By Victoria Leistman, Dirty Fuels Organizer
Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut (also known as Tokitae or Lolita) was stolen from her Salish Sea Southern Resident Orca family and has been held captive at the Miami Seaquarium for 50 years.
The Lhaq’temish people call orcas qwe’lhol’mechen, which means “people below the water.” Lummi ancestral teachings tell us that the Southern Residents Orca are part of their family. They share kinship as well as cultural and spiritual bonds with them. It is a Xa xalh Xechnging (sacred obligation) to protect and nurture the Southern Orcas as we protect and nurture our own families. Bringing Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut home is part of sacred family work.
Two members of the Lummi Nation have gained legal representation from Earth Law Center -- a nonprofit that advances a new generation of Earth-centered laws around the world -- to develop a compelling legal strategy that will finally free Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, based on her own existing legal rights and Native American rights to claim her as a sacred family member of the Lummi tribe.
Previously, the Lummi House of Tears Carvers took a totem pole to Miami to help call Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut back to her family. More on the totem pole journey and Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut’s story here.
In September of 2019, we worked with Lummi Tribal members on the inaugural and beautiful Netse Mot in Blaine WA. Nearly 400 people turned out on a fishing pier near the Canadian border, accompanied by over 40 kayakers and a Lummi fishing vessel. The Lummi called for the meeting at the border to show that no line divides us in the Salish Sea and that we are of one mind when it comes to protecting our shared home. Netse Mot means “one mind, one heart.”
Netse Mot is about a commitment to protecting the Salish Sea, salmon, qwe’lhol’mechen (orcas), treaty rights and indigenous ways of life. While the effort has also included sustained opposition to infrastructure projects like the Transmountain pipeline and tanker project, the focus right now is on the return of Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut to her family.
Right now, we are working together with Lummi leaders on the campaign. There are a few ways you can take action to support this effort right now:
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Interested in learning more about the next Totem Pole Journey? Learn about the Red Road to DC - and the common threads of protecting sacred places - by visiting their website.
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Keep an eye out on the Sacred Sea website for campaign updates!
2021 Journey Overview:
With a new federal administration—including the first Native American to lead the Department of the Interior, the Executive Orders issued, Supreme Court decisions affirming tribal rights, and the urgency of climate crises, now is the time to implement policies to protect, restore, and renew sacred places, lands and waterways; and redefine the principles that shape land and water regulation and management in the United States on the basis of tribal sovereignty and Nation to Nation relations.
In July, the delivery of a totem pole from Lummi carvers and spiritual leaders to the new Administration, along with events in Washington, D.C., will be the summit of a cross-country tour connecting twenty of the country’s Native-led struggles where sacred lands, waters, and wildlife are imperiled by dams, climate change, and extractive industries.
Ceremonial welcomes, online “virtual journey” events and live-streamed outdoor events, and media-making from the road will build support for the sovereign right of tribal nations to shape local and federal solutions, and to act on our collective ancestral responsibility to protect sacred places and the natural world for generations to come.