WE MOVED TO WWW.LIBERATEDYET.COM

Liberated Yet?, a weblog that uses self-publishing technology and the internet to publish content like text, images, art, and sometimes video and sound, is a tool I began as a means to accomplish a goal. This goal was originally designed to express my indignation as well as my idea’s, for many of the time those two are interconnected for me. I also set out with the goal to communicate with other individuals, both from my people, and the world. This weblog, once published, is put onto the internet and can be accessed by anyone in the world. With other internet projects, it’s also stored in databases forever. It was birth from two previous blogs that I tried out, learned from, then decided to re-imagine to create Liberated Yet?

The name comes from a question about an idea. As an indigenous person who either out of passion and interest or circumstance learned the context for his existence. That context is he is colonized. Colonialism is not just a process, but a paradigm too. It is apart of the social fabric coming from European, and later Euro-Canadian or Euro-American dominance in the world through it’s ideologies and paradigms. It’s intend is to abolish a pre-existing set of ideologies, paradigms, and the people and land within those, indigenous people and land. Theft of land, breaking down of pre-existing local indigenous population, culture, and societies, are all hallmarks of colonization. I’ve discussed this on more detail before.

The name of this blog comes from a question to an idea. Liberation, as a chant of hope, as a means to work to overcome dominance and control from something, as an opportunity to say an end to the oppression, is something I call a path for myself, and others, to see our indigenous people rise up. In some context, peoples have taken up liberation movements to rise up and out of oppression and foreign control. It comes from the word liberty, the freedom to act or believe without being stopped by unnecessary force. It’s something, I believe, our people had before colonization, and something we do not have now, but only if we can remain our ancestral memory and not the inoculated existence our colonizers gave us. So the question is really, are you liberated yet?

Within my community, a nation of 7 villages and a population of over 3,000, communication is in a desire state. I understand it to be the focal point for any community to network and be cohesive in any sense, either as self-knowledge or to accomplish shared visions. If we look into the past, the level of community was much more cohesive because of the close quarters of living and harmonious lifestyles between branches of families, extended families, inter-tribal relations, and spiritual connection to ceremonies, traditions, and customs.

Presently, the SN puts out a weekly flyer in North Vancouver and Squamish with ads, job postings, and the odd informational flyer. Decisions at the highest level are decided upon by the Band Councilors at weekly meeting where information on the decision to be made are mostly presented at those meetings. The inner-workings of said councilors in projects, committees, and negotiations are done and information of that is kept within that section of the SN. These effect things like what happens on our land, with development, trespassing, cultural significant area’s, and homes, and other things like employees, programs working to create, restore, to accomplish something for the population. Like I said, the information, from the highest order, is mostly kept within their ranks. In some cases, the happening of said initiatives are held secret from the community.

The Squamish Nation Band Council is similar to all Band Councils in the regard of how it deals with community dialogue in issues of concern and opposition. Simply put, it doesn’t like it. Like all colonial institutions, this political system is adversarial in nature. It puts A vs. B. If something happens and information about something the community disagrees with, there is some resistance. Water-cooler talk, and gossip, and some level of indignant letter writing. I know that first-hand because I’ve taken part in this since I became interested in politics. Generally, they operate on this belief that if they wait it out, the opposition will eventually die down and they can get back to work. This tends to horribly bad for the future of the community because in some cases the guiding forces at the Band Council are foreign influences. The guiding interests in where we as a community should go does not come from the community. This create awful situations where short-term idea’s, or in some extremes, self-interested benefits, come from the politicians and many time, energy, and work is put into it.

Within my community, we have no media. Before the Vancouver City election, it came out through a leak to the media that the Vancouver City council had given $100,000,000 dollars to the developers for the Olympics village. The secrecy of this cause a stir in the public and created a wave against the reigning Non-Partisan Alliance party. To keep politics of the society aware, understood, and investigated upon, there is a media to do that. A media to share the stories, information, and beliefs from all area’s of it’s society. Some parts of the world, it’s illegal to do that, and you will most likely result in death.

In my community, there is nothing to keep the politicians honest. There is also no means to keep the public informed of the what is happening in our community, in our territory, in the rooms of the current political leaders.

I have taken a stance before, but I do not identify as Squamish Nation. The Squamish Nation is an Indian Act governance structure imposed on the Skwxwu7mesh-ulh as a tactic of colonialism to fracture the people and usurp our land. I identify as my ancestors for thousands of years have identified: Skwxwu7mesh-ulh. The amalgamation of 1923 that was the de-facto formation of the Squamish Nation is shrouded in more mystery and myth then anything known by our people. If we are to take the thought that the amalgamation was the signing of a document by the then 16 “hereditary” chiefs of 16 Indian Act reserves as truth, it was exactly that. Indian Act chiefs, originally placed into power by the church then later the government after appropriating the historical governing system of “siyam”, formation a coalition to protect the reserves from being sold out.

My land doesn’t end where the imagery line for the reserves starts. My land is thousands of hectares used and stewarded by my ancestors for thousands of years. It does not belong to me, or any one person, family, or government. It’s used for resources gathering, and carried in stewardship for future generations to have the same abilities as we presently do, and the same as our ancestors. This land was stolen from my ancestors, and remains so presently. At the moment the beneficiaries of that theft are still allowed to benefit off that criminal act. Yes, that’s you Canadian population.

I don’t recognize the Squamish Nation Band Council as “my” government. My government was destroyed by the colonizers many decades ago. I recognize that the Squamish Nation, because of colonial constructs, has been able to assert and find a significant amount of power. This is through power of will in the people believing in this false institution, and through the power to wield many resources like money, people (staff), and legal authority.

To think critically is to think of other possibilities. To question the status-quo, goes without saying, is a strong indicator of a strong society. To debate idea’s and positions is a way that we better find the collective wisdom to ensure the best possible choice for where we move forward as a people. As our ancestors asked of themselves, we must strive to live to our highest ideals. I mean, live, to them.

It isn’t always the case to live to them always, or even that they agreed on the same values. Some think this gives them to the right to disposes others by veiled threats and attacks of betraying their cultural values, and thus betraying their ancestors. I don’t mean that by any means. I know I can be arrogant and sarcastic, but I still strive to live to my, decolonized, most important values. It’s why I question, it’s why I think critically, it’s why and how I care.

Why do I feel the need to defend myself? Partly to educate some because the feedback I’ve received. But also to be firm, confident, and strong in my position, not just on this blog but as a person who cares about his community, his culture, and where those go into the future. I intend to be a strong member of my community in a way to help and create things for the better. I hope to find others to do the same. I wish to create change through alternative means, because the status-quo disgusts my integrity to create the change that by the current way. I want to find my place a leader, like all previous strong leaders in our community have, and hopefully create more leaders, not more followers. I want to have a strong community that can face the most serious threats and crisis.

I want liberation.

Some news for my people about the Squamish Nation,

Many people from my community, mostly Squamish Nation staff were shocked and irritated to learn about recent decisions by the Squamish Nation Band Council. To start things off, back in November, the Squamish Nation approved a 6% wage increase for all SN staff. This past Wednesday, they pasted another wage increase for the 12 Department Heads, and 17 Senior Managers within the Squamish Nation. The increases are on top of the original 6% which is set to take effect January 1st. The increases amount to another 12% for Department Heads, and another 6% for Senior Managers. This brings the total to 18% and 12%.

Then on Thursday, the two co-chair, Bill Williams, and Byron Joseph, made and "executive decision" and approved a $2000 "handshake" for all Department Heads on top of the previously mentioned raises.

Currently 10 out of 16 Councilors hold staff and councilor position. A few of these councilors' staff positions are Department Heads and of course the wage increase includes them. The SN employs nearly 500 people.

When looking at the financial statements, you'll see that most Department Heads make between $65'000 to $120'000 a year on salary. Senior Managers are around the same.

As one community member said to me, "The money going into one of their raises could be enough to pay for a job for our youth. Our young people don't even make as much as their raise is." Another person remarked, "Why are the Department Heads getting raises when I know many of them don't even come into work or do there job".

This comes at a time when the rest of the world is entering an economic recession.

The Squamish Nation's chief net revenue comes from reserve leases. Places like Park Royal Shopping Centre, the Lynnwood Marina, as well as other area's. With the stringent Indian Act laws guiding Indian Reserve land values, many of these leases are 99 years leases to get the most benefit for the land values, almost on value with that of fee-simple land in the over-all market. As the Canada starts to see a decrease in the housing market, and land value dropping, the Squamish Nation decides to spend more and massively increase wages.

The Squamish Nation is an Indian Act organization with rules and guidelines mostly designated from the Indian Act, and some custom codes. It administrates programs, services, and economic development for it's status Indian membership, comprised of about 3400 members. It was imposed on Sḵwxwú7mesh, The-People-of-the-Sacred-Waters, in the early 1900's, but solidified in 1923 with the amalgamation. The amalgamation was the joining of what used to be separate reserves held in trust by the Department of Indian affairs for separate Sḵwxwú7mesh families. The Squamish Nation is not the nation of the Sḵwxwú7mesh people. It's an administration that is responsable to the Department of Indian Affairs, not to Sḵwxwú7mesh indigenous principles, values, or laws. Here are some little known facts about the "Squamish Nation".

• It's annual budget is over 51 million dollars.
• 11 million comes from Federal funds.
• 40 million comes from own source revenue.
• In 2003 it's budget was just over 33 million.
• In 2002-3 it incurred a 5 million dollar deficit.
• It has borrowed over 30 million from the banks since December 05.
  
• The band council's yearly budget exceeds 1.5 million dollars.
• More then 50% of that is on councilor wages.
• The highest payed Councilor makes over $100'000.
  
• 10 out of 16 Councilors have staff positions.
• 5 new councilors were voted in in the last election.
• In the last 3 years, the Band Council has payed for trips to Germany, China, New Zealand, Italy, and places in Canada.
• The highest payed employee in the Squamish Nation earns over $200'000 yearly.
• They are a Human Resources "Consultant".
• I guess that means they are not really an "employee".
• They are the only First Nation in Canada that elects it's band manager.
• The Band Manager doesn't usually come to work.
• So a Band Councilor is the "Acting-Band Manager".

If my people are not outraged by the situation with our people, then they are simply ignoring what is going on.

Every Wednesday, the 16 elected band councilors of the Squamish Nation meet to pass motions put forward by staff, the community, or councilors themselves. They operate on Roberts Rule of Order. Community members are allowed to attend, unless Council motions and passes to have an "in-camera" session. I attended last Wednesday's meeting, and here are my findings. :)

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There is a disconnection between some politicians from the grassroots community level, in huge ways. The positions or views expressed from some councilors made it apparent to me when they discussed the issue and what their concerns, thoughts, and idea’s were regarding issues. The paradigm they followed showed this disconnect and don’t think where the people come from, don’t think about what the people will see on the issue. Their time on council (read: many terms) has created this disconnection.



Council members who hold high ranking Staff or Department Head positions have more power then their elected colleagues. A handful of councilors hold staff and department head positions, and they are all senior members of council. Control of finances within their department, the knowledge and information coming from their staff position, or weight in decision making in what will or won’t do are all indicators they consolidated power within themselves. This balance of power is unequal on the council table, and has not been determined by the people. They are able to control and dominate more of the Squamish Nation.



Newly elected council members worked to create change from the status-quo and founded new policy within the Squamish Nation, but this same policy can be thrown out when, it seems like, the senior councilors want to.



Decision making, dialogue around issues, research, and power dynamics in Band Council governance is not known by the general community. The people that know how the band council works are the ones who work within that system. For the 60 something people who run every 4 years in the elections, all but the current or past council members know how the system works. Our people don’t know and didn’t decide how our own governance works. Who created or choose to operate on this system? It sure as hell wasn’t the people. 




The system that they operate under is following oppressive colonialism values. The voice of opposition is not respected, is silenced, or discounted quite quickly. There is no open discussion around the issue at hand and those who offer any kind of dissent on an issue are scorned for their “malcontent” behavior. Thus, if you put something forward strong enough, fast enough, efficiently enough, it can be passed through without any kind of open discussion around the issue. Even if what is being proposed is an extremely bad idea, or even if it’s something morally wrong like helping support corruption, benefiting individuals with nation resources, or consolidating power within a few. So what the established politicians want is for you to be silence and agree with their genius plan. You are not supposed to voice out concern, because that is bad. Geeez, why does this sound like Residential School to me. 




Money is the major force on the council. The majority of the band council’s time, energy, resources, and innovation is spent on money. This detrimentally determines the focus of the 4 year term politicians and means a greater part of their focus is not on issues the community want addressed. Issues like homes, language loss, community violence, health, and education. If they changed their focus in time and energy to the issues, there could be more change within our community. I am not speaking of simply forming a committee and discussing the issue, but putting wise thinking into wise action. That they actually work on the ground to change the issues at hand. 




Some councils view the people are a group of whinny cry baby’s who just complain, complain, complain. This arrogance was apparent among some of the council members in the way they viewed the community’s voice on issues. I found this view to be quite startling because it means they are so arrogant, anything the community addresses or shows concern about, is disregarded or overlooked. This reminded me of the same arrogance shown from senior council members shown to the newer councilors.



The last thing I discovered after this meeting is that the levels of corruption, the power dynamics between band councilors and some senior staff is weak and unstable. That is all I will say about this. ;-) :-)


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Attended last week’s Band Council meeting was a great experience for me. Observing the Band Council was a revealing and a learning experience for me. The irony, hypocrisy and the "special" treatment of "special" individuals was revealing. Learning how they work will help me understand the massive system at work that is causing so many problems for my people, when something so much better is possible and achievable. After last weeks meetings, I’ve decided I will be attending every meeting I can between now and the Winter Holiday Break, with weekly updates on my findings. I also highly suggest any our people from my community to join me and attend. Come see for yourself how it works.

Till next week,
Dustin Rivers
Aboriginalism Systems Specialist Consultant

The following below was a speech written for the 100 Years of South Asian Presence in Canada Celebration at a panel at the Vancouver Public Library.

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mi chap uuys. siiyam, siiyay, s’ekwi7tel. nilh kwens spukwm-uystn nina7min sna. chen wa ten ens ta Skwxwu7mesh. Chen-t xway na tl’a xwmelch’stn uxwumixw. chen kwen men tumiyap tl’a itti.

My name is Dustin Rivers. I’m here to speak to about the myths of my peoples colonial legacy, especially in these lands. First of all, I would like to welcome you all to occupied Skwxwu7mesh territory. As guests in someone else's home, I welcome you on behalf of my people.

I also welcome you to occupied territory. I say occupied because that’s what my people live under. We never surrendered our lands, or our right to exist as a nation. We have an imposed form of government -- that of the Indian Band Council -- on my people, and we’ve been disposed from our ancestral lands. It is why I welcome to you occupied Skwxwu7mesh territory.


Perhaps some you didn’t realize that our view of colonization is still existent in our lives and memories. It’s one of the most prevalent myths in this country. That colonialism happened, has ended, and now we all live together as multi-cultural peace-loving Canadians. It is the strong myth taught in schools, in the media, and is shown in the current engagement of Canadian politics. I will say it: colonialism continues to this day in my peoples lands.


The intent of colonialism is to change our culture, to change our relationship to the land, and change our way of governing ourselves. Historically they had many ways to accomplish this. To undermine our culture by stripping us of our language and knowledge was Residential schools. By attempting to assimilate us into the dominant Canadian society, we would then be stripped of our connection to our land.

Land stewarded for generations by our grandparents, and their grand parents, and their grandparents. Laws were passed and vast resources were put in to installing reserves for my people. After that, a foreign form of government was placed and imposed on us. Whereas before we had our own laws to govern our communities, our resources, our laws, but it was felt that their form was better suited to control us.

From the beginning of our relationship with the Euro-Canadian society, we were always looked at something “in the way”. In the way of progress or expansion, but it was always held that indigenous people were the problem in the way of their progress.

Even to this day that view is maintained. A very deep example for me is the 2010 Olympics. The 2010 Olympics Organizing committee celebrates it’s accomplishment of Aboriginal involvement in the planning of the games, and subsequent benefits from the games.

Is there a connection between this and access to hectares of land for ski jumps or the appropriation of indigenous culture for profit? Is there a maintained view that by giving the First Nations, that is the band councils, some, largely insignificant benefits, they will agree to us doing the same things we’ve always done.

That with the 2010 Olympics games, we’ll have unparalleled opportunity for development of our lands and this will lead to some sort of salvation from the historical colonial legacies created by the last wave of colonizers. That we believe like they do: our lands are rich opportunity to exploit for greater resource and economic development. Business as usual in stealing the land, undermine culture, and change our relationship to the land.

The legacy of colonialism is one of myth. In the schools, Canadians are not taught that colonialism did not “win”, and the indigenous peoples did not “lose”. That we, the indigenous peoples, have been conquered, and thus the land belongs to them now. Can we really talk in terms like this when the colonialism is still not over and people are still resisting the colonial monster.

In the schools, they don’t teach you that we are indigenous nations, with our own laws of governing ourselves, with our own leadership, with our right to exist as nations. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise when Canada’s racist legacy creeps up saying we have received a lot from the government in past decades, and that we have “special rights” unequal with the Canadian society. What we are asking for is to be on equal level, on a collective level, to that of Canadian society. Nation to Nation as it was supposed to be.

When I was in high school, in the part of the history class where we learn about the racist policies against South Asian immigration to this country and this area of the country, the text book gives you examples of the views point of all the people at the time. The viewpoints of the racist White settlers, of the South Asian immigrants coming to this country. I remember my teacher, a White guy, saying he notices how sometime the text book will have some bias. He says how he noticed the book doesn’t give the view point of what the native people thought of the whole thing. Particularly with the climate Vancouver was in around the Komagata Maru. He asks me candidly if I had any thoughts about what my people may have thought of the whole thing. I laughed and said “Well, umm, you were all immigrants to us. You still kind of are.” He didn’t like that response that much.

Some say that the actions of their ancestors should not be reflective of their lives. It was not them who stole our lands, but people hundreds of years ago. It was not them who placed my grandparents in residential school, it was someone else.

But crimes like genocide, theft of land, and destruction of culture have not perished. In a legal sense, when criminals are brought to justice, neither they nor their families are permitted to continue to benefit from the profits of their criminal enterprises. Settlers continue to benefit from this crime.

And the actions of Canadians past has left us all with a legacy that all people from this land, both indigenous and non-indigenous, have a responsibility to make it right. So it stands that for non-indigenous to take root in this country legitimately, they would have to move beyond the Canadian myths and deal with the debt they have incurred and deal with indigenous peoples honorably.

We have a future ahead of us and our relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous does not have to be the same as it has been in the past. That this country Settlers want to be apart of, can change the connection my people have to the rest of Canadian society. That future generations of indigenous peoples will be born into a world where the legacy we have created is one where we’ve worked together in solidarity to rectify the sins of colonialism's past. This would mean supporting us in our fight for self-determination, for our journey to reclaim our culture, our language, our art, and our struggles.


Thank you all.

I'm sitting on the Band Council chambers at the Squamish Nation band office. Today is a beautiful day. It's a beautiful day because I'm sitting in on today's meeting to "observe" how the band council works. Think of me as the voyeuristic nature filmmaker watching the animals in the wild. Will today be dealt with a ferocious ravaging of prey, or perhaps a delicate birth of a baby draff? Either way, it shall be interesting.


The Mission: Observe and learn about how the band council works
The Cover-Story: I've been hired by the people to do an indepdent review of band council proceedures and methods for doing business. Today I will be obsvering the band council in their weekly meeting to assertain the truth about how they work.

So, I thought I'd share this with all you, my blog readers, many of who are my people, and I'll post my "indepdent" findings.


Hahaha

I was thinking about it today while I was out for a walk.

In one possible scenario, a good leader awakens, becomes a band councilor or band manager, and manages to create some reform. But for me this still leaves out a big part of the struggle. This struggle against the corruption and greed of the politicians goes beyond our own petty disagreements or even our own petty desires of "equality, fairness, etc.".

It goes on to the big beast of an enemy our people have been fighting since day 1: colonialism. And no reform of the system we have engaged right now, albeit good reform, will put us in a position to defeat that beast.

Mainly because one of the things our ancestors failed to see and do was a strategy the people. An achievable strategy that could tear down what was in our collective path? That thing is bringing the people together, to mobilize, in collective strength, and work together to defeat these things.

I'm realizing now that this is the reason no reform will work. Not now, not in a 100 years. We have to mobilize together, as the people. If we reform the system, we leave the people out of it, and we continue on wallowing in our defeat from assimilation. We create conditions of complacency. Yeah sure, we may produce a few good leaders, just like the previous one did. But as we have seen, even these good leaders are not impervious to co-optation and corruption.
But a people? A people organized and revitalized in a great society with all our collective strengths working together. That cannot be compromised. A single soul maybe, but a collective people, perhaps not.

That's where we have go. That's where we need to be right now. If we want to achieve something for our people, it'll be bringing them together to fight this beast.

International Cry reminded me of the band council system and the ways power has changed of the years with it. What's true for many indigenous peoples is how the band council system replaced the Indian Agents. While this is kind of true, prior the Squamish Nation band council, the Christian Missionaries set up puppet-chiefs by making selected men in each of the communities chiefs. These "chieftainships" eventually merged with the culture, and created the hereditary chieftainship we have now. In 1923, these chiefs amalgamated and created the band council. Why would the government allowed a supposed "traditional" government exist at a time when they were trying to assimilate us? Well, it wasn't that traditional. Now it's traditional, because it's been in existence for nearly 100 years and many "traditions" like the hereditary chieftainship system come from it. But in 1923, a hereditary band council (doesn't that sound awful? lol) was created. It wasn't until amazingly huge amounts of corruption that a vote of non-confidence came from the membership and a elected council was put in. Not surprisingly, some of these corrupt "hereditary" chiefs got back in.

What's becoming the problem is the influx of money coming from the government or own source revenues. The more money in play, the more power exists. The more power, the more grab and fight for it. This now, a select few within the Squamish Nation have this power. Some of these people of power weren't even put in place by any of the people, but by those who hired them (the band council). Now we have more power grabbing, and consolidation of power, holding back of information from the people, all out of fear.