Grassy Narrows: Sustainability Experts

According to the Peace and Friendship Treaty, the Canadian government promised to protect the right of Indigenous people on Canadian soil but has failed to hold onto this promise. Personally I feel the reason for this poor support of the rights and values of the Aboriginals is the lack of common values between mainstream society and the culture of the native people. They have lived off the land, only taking what they needed for centuries and are one with the land. One of the comments that Alex said that I found interesting is that “the land is their mother”. It is seen as a member of their family and many cannot understand why anyone would murder or try to hurt a precious member of their world. I found the concept of seven generations an interesting philosophy to live by because it is about reciprocity and giving for the future generations. It seems the Aboriginal population understands the most in Canada about sustainability. To respect nature, they are doing something that most of capitalist Canada has pushed aside for future industrial and economic growth and international competition.
The people of the Grassy Narrows First Nation in north-western Ontario have said no to industrial development in their traditional territory. I found the Grassy Narrows in interesting case study looking at the interactions between the people of native community and the progression of the logging industry in the area. Having the first hand expert of Alex was greatly beneficial with the passion and knowledge he brought about the topic on hand. These people had a struggle to overcome the legacy of these assaults on their identity and culture has been greatly compounded by the impact of additional inequalities in the 1960s and 1970s. Much like the people of the global south First Nations individual have learned to live off the land and with the land. It is sad to me that those perceived as different are thus seen as expendable and not worth rights because they do not make a large enough impacts on the economic or technological growth of Canada (demonstrating ecological racism). My hopes for the future is that government will take on some of the values and sustainable practices demonstrated by these people, but I feel a more practical appeal would be just the acceptance of difference as valued.