{"id":84,"date":"2024-09-17T12:35:20","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T16:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/chapter\/session-8\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T13:29:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T18:29:24","slug":"session-8","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/ike1040indigenousteachings2ndedition\/chapter\/session-8\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 8: Land Dispossession ~ Systemic Racism ~ Right to Self-Determination","rendered":"Chapter 8: Land Dispossession ~ Systemic Racism ~ Right to Self-Determination"},"content":{"raw":"

Introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nI begin this chapter with a reflection: Who are the stewards of the land<\/strong> and earth? Who are the ones who will protect the air <\/strong>we breathe or the water <\/strong>we drink? Who will ensure that these three essential elements necessary for survival are safeguarded? The fourth essential element, fire<\/strong>, can only exist with the first three. All four elements are our relations, and we only exist as a species because of them. So who are the protectors or stewards of these sacred elements?\r\n\r\nIs it the public? Is it the government? Is it non-governmental organizations (NGOs)? Is it other entities, like Canada's top 10 mining companies<\/a>, whose combined revenue in 2022 topped 100 billion dollars? Is it the coal, oil, and gas sector, which is consistently identified as the main source of greenhouse gas emissions<\/a> with 100 companies having been the source of more than 70% of the world\u2019s global industrial emissions since 1988? Is it the airlines -- which are also major contributors to air pollution -- with the global market share reaching 779 billion U.S. dollars in 2023<\/a>? Air Canada<\/a> is ranked 10th on the list of the world's largest airlines with 2023 revenue of $12.7 billion and assets totaling $21.8 billion. Is it the banks, whose \"aggregate assets of the 50 largest banks contracted 2% to $89 trillion<\/a>\" in 2022?\r\n\r\nI could go on to examine and report on the revenue and profits of transnational corporations in agribusiness, the forestry sector, the fishing industry, and other corporate entities who are in the 'extractive' or 'polluting' business; and then see what portion of profits go back to activities designed to sustain or protect the elements; but this is best left to experts, researchers, and scholars to pursue. While I know 'big businesses' been introduced into the equation on the climate change fight, their commitment and larger contribution to 'protecting,' 'sustaining,' and 'conserving' are largely nebulous based on my cursory review.\r\n\r\nIn a recent article titled, \"The determinants of planetary health: an Indigenous consensus perspective<\/a>,\" Redvers et al. (2022) in their summary write,\r\n\r\n\"Indigenous Peoples have resiliently weathered continued assaults on their sovereignty and rights throughout colonialism and its continuing effects. Indigenous Peoples\u2019 sovereignty has been strained by the increasing effects of global environmental change within their territories, including climate change and pollution, and by threats and impositions against their land and water rights. This continuing strain against sovereignty has prompted a call to action to conceptualize the determinants of planetary health from a perspective that embodied Indigenous-specific methods of knowledge gathering from around the globe. A group of Indigenous scholars, practitioners, land and water defenders, respected Elders, and knowledge-holders came together to define the determinants of planetary health from an Indigenous perspective. Three overarching levels of interconnected determinants, in addition to ten individual-level determinants, were identified as being integral to the health and sustainability of the planet, Mother Earth\" (p. 156).\r\n\r\nYou are invited to explore this area through articles like the one above or through the cross-listed IKE and Applied Climate Change course: IKE-2030: Indigenous Knowledge & Climate Change<\/em>, whose description is as follows:\r\n\r\n\"This course brings knowledge of Canadian Indigenous communities' relationship to the environment as valuable lessons for understanding climate vulnerability, impacts and, adaptation. Students will be led by a local First Nations teacher whose valuable insights to implementing efficient uses of our land and spiritual relationships with nature can assist in addressing global sustainability.\" The course was initially created and taught by L'nu Elder, Historian, and scholar, Dr. Patrick Augustine, who I highlighted earlier in the text.\r\n\r\nSo to conclude this introductory reflection, and to answer the question, Who are the protectors or stewards of these sacred elements?,<\/em> I would say that Indigenous peoples are the ones who have, not only a vested interest in survival, but have been recognized globally as peoples who have traditional knowledges -- many rooted in 'science' that are needed for Mother Earth's survival -- including the human species. It is sadly ironic what has happened to First\u00a0peoples and where we are today. Now that time is running out on climate change and adaptation fixes, Indigenous peoples continue to be the most impacted by the actions, or lack of action, by those who have been responsible for where we are today. Let us return to the important topics in this chapter.\r\n
\r\n

Topics at a Glance<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

\r\n