Transcript: SII-AM HAMILTON on Respect-Based Futures [ENCORE] /279
Carter Lou McElroy For The Wild Podcast is brought to you in part by the Kalliopeia Foundation and listeners like you. Kalliopeia supports projects interweaving spirituality, culture and ecology. We are grateful for their support and the support of grassroots contributions from listeners. To learn more about the Kalliopeia Foundation, visit Kalliopeia.org. To make a donation to For The Wild visit ForTheWild.world/donate or support us through Patreon.
Ayana Young Hello and welcome to For The Wild Podcast. I'm Ayana Young. Today we are speaking with Sii-am Hamilton
Sii-am Hamilton I just feel a love for the next generation, because I want them to become whatever they want to be, and I want it to be a possibility outside of violence.
Ayana Young Sii-am Hamilton is a Sto:lo and Nuučaan̓uł land defender and traditional knowledge holder born in occupied Hupacasath territory, Port Alberni, British Columbia to mother Kwitsel Tatel and father Ron Hamilton. Their experience stems from time on the land , feast culture and living traditional law and protocol. They are a qualified hand poke tattoo artist as well as song holder. Sii-am has been raised in political organization, land title , and grassroots activism since childhood, and now specializes in publicity / media promotion of environmental and land sovereignty movements.
Sii-am does Indigenous youth solidarity organizing across Turtle Island with a focus on raising awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman, Girls, and 2Spirit people. They have plans to continue their learning through academic study with an end goal of disseminating all forms of settler colonialism in exchange for the survival of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people around the world.
Well, Sii-am, thank you so much for joining me in conversation today and before we begin, I'd like to invite you to introduce yourself further.
Sii-am Hamilton Awesome, thank you so much for having me today. My name is Sii-am Hamilton. I'm Sto:lo and Nuučaan̓uł and I'm Indigenous youth from what's now known as Canada and I work in environmental justice on the front lines of wild salmon protection, as well as trying to stop various forms of resource extraction on my homelands.
Ayana Young The last time global attention was turned to Wet’suwet’en land defenders was back in January of 2020, when Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs served Coastal GasLink an eviction notice, once again reminding so-called Canada that they have absolutely no claim or authority to force the 670 kilometre pipeline that would transport fracked gas across unceded lands. In response, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police raided camps and made multiple, violent arrests. A month ago, charges against over 20 land defenders were dropped and CGL was ordered to stop pipeline construction near wetlands, but I also hear that RCMP officers continue to conduct armed patrols on Gidim’ten territory...To begin, can share with us a current update on what is transpiring on Wet’suwet’en territory in regards to Coastal GasLink?
Sii-am Hamilton So as you mentioned before, the RCMP are still conducting armed patrols around the Wet’suwet’en territories, camps that are trying to stop construction. But amidst a pandemic, it is really important to remember that these transient workers should not be on Wet’suwet’en territory. It's very dangerous, and it puts a lot of these remote community members at higher risk of infection. And as remote Indigenous communities, they are already medically underserved. And an outbreak could devastate a nation. It could wipe out entire cultural practices, entire language systems, entire governance systems, as well as some of the community members that are most at risk like elders and children.
Ayana Young Yeah, when COVID-19 first spread, we witnessed a temporary halting of transportation, consumption, and production, and I think many of us may have conflated this halt with a meaningful pause or period of respite, but globally we are seeing the very opposite. Here in the so-called United States, the Trump Administration has used this pandemic as an excuse to roll back serious regulatory measures related to logging, development, pipeline safety, and even the disposal of radioactive waste. And in so-called Canada, corporate exceptionalism not only reigns supreme, but it appears that the pandemic is being used as an excuse to actually pursue development full force. In preparation for this interview, I came across a quote from Alberta’s Minister of Energy, Sonya Savage, who said “Now is a great time to be building a pipeline because you can’t have more than 15 people...Let’s get it built.” And so, before we talk about the COVID related risks specific to pipeline development, or what this means for land defenders and strategy, can you share with us the actions the Canadian government has taken when it comes to development projects over the past couple of months?
Sii-am Hamilton I think the most prominent choices that they've made is to move transient workers from around the country and, notably around the world, quite quickly and without detection from people who would usually be relied on as watchdogs or resource extraction corporate movement. They've relied upon people's fear of, and legitimate fear and concern for their own health, as a way to move swiftly and continue construction that has been directly opposed by the nation. We've seen trucking companies being hired, we've seen non-essential service workers moving themselves through the territory. And we have this uprising of Indigenous youth who don't want to be at the forefront of environmental protection during a pandemic, because we do know that our health is at immediate risk when we also make the choice to move and keep our eyes on construction. But that's been a really big portion of the last few months. And it's the pandemic, a lot of like young people who maybe would be advised by their families and community members and friends to be staying inside and to be practicing social distancing, but are now having to find new and creative measures to keep a watchful eye on construction, and on resource extraction industries that are taking advantage of our inability to be in cities gathering and standing in direct opposition of these companies and creating solidarity rallies and marches and nonviolent direct actions in opposition of the work.
Ayana Young I’d like to now focus on why development is so dangerous during a global pandemic...While LNG Canada has supposedly sent half of its workforce home, and BC Hydro claims to be scaling back to essential workers only...the nature of this work, and how workers are housed in man camps, creates conditions ripe for the spread of viruses amongst vulnerable communities, both demographically and geographically. Why are man camps hotbeds for the spread of COVID and how is RCMP aiding in its spread?
Sii-am Hamilton Well, the state and the RCMP are protecting this private industry. And they're aiding and abetting unwelcome guests on Wet’suwet’en land, and speaking specifically about man camps, we know that they are hotbeds for violence against women and children. But also that same violence that we see against women and children is also the same violence that I think that they show towards each other. And so living as transient workers in enclosed spaces for long periods of time, and being unjustly treated by these companies that are paying them not enough money, or there is really no right amount of money for the work that they're doing. But their health and their safety is also at risk. And I actually constantly think about that, because I know that when we do frontline land defense, how scary it can be. But I also do consider the workers and the resource extraction participants, their health and safety also comes to mind. I know that man camps, those tiny little portable units that are housed in remote areas, in lands that they are not welcome in, are not a safe place. They don't have proper and adequate access to showering facilities, bathroom facilities, and then first and foremost, like health and safety equipment.
Ayana Young Thank you for speaking so compassionately for the workers. I think that's a story that's left untold throughout these narratives regarding man camps and these resource extractive industries and thinking about these transient workers like you're saying who are brought from their communities and their homes and their culture to a place that's isolated where they're unwanted and they don't have access a lot of times to like showers, bathrooms, all of these things, like I don't think many people go that far to think, like psychologically what they have to go through in order to destroy land that isn't theirs that they know people are fighting against them. I'm sure that-
Sii-am Hamilton I think that it's really important to acknowledge that a company that promotes violence and is dependent on violence to operate, like a resource extraction company, as Coastal GasLink is, also promotes the violence, they promote it within their workforce, they generate that violence for that system to work, they need violence within their own ranks. And so I think it is my responsibility to share and think constantly about the workers as well as like my community, and my family and my friends, and the people that look like me and think like me to also keep them in mind, because I don't think that people are always necessarily fully willing participants in resource extraction, I think that it has been offered as one of the only ways forward and under capitalism under colonialism.
Ayana Young You’ve pointed out that, Indigenous sovereignty and survival is unequivocally dependent upon preventing any further resource extraction, and I’m thinking about this in context to land defense during COVID-19, where we are being presented with this choice between protecting the land or protecting community, but it is one and the same…And by the time listeners hear this episode, things may have changed, but I think we can use this moment as an example, because corporate fascists will continue to exploit future pandemics or moments of crisis, so we must learn how to work through them...What does land defense look like amidst pandemic in terms of community safety, as well as the risks when it comes to lack of public awareness or attention to development?
Sii-am Hamilton I mean, we're no strangers to creative resistance as Indigenous people, as poor people, as impoverished people, as people who've been marginalized, creativity is probably at the very forefront of the work that we do always, regardless of global pandemics. I'm always going to be thinking about my health, I'm always going to be thinking about creative ways to keep the cops away from me, I'm always going to be thinking about how to ensure my family is safe when they are in remote areas, and when they're unreachable through cell phones and are out of GPS location. So I think right now, some of the forefront of what creative activism looks like is people protesting from vehicle brigades and socially distant marches that are happening, arm lengths away from each other. Those are all incredibly important for us to utilize. But I think, on the ground work and reminding ourselves that our people were dying before this pandemic started. And we will continue to die after the pandemic is over. And COVID, as much as it is a disease that we can tangibly hold and see, and know that it is affecting us numbers wise and the government is creating these statistical analysis. We know that we've been facing this same extinction for hundreds of years. This is no different to me than smallpox. This is no different to me than resource extraction, taking women and children from my communities. This is no different from drug and alcohol abuse within my home lands because people are so sick and having such a hard time coping with the trauma of what has happened to our land. I think that creative resistance is when we just stand up and we just keep doing the work that we can do, because we know that this is not going to stop.
Ayana Young I hear you that this current pandemic is really just connected to so many other pandemics and genocides and apocalypses for Indigenous folks. And I was looking at a book the other day, I was with my mom and I live in the redwoods, and there was this old logging book and it was like, I don't remember the name of it, but it was definitely a type of white man's ego boost about old growth logging. It was sickening, it was like the glory days and showing just the extensive devastation of these lands of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington during the big old growth logging boom. And as I was looking at this, I was looking at these white dudes looking so proud of themselves as they just completely decimated these forests and, gosh, the creeks and and these temporary railroads and all the infrastructure that was created for this, this really short period of time. And where my mind went was, what must the Indigenous people, like how could they have even witnessed something like this to their land and still continued on?
Sii-am Hamilton I do find myself wondering a lot about how non-Indigenous people also feel. Because I know there are a lot of people that ally themselves with Indigenous sovereignty and environmental movements, whether that's Black, whether that's brown, whether that's Indigenous, whether that's Asian, whether that's white folks, it is so many different people that are being affected by environmental degradation at this time, and I know what it looks like in my community. I know the boil water advisories, I know what poison land looks like, I know about orcas dying, I know about wild salmon disappearing. I know about rivers and streams being infected by poison that's created when people mine. I know about the harm from when women and girls go missing. I know about air pollution, creating toxic environments that are hard to breathe in. But I don't know what it looks like and it feels like when you don't have the same connection to the land. Because when I see resource extraction, when I see pollution, it feels like somebody's hurting my family. Relatives that are hundreds and hundreds and thousands of years in the making are being disrespected. But I wonder what it's like for the people who are newer to this land, whether they were stolen from their homelands and brought, whether they migrated here out of necessity for their lives and their family's lives, or whether they came here as settlers unknowingly participating in genocide, or knowingly, I always wonder what those people are going through. And I want to ask questions, and I want to have a better understanding, range of understanding, so that I can better ally myself with those people when they are ready to stand with me so that we can protect the land together, because we are all here now. And I think it really is important to approach this work from as unified a place as possible so that we can all work together.
Ayana Young Yeah, I don't know exactly, you know, not that I think you're asking me that question. But what I think of is the disconnection is so strong with so many settlers, the connection to the Earth and to land, and to trust and consent has been beaten out of people for so long, that maybe many settlers aren't consciously hurting when they see the land being destroyed. But I do think that there is a subconscious illness that works within the body. And I think that's why we're seeing so much disease and depression and just overall sickness and people, whether that's because it’s physical sickness is coming from pollution. But it's also a spiritual sickness. And I don't think anybody can run from it. I think that there are things that can distract us from that pain, that enormous pain of being separated from the Earth from connection. Yeah, I would imagine that it's a spectrum for settlers. And that was really interesting to hear that line of deep questioning that you're going through, and I will be sitting in that question with you for probably the rest of my life. And, and I'm sure our listeners will be as well. So thank you so much for bringing that up.
Sii-am Hamilton Do you think that that question gets answered a little bit, though, when you and I talk or like, when people who maybe don't share this in connection I have with the land still respond and then participate with us in environmental protection efforts, when they ally themselves on the front lines? Or when they bring frontline workers meals or when they care for the community in so many different capacities? Do you think that that question of connection kind of becomes solved and that there is connection being built?
Ayana Young Absolutely. I think it's like an internal homecoming back to, maybe some people call it spirit or, you know, it's hard for me to put like the name on it or the word, but absolutely. I think there's so much healing when the settlers decide to ally with Indigenous folks with the land. Because there's just no way that people are not hurting, like I said, whether subconsciously or consciously I don't think it's actually possible to live in this world and to not be affected by the constant raping and pillaging of the land and the people. And so I, I absolutely think that when we answer this, or when we're talking about this question, and people decide to show up, and that could be little by little, and of course, ally ship and relationships and trust, takes years, it's not something that's going to happen with one protest, or one meal being created, or, you know, one day of meals. But I think that over time, that healing continues when we, when we show up, and we do what's right, and we live in right relationship to the land, because I think when we are not in right relationship with the land, we'll never be free, will never actually have a spiritual liberation, we'll always be imprisoned by this pain, knowing that we're causing harm, like how can we ever really be healed when we know we're causing so much harm, even if we don't want to admit it to ourselves, we can look all around us and see it.
Maybe people don't know the word for suburban sprawl, or maybe they don't really understand what's happening with mining. But where there are strip malls there once were wetlands, or old growth forest, or prairies filled with biodiversity and abundance and community, and community has been replaced by capitalism and consumerism. And even though maybe that for a moment, it distracts us enough to fill the void, it's never going to fill the void. And so there's always going to be this longing to feel something else - and consumerism, capitalism, “success”, it's never going to fill that. So I think that longing can only be met, when right relationship to the land is being worked on.
Sii-am Hamilton Oh, I love that. I think community building is our strength. I think that unity, even if you show up imperfectly, is important. It matters. And it changes things because showing up, even imperfectly, is still showing up. It means that you've activated something in your body, something in your mind, something in your spirit that has told you it's time, it's time for me as an individual to take responsibility, even if I might not be the person that is first and foremost affected by this environmental degradation. It is my responsibility to uphold the voices and the strengths and the lives of the people who are first and foremost affected so that, one day maybe my children's children also get to inherit a land that I've gotten to witness as beautiful and as perfect, and that is deserving of defense.
Ayana Young Well, I want to also bring up the Trans Mountain Expansion Project is continuing in BC and Alberta amidst the pandemic, after the Supreme Court of Canada declined an appeal brought forth by the Squamish and Tsleil-Wautyth Nations, and the Ts'elxwéyeqw Tribe and the Coldwater Indian Band that challenged the re-approval of the pipeline’s construction. And I’ve learned that, under federal law, the pipeline is unable to transport to any oil without insurance because of the inherent risk it poses. Currently, global insurance companies are providing Trans Mountain over $500 million in coverage, companies like Liberty Mutual, Zurich, Temple Insurance, and AIG - can you speak to the absolute absurdity of not only Trans Mountain but the half a billion insurance policy that is covering it in times of austerity?
Sii-am Hamilton I think the best way for me to approach that is to talk about Kanahus Manuel, somebody that I look up to deeply, and somebody that has paved the way for young people like myself to do the work that we do. She is standing in direct opposition of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, a land defense camp known as the Tiny House Warriors, and she's using what she has, she's putting her body on the line, she has created a healing space for young Indigenous youth that have been on the front lines, to go home and to heal and to eat, and to practice traditional medicine, to sing and to be in community together. And so, the absurdities aside, I think that it's important to focus on the thriving actions and behaviors that are being taken on behalf of Indigenous women, specifically, who are on the front lines of land defense, I think that it's hurtful to hear that all of these international companies are contributing to the environmental devastation that's taking place on this pristine land, when I don't think many of those people have ever visited that land. And I don't think that they've ever met any of the people that they're affecting. But I think it is important to always keep my focus and my love and my attention on the people that are protecting it most and Kanahus always comes to mind, she's so strong. And the work that she does, it revives traditions that are thousands and thousands of years in the making. She's an Indigenous tattoo artist. She is a birth worker, she works on justice for women who have been harmed by sexual based violence and gender based violence. Her work is so much more important than anything that that company could ever produce. And I want people to always remember that resource extraction does not belong on her land and the work that she does, it will stop that pipeline.
Ayana Young Yes, thank you for reorienting that perspective. I’d like to transition our conversation to discuss youth leadership and the grassroots collective, Indigenous Youth For Wet’suwet’en, that you are a part of. And I’m thinking back to this past winter, and a banner that was displayed during the youth-led solidarity occupations that took place in Victoria and Vancouver, which read “First they took the children from the land, now they take the land from the children” - a powerful proclamation and telling of history...Can you begin by sharing your experience and the importance of Indigenous Youth For Wet’suwet’en?
Sii-am Hamilton It's really important that quote that you just reminded me of, because the land has constantly constantly been under attack, people have constantly tried to possess it. And through land dispossession from Indigenous people, there's been tactics that have been used against us by the Canadian government and multinational corporations. And they know that as a matriarchal society, as most Indigenous communities residing on the West Coast are - that our women, and our children are the backbones of our society. They make us who we are, they enact law, they create the societies that we live in, they govern those societies with love, and constant attention, and that the theft of children is the breakdown of our communities. It's a really hard topic to talk about, honestly, because I personally have experienced what it means to be separated from my family as a result of land defense. And I think a lot about my mom's resilience, because she spent a lot of time in courtrooms and a lot of time in jail cells for the work that she does. But that also means a breakdown from our familial relationships. And that sometimes means that students of hers would have to come and tell me that I wouldn't be seeing my mom for a couple days because she was back in jail or had been arrested. And I think that's a really important thing to remember is that that resilience comes at a price. And sometimes that means separation from children. And sometimes that means separation from what makes you whole. And I think a lot about that because now as an adult, I witness my mom's strength. And I want to embody that same strength. But I know that it comes at a price. And I'm starting to pay that price as well.
Sometimes that means unstable housing. Sometimes that means not ever getting the education that you dream about. I mean, I have like, a grade 10 level education at best I don't, I didn't go to school very much, or very frequently, due to a lot of my mom's work, we ended up just being like under housed and constantly in survival mode. And I think about the things that you exchange, it's not always taken, but it is exchanged, like the lives that we live, we exchange one for another, and environmental protection work, it's not always paid. And it's not always pretty, but it's something that makes you whole, when you don't have your culture always intact, it becomes a new culture, and it becomes something that we get to hold on to. That's different and just as meaningful as the old traditions that we've had for thousands of years.
Ayana Young Speaking of this survival, you write; “Not one of us wants to live in this constant state of survival where we have to blockade traffic, shut down railway’s, occupy offices, or sacrifice our physical safety so people hear our voices. I feel so sad. Our people aren’t meant to live in this cycle of survival. Everything we need to thrive is here on earth. It’s traumatizing to be trapped in a cycle of genocide designed to remove us from our homes at gun point in favor of corporate profit. But we’ve been here since the beginning. It’s only 500 years that has changed our relationship to the land. I’m really exhausted by cycles of survival. I’m exhausted that this work weighs heavily on the backs of the youngest generation. But I also know that this work is crucial, and that responsibility is an honour. We live in a crucial moment in history where so many people have sacrificed so much so we could be here as Young Indigenous people...” And I’m thinking about how the role of youth is absolutely necessary in ushering a different world, as youth are perhaps actually much more prepared to undergo periods of deep pain and transformation in the pursuit of creating a different world...And, this is certainly not to romanticize this process, but a recognition that young people are not wasting time on negotiations or superficial acts of inclusion or recognition, they are truly here for world-making because they are living in a world where reforms and reconciliations have already failed. How are youth leaders envisioning a different world?
Sii-am Hamilton I think we're enacting it when we step out on the front lines, and we choose to care for ourselves, each other, and the broader community. When we step into environmental justice work, that's been my conduit to finding love for myself and love for my people, and love for my culture. I think that Indigenous youth are becoming the forefront of environmental protection out of necessity, we've grown up in adversity, and an environment that we feel is constantly punishing us for being born. And that we've willfully denied colonialism, as it tries to change who we are, erase who we are, eliminate us from the land. And I think that the destiny of many young Indigenous people, it was prayed for by our elders. And I think that people that are no longer with us have made this decision before we were ever here. And so I think there's a more divine connection to the work that's happening now.
Nothing I could ever say, no words in the English language could ever exemplify that connection. But I know I feel a responsibility, to generations ahead of me that I've never met. And I know that even though I may not benefit from any of the work that I do right now, I hope and I pray that this work will show the next generation and the generation after that, that I love them, and that I care deeply about them. And that I don't want them to always have to be in survival mode. I don't want them to have to blockade traffic, I do not want them to have to face arrest. I do not want the police to be violent towards them. And I do not want the land that will teach them to love themselves to be degraded by resource extraction. I think that the connection that I have two generations to come is so much deeper and so much older than anything I could ever describe. But I know that it's a responsibility that I feel and honor and a connection to and a love, I just feel a love for the next generation, because I want them to become whatever they want to be, I want it to be a possibility outside of violence, the violence that I've experienced myself, I don't want that for them.
I do not want militarized raids, I do not want any more missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two Spirit people, I don't want to constantly be in survival mode, and that next generation, and I think that knowing that there's a possibility for a brighter future for them, is that young people right now are taking that responsibility. We're taking our destinies into our own hands, when we do this work. It's time, it's time for us to stand up. It's time for us to fight back. It's time for us to say no to environmental degradation, to police violence, to xenophobia, to homophobia, transphobia, we are so lucky to have such massive access to education, mostly through online platforms. And I think that is what's pushing us so far forward right now is that connection that we're constantly feeling and growing and constructing through online communities. As much as we also have our like home communities. Sometimes I think it's really powerful for maybe children in the north to have access to Instagram so that they can find different people that maybe have a sexual orientation or a gender orientation that's closer to what they experienced, but cannot express themselves. And I think about this, this age of social media being a conduit for information sharing, and media sharing, and news sharing. And I think that is paving the way for a better way forward for us a more educated way forward. And I hope that whatever digital imprint I leave on this land. The next generation can keep that work going. And they can keep sharing with each other. That's, that's all I can really hope for.
Ayana Young I’d like to talk about how Canada is such an obvious example that colonial governments do not and will not care about climate change...we can’t keep blindly believing that policy change or liberal settlerism is going to create a livable future….In preparation for this interview, for example, I learned that it is estimated that the upstream emissions from the additional oil produced by Trans Mountain, which was purchased by the Canadian federal government in 2018, will release up to 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. Similarly, British Columbia’s government is looking at how they can buy emissions reduction credits to offset industrial development from liquified natural gas so that they can frack as much as they want and then sell it to other countries at a lower price in exchange for emissions reduction credits. So, in your own words - how do you see federal or provincial climate leadership as an absolute deception?
Sii-am Hamilton I think that any form of legitimate governments that are built on the backs of slave owning, village pillaging and women killing communities will always be in direct opposition of what we all need. I just think the Canadian government is absolutely illegitimate. They have no jurisdiction on our homelands. And so any of the legislative power that they hold, also is illegitimate. And the laws that they create on this land are in direct opposition of the natural laws that we have been ruled by for thousands and thousands of years. And so I don't I don't think anything good could ever come from system reform. I think that total abolition of these systems, including the Canadian government, is what is necessary because it will always reproduce harm is the foundation is built on genocide.
Ayana Young Yeah, and, you know, speaking of abolition, here in the State’s, there is a mass movement that is finally recognizing that the police were created to protect property, not people, and within that, particularly the so-called property of slave owners. Similarly, the Mounted Police were designed after a militarized colonial police force used by the British to control the Irish...You’ve pointed out many times that the RCMP protects profit. Can you speak to RCMP’s role in protecting and maintaining CGL and infrastructure development across so-called Canada? And the reality that the police state is also completely antithetical to climate security?
Sii-am Hamilton I think it's important to always reflect on the historical inception of police. And remember again, that they were created to keep rowdy Indians on the reservation, and off of our homelands and the places that we've known for so long. So that the colonial project that is now known as Canada, could be more accurately settled. Anything created to harm people at its roots could never be effective at protecting anybody. So I think that it is in the favor of all people, every single person who's living under this colonial government structure, to participate in abolition of the police, because they do not keep Indigenous people safe. I've never felt safe, surrounded by police, I've never felt like they've protected the land, I've never felt like they've stood for my rights. And I think that if they, if there's anybody that they're not protecting, then none of us are protected. It is in direct favor of all people living on this land to abolish those systems, because if they can turn on one group, they can turn on all groups. And it's really important to find new and imaginative, futuristic ways for us to protect ourselves and grow and build capacity within our communities so that we can find a better way forward.
Ayana Young And thinking about how the police protect profit. I also feel that the media is of course another arm in profit protection - and that the media in Canada does not favor Indigenous people...Can you speak to how the media has covered Wet’suwet’en solidarity?
Sii-am Hamilton I mean, I think at the very beginning when Wet’suwet’en people first reoccupied that healing place on their land to start a Healing Center, it was seen as an occupation. It's been seen as like a squatting grounds almost when really, it's just elders, women, children who are returning to their homelands and participating in centuries old traditions. And I think that the media's portrayal of environmental protection fits into a really small box, and it's not very expansive, and it isn't very kind to people who they don't understand. And I think that is probably like the largest issue within media and communications around Indigenous issues is that they just don't know who we are. They don't try to get to understand who we are. And there is no general love or curiosity for what we are because it doesn't serve corporate profit. It doesn't generate wealth under capitalism. It generates wealth within our homelands, it generates wealth within our communities, because a connection to the Earth is the most powerful thing that you could have. But in the capitalistic sense, it doesn't. It doesn't create anything. And I think the media just doesn't understand that. I think that there is no no care right now. I think that the media has been super careless, and very dangerous with the lives of Indigenous people who are living in conjunction with natural laws that are in existence.
And I hope and I pray that one day, there will be people. And I think that it's happening right now, yourself included in this, that our stories are told, and they're told within our voices. And they're told, in honor of the work that we do, so that more people can hear what's really happening. I want our lives to be thought about carefully. I want the work that we do to be thought about carefully. Because the media right now is actually contributing to a lot of the harm that people are experiencing on the front lines especially. I think that careless reporting can lead to violence. And I think that it does, whether it's online violence, and threats of abuse, or whether it's people showing up to front lines to agitate, interrogate and cause physical harm to people who are just living on their homelands, in spite of colonial occupation, I think that a lot of people don't realize that Indigenous people have jurisdiction over their land and over their bodies, and that when we reoccupy our homelands, and create healing centers, childcare, birth, working centers, all of these different things, this is just us living our lives as best we can under colonial siege. And it's really, really important now more than ever for the media, to listen to our voices to see what we are doing to see that we are non violent, and that we are always just in search of a better way forward, and survival. We are always here to survive, and it's about time that the media takes more notice of that are not evil protesters. And we're not trying to sabotage this like Canadian life that so many people are trying to lead we are just trying to survive.
Ayana Young Talking about the RCMP and Indigenous sovereignty, I want to take a moment to continue to remember Chantel Moore, who was murdered by the police in New Brunswick. Across North America, we continue to grapple with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Children, and Two-Spirits who are murdered by the state or disappear without any follow-up...Last year Canada released its report on MMIW, which offered 231 recommendations to the government, police, and public on these issues. But we are left wondering, how many reports will be needed? And for listeners, how much more awareness will have to be generated before change happens? How many times will Indigenous voices have to articulate this grave concern...So, I’d like to ask, has this report made any difference at all in the past year? And if not, what will it take and why is it impossible for any government to say they care about the wellbeing of Indigenous women and children, when they simultaneously back the development of oil and gas pipelines?
Sii-am Hamilton I think that's a really important point that you brought up, especially around the contradictory efforts of the Canadian government to, one release these reports talking about the violence that Indigenous women and girls experience, while simultaneously allowing for resource extraction to go full steam ahead. I think that's really important to constantly recognize that this government, and the figureheads that are elected leaders within the country, are only doing those Commission's and report, because people have demanded for so many years. And it is becoming as a result of Indigenous women at the forefront of media who are constantly talking about these stories. It is becoming stories that they can no longer ignore. But I do not think that commissions and reports do the jobs and the justice of people on the front lines and the people that go looking for these women, and the people that demand justice for the murdered. And I think that it's really important to constantly remind ourselves that these colonial governments and institutions were not just built on our lands without our permission, but were built in direct opposition of our lives, and nothing that they could produce would ever create justice for us in this life.
Ayana Young I know we have spoken about a number of different topics throughout this conversation. But I wonder what you are conjuring for our collective future amidst these times of great uncertainty and tumultuousness. And I know you had mentioned a bit earlier about what you as an Indigenous youth would like to see but maybe we could even go into this practice a bit deeper. And whether you want to speak directly about what you could see for the land itself or for community building, or any of the topics that we've covered. I just want to get into this future-world building with you and really hear what you're calling in.
Sii-am Hamilton I think at the foundation of what I see for a future, for this land, is based upon respect. It's based upon traditional principles that allow the water to remain clean, and the land to remain non degraded. And the air to be clear, I think that it's really important to constantly keep our ancestors values at the forefront of whatever work we do, no matter what decade we're living in. A future where Black Lives Matter is really important, I think a future where Indigenous issues are at the forefront of environmental conversations, justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and Two Spirit people, gender based violence, being a topic of household conversation. I think it's those steps, I don't think that a future is created quickly. I think that everything moves very slowly. And as people become more educated, that's the future I dream of where education around these topics that will keep popping up, are being talked about.
Because the concerns that I have and hold are so deep, and they're so felt that I need other people to participate with me now in these conversations, contemporary conversations around people who are missing people who are being snatched, people who are being taken, human rights that are being violated, environments that are being disregarded. I think it's really important that that future encompasses all of the contemporary issues that we have now, and takes those issues into account, and demands justice for all of the problems that we're facing today. I think that future feels really distant, but it gets closer and closer, every day that people fight for police abolition, trans rights, queer justice, justice for all of the people who have been oppressed and marginalized. I think that that is the future. And I don't get to determine what it looks like. And I might not get to live it. But within my own community, I'm already creating it when we respect each other, when we show each other love, when we work for each other to create environments that are safe. I think that's like the future. I live in my household. When people respect each other's pronouns, when they think thoughtfully about people who are neurodivergent. When people discuss gender, and gender based violence, when people take care of each other, and love each other, and share food, and share housing, share resources, that is the future that I am creating. And it's happening within my community. It's happening within my household. And I think it's really important to acknowledge that these futures do exist, but they exist in small pockets. And they're created by people who work really hard to constantly survive. And sometimes the outside world punishes them for that survival, but they are happening, and they happen in communities that maybe people would disregard. I think reservations are a really good one, the foundation of a lot of the Indigenous people who have been pushed on reserve, living here in what's now known as Canada. They do incredible work. They create incredible movements of love, and of community care, but maybe don't have the academic language to name it. But it's work that's happening. Because I know when my Auntie's create care packages and fundraisers, and do that work in their homelands, that that is creating our future that I get to exist in and learn from.
Ayana Young Sii-am, this has been such a deep and powerful conversation. I already had so much respect for you, before meeting you in this way and getting to know you a bit better through this time we've spent has just grown my, yeah, my respect, my care for you and your vision for the future. And I'd like to take a moment and ask you how can the listeners tuning in support you support the Indigenous youth for Wet’suwet’en? And how can people stand for the land? And yeah, I just want to be able to direct the listeners who I'm sure are feeling so moved by everything that you've said I want to be able to offer folks the ability to engage and be involved and support you.
Sii-am Hamilton One of the things that I keep coming back to is visibility and amplification of marginalized voices. And so whether it's through social media, whether it's in your home communities, there are a lot of different ways that you can support people who are doing environmental work, whether it's donation based, whether it's amplifying social media posts, whether it's just engaging with new information and learning about the people who are at the forefront of these movements, there are a lot of different ways that we can all participate.
One of the things that I I constantly go back to is the visibility thing, though, because this work happens quietly. Sometimes it happens very slowly. And a lot of the time, it happens in the background of a world that's moving really fast. And I think that it's really important for people to constantly try and seek out the information, try and seek out what's happening, try and look for us, like find us, because I'm not the only person doing this work. I am definitely on the younger side of things. And I think a lot of people kind of forget that when I'm in spaces with much older folks, but it is important to seek us out and amplify our voices. And my biggest thing is I use social media. And one of the things that I always ask people is like, please like if you ever see something happen to me, I know you mentioned at the start of this conversation that you had seen some posts about police surrounding a vehicle that I was inside of with a number of other young Indigenous women who were patrolling a pipeline farm, sorry, a holding site. And I think those moments when you're trapped in a car and surrounded by police, it's important to have visibility, it's important for people to remember who you were so that if anything bad ever happens that people would come looking for you or would demand your justice. I think that this ability is our strength right now. So that we don't get forgotten, because there are a lot of people who have been forgotten. There are a lot of people who have suffered the consequences of doing this work, and will never ever have their voices heard. And I think that that's where my safety lies, when people care about who I am, care about who my relatives are, and show genuine love and concern. When they see us being violated by the Canadian government, violated by the RCMP, violated by Coastal GasLink workers. The harm stops when people are watching. It's not as easy to perpetuate violence when there are eyes are on you.
Ayana Young Well Sii-am, thank you and I take that ask to heart and us at For The Wild, we'll definitely be looking out for you in the ways that we can and I'm sure that the folks listening to this will feel the same way. So you have, our eyes, and ears.
Sii-am Hamilton Ayana, thank you so much. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your time and your concern and your love for our community and the environment. I know that you're in this for the long haul and I feel the love that you have for all of us and I'm so thankful.
Ayana Young Thank you for listening to another episode of For The Wild. I'm Ayana Young. The music you heard today was from Elisapie. I'd like to thank our podcast production team, Francesca Glaspell, Erica Ekrem, and Melanie Younger.