hishuk ma cawak (all is connected, everything is one)On May 25th (I believe, although days are a blur), I was wrongfully detained by the RCMP District Liaison Team (DLT) Squad sent in to Nuu-chah-nulth territory to enforce an alleged injunction. I have not read this injunction nor has it been read to me anywhere on the hahoulthli (territory). I was detained for six hours before being released at the Lake Cowichan detachment. Approximately 40 people were arrested on Ditidaht hahoulthli (all but four present for a vigil being held roadside for our nisma/land) allegedly to enforce the injunction in accordance with colonial law. I am safe. I am in good spirits. I am ready to dedicate my endless love and iisaak (respect for all) to this struggle for Nuu-chah-nulth sovereignty and liberation. Through my understanding of both Nuu-chah-nulth law and colonial law, I have been able to bear witness to and understand the gross breach of constitutionally protected Charter rights, human rights, and Nuu-chah-nulth rights by the DLT RCMP squad. I am supporting this struggle because our livelihoods, our spirits and our ability to be Quuas (person/native person) is at risk. When our nisma (land) is under attack by colonial forces, many of us (especially our young Quuas) are called to this work. We are carrying on the work of those who came before us. We are asserting our rights and sovereignty with the utmost iisaak (respect for all) and understanding of hishuk ma cawak (all is connected, everything is one). I am committed to uu-ath-luk (taking care of all) on our coast. I am committed to not only speaking our laws, but living them. Our laws are a way of life. They are instructions for how to be human, how to be Quuas. I stand with our Pacheedaht and Ditidaht relatives because that is our way. We stand up for one another. We take care of one another. We also have to take care of those employed by industry. We are not forgetting about our families in forestry. Forestry may feed your family at present, but we need a sustainable way to be able to take care of you all for generations to come. We are fighting for a way to coexist. We are fighting for a way out of the conditions of colonialism imposed on us all. We are fighting for you, not against you as a human being. When one of our nations or any of our people are under attack, we all feel the longing to stand with our families on the coast. It is our way. It is in our DNA as Quuas. I am not a leader. I am not a protester. I am not just a journalist or an academic ndn. I am not just a mixed tupkuk mutt. I am not just a youth. I am not just a carrier of immense privilege for the life I have had. I am all. I am unapologetically whole. I am just the Aya you all have gotten to know over the course of my 24 years. I will use my strengths, skills and power to do all that I can to make our dreams of freedom from colonial oppression real. Because it will come true. Parts of a decolonized and healthy, happy Quuas world already exists. It lives in our lands, teechmas (hearts), thlimaqstis (spirits), songs, stories and more. I will never stop speaking the truth. That is our law as Potlatching peoples. I will never stop working towards Nuu-chah-nulth liberation and sovereignty. I will not rest (although, much rest is needed in between highly intense days of arrest and Quuas business) until we are all free. None of us are free until all of us are free. My spirit will never break because I stand on the truth. I stand on our laws. I stand on everyone who came before me and all of those older and younger than me who have taught me how to be human. Nisma back/ Land back. Culture back. Waters back. Everything back.
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