First Nations Struggles

The Presentation

On Thursday we heard from Randall and Meagan about the environmental struggles occurring between First Nations groups and other populations. The article presented a specific case study on the disputes in Grassy Narrows and the guest speaker Alex developed some of the ideas in the article, but mainly gave his first person perspective on the issues. As an activist Alex was able to go into detail about some of the disputes occurring as he has participated in many of the protests. I thought the presentation was very good, and it was powerful to hear all of Alex's experiences with the First Nations struggles.

Relationships

Alex discussed the intimate relationship that many First Nations people have with nature. He went on to say how difficult it was for him to wrap his head around, the idea of the trees being their mothers, etc. I think this really relates to our ingrained nature to see ourselves as separate from nature rather than in a relationship with nature. Alex discussed how many of the children in Grassy Narrows are growing more apart from nature, and this appears to be somewhat problematic as a culture and lifestyle is on the brink of extinction. I think that the relationship between First Nations and nature could be adopted by other population. Rather than seeing themselves so literally with nature it would be a step forward if we took responsibility over nature. Rather than seeing ourselves apart, we should view ourselves in an interconnected relationship whereby the actions we take can have profound effects on nature. The ideas of First Nations can be adopted to help create more environmental awareness. But at the same time, their traditions cannot be sacrificed for our mere consumption of resources. There needs to be a happy medium, but it is difficult to forecast whether this will happen anytime soon.