever explain. Simple rhythmic sound waves