Flash Mob Round Dance Ontario Mills. In front of Rainforest Cafe Info on Idle More IIDLE NO MORE MANIFESTO We contend that: The Treaties are nation to nation agreements between Canada and First Nations who are sovereign nations. The Treaties are agreements that cannot be altered or broken by one side of the two Nations. The spirit and intent of the Treaty agreements meant that First Nations peoples would share the land, but retain their inherent rights to lands and resources. Instead, First Nations have experienced a history of colonization which has resulted in outstanding land claims, lack of resources and unequal funding for services such as education and housing. We contend that: Canada has become one of the wealthiest countries in the world by using the land and resources. Canadian mining, logging, oil and fishing companies are the most powerful in the world due to land and resources. Some of the poorest First Nations communities (such as Attawapiskat) have mines or other developments on their land but do not get a share o... f the profit. The taking of resources has left many lands and waters poisoned – the animals and plants are dying in many areas in Canada. We cannot live without the land and water. We have laws older than this colonial government about how to live with the land. We contend that: Currently, this government is trying to pass many laws so that reserve lands can also be bought and sold by big companies to get profit from resources. They are promising to share this time…Why would these promises be different from past promises? We will be left with nothing but poisoned water, land and air. This is an attempt to take away sovereignty and the inherent right to land and resources from First Nations peoples. We contend that: There are many examples of other countries moving towards sustainability, and we must demand sustainable development as well. We believe in healthy, just, equitable and sustainable communities and have a vision and plan of how to build them. Please join us in creating this vision. |
When we began
the “We Are Birds” project, we had no idea, really, of what was going to
happen. We thought we were making a film
about head Bird Singers in general. I
thought that my job was to only be in the background, to write things up, fill
out forms, and act as emotional support.
But what we have found is that for both of us, and for our extended
family of relatives and close friends, this journey has been one of many
surprises.
First, in
choosing (“Uncle”) Wally Antone and Walter Holmes as his first interviews,
Albert inadvertently set us on the road to a completely different project
experience and film in general. He
travelled to meet with Uncle Wally at his home in Needles, CA, on February 4 of
2012, travelling with Sean Milanovich (Cahuilla) from Agua Caliente Reservation
in Palm Springs, and Alvin Rosa (Maya), a college student from Moreno Valley
College, who had begun interning as a cameraman and general filming assistant with
Albert on a previous project in 2011.
Staying home to take care of the house and our pets, I had to be content
to stay behind and let the boys go on their road trip!
As it
happened, Uncle Wally really opened up in his interviews, and somehow, in that
one short weekend, it seems that a mentoring relationship was born. Uncle Wally took Albert, and this project,
under his wing, and we have been so blessed to have had his wisdom, wit, and
experience guiding us every step of the way ever since!
Since I did not
get to actually go, it was with great interest that I listened to, and
transcribed the interview that was filmed.
As an Anthropologist, I appreciate the time and effort that Uncle Wally
puts in every day of his life to preserve his culture. He is the ultimate “cultural
consultant”! He not only strives to
preserve culture, but to also teach the young people that they can adapt to
life’s challenges, utilizing their cultural traditions to find strength and dignity through the toughest of times,
but also using their creativity to adapt when needed. 
As myself, before there was casinos and jobs for Native
Americans, and when I was living in Yuma, there was years back, in the late
60's, when my mom told me, "son, you know there's no jobs here that you
can .... so I left, I went to Phoenix, started my family over there, and I've
been gone from Yuma for 30 years after that.
And now, I've been gone for like 45 years from my family , but I don't
forget my culture, my tradition, my religion, and the things that I have to do
for my people. So I advise all you
birdsingers that are coming out to sing and those that are singing
nowadays: don't forget your culture,
your tradition. Those are yours; be
proud to be Native American. That's what
I'm proud of. I'm proud of being Native
American because we are one of the quickest people that know how to adapt to
living two lives, which I did. I lived a
different life when I lived in Phoenix.
I had to live a city life; it was way way far different than living on
the reservation. I had to have respect
by non-Indians as I did our elders back home and that's the way you have to
learn to adapt to these two worlds, that they're no more superior than we
are. We're just as equal, but then for
some reason or another, we adapt a lot quicker, and you can do the same as I
did. 
When Albert,
Sean, and Alvin came back from the trip, I instantly knew that some kind of
intangible change had occurred. The “We
Are Birds” project had truly been born.
I felt that with Uncle Wally’s guidance, I should not worry about what
would be coming next. And, as it turns
out, that has turned out to be true.
May 2012 visit to the White Mountain Apache Reservation. I travelled with Wally Antone and Walter Holmes, who were invited guests to the Sunrise Ceremony of Angie Andreas. Her father, Big John Andreas (Cahuilla/Apache), was the host, and the event was overseen by Apache Medicine Man Larold Pinal. We were guests of the Apache people during this important ceremony for Angie, and we were asked to film and document what we could of her coming-of-age ceremony, which will be shown in a separate documentary. During a break, my group visited Theodore Roosevelt Indian Boarding School, and I was inspired to do this video after coming face-to-face with the Apache side of my heritage and feeling like I wanted to capture the emotion of the moment.
