Honoring First Nations Women

Sacheen Littlefeather is a Native American activist

Ashley Callingbull The first First Nations and Canadian woman to ever win the Mrs. Universe pageant

Eagle Feather Workers based in five on-reserve women's shelters in Alberta provided one-on-one support to First Nations children who have lived with violence.

From the realms of the human world, the sky dwellers, the water beings, forest creatures and all other forms of life, the beautiful Mother Earth gives birth to, nurtures and sustains all life. Mother Earth provides us with our food and clean water sources. She bestows us with materials for our homes, clothes and tools. She provides all life with raw materials for our industry, ingenuity and progress. She is the basis of who we are as “real human beings” that include our languages, our cultures, our knowledge and wisdom to know how to conduct ourselves in a good way. If we listen from the place of connection to the Spirit That Lives in All Things, Mother Earth teaches what we need to know to take care of her and all her children. All are provided by our mother, the Earth.

Indigenous peoples are caretakers of Mother Earth and realize and respect her gifts of water, air and fire. First Nations peoples’ have a special relationship with the earth and all living things in it. This relationship is based on a profound spiritual connection to Mother Earth that guided indigenous peoples to practice reverence, humility and reciprocity. It is also based on the subsistence needs and values extending back thousands of years. Hunting, gathering, and fishing to secure food includes harvesting food for self, family, the elderly, widows, the community, and for ceremonial purposes. Everything is taken and used with the understanding that we take only what we need, and we must use great care and be aware of how we take and how much of it so that future generations will not be put in peril.

Environmental degradation affects the health and well-being of not only the First Nations people but all peoples of North America and the world in many ways. First Nations peoples do not yet know all the ways harmful man-made substances affects fish, wildlife, habitat, and human beings. However, First Nations people are aware that pollutants and contaminants, especially those originating from industrial development, have negative consequences for the health of all living things, including humans. Industrial contamination and disruption of wildlife habitat combine to reduce the supply and purity of traditional foods and herbal medicines. Finally, degradation erodes the quality of life dependent on the purity of the land, water, flora and fauna, and further affects Indigenous people’s cultures, languages and spiritual health and well-being.

First Nations peoples can demonstrate how, in asserting their land use and rights, economic initiatives can be both profitable and sustainable for future generations. First Nation traditional knowledge has provided our people with the tools to care for Mother Earth and our sacred sites. This knowledge can be shared with industry for the betterment and survival of all peoples.