Longhouses at T’aalan Stl’aang, West Coast of Haida Gwaii
In 2014, Guujaaw brought down a Haida copper to join Beau Dick in Vancouver and Ottawa, two stops on Beau’s Awalaskenis II: Journey of Truth and Unity to the capital (see media coverage, Youtube, Belkin Gallery). The goal was to visit first nations communities along their cross-Canada route so they could witness and add strength and significance to the historic copper. In Ottawa at a ceremony conducted on parliament hill, Beau Dick, Guujaaw and the members of the cross-country journey broke the copper to mark the government’s shame in it’s past and present treatment of Indigenous peoples in Canada.
( at Parliament Hill we opened with prayers for the people and families suffering in the Middle East. We followed with these words….)
On this day we invoke our culture
bringing forward a copper ritual,
seldom seen outside of our homelands
We bring this copper from the great Pacific where it was washed
and touched by people of the ocean
In a journey across this land
touched by elders and children,
washed again in the rivers and lakes,
blessed in Sundance and sacred ceremony
carried by powwow dancers
and touched again by the people of the great plains
It has been cleansed with prayer, smoke and water
and brought here to be broken
We name the copper “Taaw”
in respect for the great life giving oolichan oil
in stark contrast to the poison from the Tar Sands
This is our wealth of place, of culture
and everything that is dear to us
including life itself
and all that the great nature provides
With this in mind we break this copper
at the doorstep of the government of Canada
with a great sense of celebration
We break this copper
not as a slight to Canada
or an insult to Canadians
who have shown us
nothing but support and encouragement
In breaking this copper we confront the tyranny and oppression
of a government who has forsaken human rights
and turned its back on nature
in the interests of the almighty dollar
we do this in accordance with our own laws
that bid us to look after the earth
Though they have killed us …we live
They put us down …. yet we stand
They deny …but there is truth
