A Sign in the Woods

Last Saturday, we were hiking in one of our favourite forests, Grant’s Woods, when my partner spied a sign announcing the AGM of the Couchiching Conservancy that owns and maintains the woods.  The guest speaker was to be Rick Beaver, an Anishinaabe artist and conservationist.  The meeting was for later that afternoon. 

Rick Beaver's artwork on mug

We went home for lunch and googled Rick Beaver .  It turns out that we have a ceramic mug with his artwork printed on it that was a gift.  Intrigued, we attended the AGM.  

The Couchiching Conservancy protects land that is donated and purchased in the Orillia area.  We have hiked on some of the properties protected by them and have been to one AGM previously.  This group is well run and able to raise money as well as provide programs and education very successfully. You can get a good idea about it from this youtube video:

It turns out that they have come up with a new strategic plan for the next five years.  In response to climate change, they believe that local action can help to solve global problems.  They also believe that every individual has a responsibility “to treat as sacred the healthy natural systems upon which we depend for our existence.”  They want to foster respect for all living things and seek a “reciprocal, respectful and protective relationship with the land.”  They “recognize that we are of nature, not external to it.”  They also recognize that they operate within the territory of the Indigenous people of the area and seek to be responsible treaty people.  And finally, they recognize that they are accountable to future generations.  This Declaration of Shared Principles was their first document to mention a relationship with Indigenous people and it spoke about a change of relationship with nature to one of responsibility, reciprocity and respect.

There were roughly 260 people in the room at the local Golf and Country club for this AGM.  Many had grey hair and were obviously financially well off.  They are retired professionals and business people who care about nature and maybe a few old hippies as well.  But, the Declaration of Shared Principles that I paraphrased above was from a different paradigm than the one that these people grew up in.  It was exciting to hear language of reciprocity and respect being used by this middle class group of people in a fancy golf club.

The executive director, Mark Bisset, gave an excellent talk about how he believes that small groups working all over the world will make the change that is necessary to limit climate change.  He likened the effort to the small boat owners who rescued soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk during World War II.

Rick Beaver

There were the usual financial statements, minutes, thanking volunteers and electing new board members before the guest speaker Rick Beaver came to the podium.  As an Indigenous biologist, he spoke about Indigenous principles and how his own community, Alderville First Nation is practicing land management.  Beaver spoke about the need for cooperation and heart-forward thinking since we are managing land collectively in Canada.  

He outlined several principles in an Indigenous worldview.  First, he spoke of the 7 Grandfather teachings; honesty, humility, love, courage, truth, respect and wisdom.  Taking care of the land and understanding that everything is connected came next.  Acknowledging the gifts we are given, replacing what you take, taking only what you need and letting the earth rest when there are shortages were additional principles relating to the environment.  Do not expect more every year, don’t harvest the first ones you see and only take a few if there is an abundance, less is there are few and none if it is rare.  When you find that you have more than you need, share it.  Leave the earth as your found it and think about the impact of your actions on the next seven generations to come were the final principles he spoke about.

Emphasizing the need for cooperation, Beaver cited that 40% of Canada’s 350 species at risk are found on First Nation land which constitutes .1% of Canada’s land mass.  He detailed ways for non-Indigenous people to form relationships with Indigenous communities to protect the land and these species.

This was surely a sign of the times.  Non-Indigenous settler people realizing that our ways have brought the Earth to potential great harm and declaring their intention to change their relationship with the land.  And then an Indigenous biologist gave us the principles for how to do that, from traditional knowledge that is thousands of years old.  Rather than spending time trying to figure out how to have a new relationship with the land, we just have to listen to someone whose has the traditional knowledge and then apply it.

Who knew that a sign in the forest would lead me to a golf club and there I would see the birth of a new story, a new way to relate to each other and to all our relations.