Asserting Native Resilience: Pacific Rim Indigenous Nations Face the Climate Change

PULLING TOGETHER: HONORABLE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

PAGE 145 III. CURRENT RESPONSES open and unclaimed lands. Provided, however, that they shall not take shell-fish from any beds staked or cultivated by citizens. (Point Elliott Treaty of 1855:Article 5) Billy’s activism and diplomacy has been instrumental in bringing the plight of the salmon into the national arena, and he was arrested on numerous occasions for courageously exercising his treaty right to fish. His activism and that of others eventually led to litigation by the United States and numerous tribes seeking a declaration of their treaty rights and an injunction against interference in the exercise of those rights by the state of Washington. Judge George Boldt issued a landmark ruling in 1974 that reaffirmed the right of these “Treaty Tribes” to fish at their usual and accustomed fishing areas. His decision was limited to off-reservation areas, as it was understood that the Indians had maintained the right to fish on-reservation. Thus, this decision provided judicial support for Indian people’s continuing access to their traditional foods, including the seafood and salmon. As such, Article 5 of the Point Elliott Treaty is of particular interest in the context of climate change, the ecological degradation it causes, and its impact on tribal access to food. In the Pacific Northwest tribes have referred to themselves as farmers of the sea. The salmon is a traditional food for the Coast Salish tribes in the Pacific Northwest, and it is threatened by climate change. In 2009, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported: Salmon runs through the Northwest under the jurisdiction of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) are threatened due to climate change…. Adding to the complexity of threats facing salmon and steelhead are such new dangers as human-induced climate change. Recovering imperiled Pacific salmon and steelhead is complicated by the patchwork of federal, tribal, state, county, city, and private land ownership and regulatory authorities across the salmon and steelhead landscape. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2009) In this time of great change because of the warming temperatures over time, the question of sovereignty raises a question of whether tribal communities should be compensated for rights that are being lost due to the loss of land, cultural use places, traditional foods, and viable economies, particularly those who are geographically located on low-lying coastal areas, where storm surges and hurricanes are becoming more frequent and sea level rise is worsening. Aboriginal Communities and its Measurement by means of a Comprehensive Survey. Social Indicators Research 61:175–202. Wolfley, J. 1998. Ecological Risk Assessment and Management: Their Failure to Value Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Protect Tribal Homelands. American Indian Culture and Research Journal 22(2):151–169. PULLING TOGETHER: HONORABLE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Shelly Vendiola Swinomish Climate Change Initiative (SCCI) Climate Change Education and Awareness Group This is a tribute to two of my teachers—Nilak Butler, an Inuit warrior woman, brave freedom fighter, friend, and enduring spirit to many, who taught me to have a voice; and to subiyay (Bruce Miller), a Skokomish teacher, healer, and cultural preservationist who taught me about the ancient teaching of the Tree People. These are my anchors. Introduction As the climate continues to change largely due to manmade global warming, we are witness to many impacts that are obvious and evident on a global level and are facing the biggest challenge ever—the climate crisis. One great spiritual leader, Thomas Banyacya, a revered Hopi elder and medicine man, spoke about “life out of balance” as he predicted the extreme changes that would occur when the wires (the electric grid) would cross the earth and energy consumption would be out of control and beyond the Earth’s maximum carrying capacity. That time is now. For several generations Billy Frank, Jr., a Nisqually elder and international leader, has led the struggle for the survival of the salmon and the protection of Pacific Northwest tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. These rights are outlined in one of the treaties, the Point Elliott Treaty of 1855, which covers the Swinomish Indian tribal community: The right of taking fish at usual and accustomed grounds and stations is further secured to said Indians in common with all citizens of the Territory , and of erecting temporary houses for the purpose of curing, together with the privilege of hunting and gathering roots and berries on PAGE 146 ASSERTING NATIVE RESILIENCE: PACIFIC RIM INDIGENOUS NATIONS FACE THE CLIMATE CRISIS humankind—global warming, a time of climate crisis and “life...