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Writer's pictureann rogers

Burning the #Indian Act - Tla'amin Nation celebrates 3 years of independence

Russ #Diabo is a #Kahnawake #Mohawk and leading voice in #decolonization, and is a great person to follow on #twitter, not least because he is extremely active, always posting a range of commentary and links to interesting stuff. (@RussDiabo) He also is behind the First Nations Strategic Bulletin.

Today he tweeted that the #Tla’amin Nation, located around Powell River way, are celebrating their 3rd anniversary as an independent nation, having signed a #treaty on 4 April 2016. I visited the nation a few weeks after they had signed, as part of a visit to Vancouver Island University’s Powell River campus.

It was just incredibly moving to see the site where the Indian Act was burned and share some of the stories with the people who had been involved in the difficult and controversial treaty-making that had led to this #liberation.

I do not envy the peoples caught up in impossible dilemma of whether to sign a modern #treaty now and get started on the future right away, or hold out for more - we owe them so much more than the colonizer government ever offers - in order to achieve a more just settlement on their lands and rights. That future is far too long in coming.

Each Nation, each community must do what it needs to do and be assured that whatever the choice is, the rest of us will do our utmost to support them, treaty or no treaty, now and in the future.

Reflecting on how the Tla’amin are doing now, I found some great resources on their beautiful, well-maintained website. I found they had a call out for someone to demolish the old band council office. That must feel good too.



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