 which is our language and cultural revitalization camp north of Elliot Lake. When I think about the question that's being asked, which is, what would we like to be passed down to the next generation? I always think about our language and our ways of being on the land. Right now the globalization of western education or colonial education is not able to produce a sustainable economy. Right now it's completely absorbed in the end into resource extraction. And so people are getting educated to be able to participate into consumerism into the global market of plastic and fossil fuels. And I think that it's really important that the sustainable economies that indigenous people had, I believe they need to come back. And nothing could be more important during a massive worldwide ecological collapse. And so when I think about our education, I think that indigenous education is really critical at this time. And I also believe that this indigenous education can provide help and stewardship, for society, during climate change. And so with that being said, I think it's really critical that land-based education in the language be shown to our children. I think the land has laws that apply to everybody. And I think that this education needs to apply to a lot of different people on our lands. To say that this education is only for Native people, I don't agree with that. I think that all of society can benefit from the high discipline of Anishinaabic education. And that education was talked about in the treaties. You know, they always said, don't dig deeper than a hand-width. Don't dig deeper than the width of a shovel. Don't dig deeper than what it takes to plant your potatoes. They always said that during treaty. And what they were saying was, is that there is laws on how to live here on this land. Generosity, offerings, don't dig deeper than a shovel. Respect, you know, always protect the waterways. Those things were always talked about in treaty. And the British version of treaty does not talk about any of those things. Only resource extraction. And so I think that there needs to be a huge education on the discipline of how to live here on these lands. It's just simply not good enough to say that this is our information. And that we need to assert this sort of education throughout our territories. Because our whole survival depends on whether we get this right or not. And unfortunately the globalization of Western education has not been able to produce a sustainable economy where ecosystems are left the same way that they're found. It has not been able to produce that. And right now the scientific world is freaking out because they're saying the indigenous people and their knowledge systems had it right. And we blew it. And I think that's something that we all need to get back to. There's no question in my mind. The serpents, the thunderbirds, all the teachings about respecting that great power in the ground in the sky. It was real. It is real. And now we're seeing the impacts of pushing that education aside and following another way. And I remember years ago I heard a story about Nanabuzhu. And they said that Nanabuzhu left because we chose the white man way. So Nanabuzhu said, fine, if you want to learn, if you want the white man way, I'm going to go. And they say that Nanabuzhu left to the east somewhere. But Nanabuzhu said, but one day you're going to know what gives you through away. The canoe, the wigwam, the snowshoe, the paddle, the fire, the flint. All of those gifts that I gave you, all of the lakes, all of the mountains, all of these things that I gave you, you're going to know how valuable it was and you're going to want it back. And I'll be here for you. That's what Nanabuzhu said. So he left. And of course, people wanted to find him. And he was in a cave with his grandma. Ten medicine men fasted to try to find him. And through their fasting, they knew where to go. From Baating, from Susein Marie, it was a two-day walk east. And he was in a cave. When they found him, the one man, he got greedy with Nanabuzhu's power and said, Nanabuzhu, I just want one thing. I want to live to be forever. Nanabuzhu said, okay, you'll live to be forever. Picked up some dirt and threw it at him. When that dirt hit him, he turned into a black stone. He hit the ground. Nanabuzhu said, there, you'll live forever now. The other nine medicine men were very careful. He said, what we want is our old ways back. Nanabuzhu said, I know. I know you want them back. But what you can do is have my, take my daughter with you. My daughter will show you things and in time I'll come back. But whatever you're to do, nobody's to bother my daughter. Nobody. If she wants a man, she'll get a man herself. And so they knew they were being tested. They couldn't even look at her the wrong way. So anyways, they started to leave. And she was going to show them everything, all the songs, everything. And one man looked at her the wrong way. And when they woke up in the morning, she was gone. They say that that really happened a long time ago. And I think about that now. You know, we have to be ready. We have to be spiritually strong. We have to be prepared for what's coming. We can't continue to live in this fantasy that everything is hunky-dory because it's not. Animals are being wiped off the planet. How important are those teachings? How important is that education, that wigwam, that canoe? The wigwam was a perfect example of how to live here. Our people lived in a wigwam for thousands and thousands of years. The design never changed because it was absolutely perfect. Even the way the poles were set up, they were aligned with certain stars. Our people were so connected to everything. It was the most beautiful life. They didn't have to change it because it was a superior design. It was all coated with the movements of the celestial world. That gave us critical knowledge on how to live here. The canoe was a perfect design. It kept people healthy. It kept people close to the water. It kept people engaged in the teachings of the land. It kept people connected with all the spirits, the mimigwesuak, the binabekweak, the paesak. It kept people connected with all the land, all the time. And the education that we'd receive on those waters was absolutely critical for our survival. How important is that canoe? It's so important. So when I think about what can we leave our next generation, we can leave them that knowledge. We have to disengage from society, from capitalistic society. We have to go back to our own ways, our own teachings. Because they say, we're going to go back. This isn't forever. They say that one day we're going to go back to those lodges, back to the wigwams, back to the canoe. They say that one day we're going to live like how we used to live. The elders always said that one day we're going to have to go back so you have to start preparing. Holy shit, it's right now. Climate's already two degrees above normal. When do we go back? We go back now. This is the time. This is the time now. The world is suffering a massive ecological collapse. And our children are being funneled into the colonial system. Either by CES, either by education, either by economics, by the Indian Act, everybody's off the land. The whole lands have been cleaned of Indians. The Indian Act is working. And a free-for-all resource extraction is taking place. And it's making things worse. So in my mind, it's like, we need to go back. We have to start getting our children back on the land as much as we can. We have to become what they call the Indian problem. And we have to start reintroducing ourselves back to our old ways. And the language is an amazing instrument to get it all back because everything is coded in the language. And so the ecological code on how to live here in these lands is in the language. And I think that's absolutely critical that we do that. That we start getting our young people back out there so that they can be a part of that spiritual blanket that exists out there. I think it would be very, very treacherous if we continue this path of the white men. Our ways, our traditional ways, our spiritual ways, our ways on the land should never ever be compromised again by a lie or a promise that they're something better. There's nothing better than our ways for us. For us in Ishnabeg, our ways are the best. They're the highest form of discipline and education that we have. For us, it's the best. For us to think that we're going to achieve success this other way is not true. It ended up being false. But this was all part of the prophecies. So I think it's important that our young people learn these prophecies, learn these stories, learn where these spots are, where they're talking about in these stories. And they really get educated on how to survive. That's critical. Land-based education, sustainable economy, where we only take what we need. Getting back to the land is essential for our survival. So one thing that I've really noticed is that our communities are divided. They're divided by many different reasons. But I think it's critical that we look past our differences and we look at our similarities. We build each other's strengths up, that we're tolerant with each other, that we don't engage in gossip and lies, all of those things that our elders talk about. That's really important. And that we really focus on building our own traditional structures back together again. Which is, of course, our ways of being with each other, respect, bravery, courage, our teachings. The seven grandfather teachings, but to really put them into practice and to live them and to don't say bad things about each other. That's really important. I think there is a high level of respect in order for our tribes to maintain themselves in these harsh environments. You can already tell there would be no room for gossip, for lies, there'd be no room for violence. They had to be a well-oiled working machine to survive in these elements. That's going to be critical for our survival in the future, is that we have to maintain that sort of integrity with each other and with our people. And, you know, if we're going to survive, then that's something that's probably going to be required, is the utmost respect for one another. And during the prophecies, they say that. They say that in years to come, people are going to turn into cannibals and that our people, some of them will turn into cannibals too. But there'll be those that do not engage in that. And they're going to be good-hearted people and that they're going to find a better way and that we can engage in that. And so where I come from, there's a place called Nipki-Azbekong Thunder Mountain and that's one of the prophecies that they say about there. That when the people turn into cannibals, we'll go back to that mountain and we'll build our lodges again and we'll be safe. They say there's going to be rows of wigwams there and the cannibals won't bother the people there. That's what I heard. That's what the old people used to say. And so when I think about things now, like you can see how society is like one big cannibal. So I think about those things. So if I was to give a message about the future, respect, that's probably our greatest medicine for each other. We have to get it right. We have to really, really strive hard. And the thing is we're all products of the residential schools. We're all products of the dysfunction right now. So we have to try to navigate our way out of it into something better. Like I was only five years old when I was taken away by Indian agents. Same with my brothers. And the impacts on my family have been really, really great because of residential schools, because of abuse, violence. Our family's never been really a family ever since that happened. But I think that when we keep trying, when I think that when we keep building each other up and we just do not engage into a lot of the bad stuff that's happening and when we focus on the good things, then really great things happen. And you know what? It doesn't take long to turn it around. The good old power is the bad in a very strong way and it's quick. I believe that. I believe what we're going through right now is not going to last forever. That things are going to get better for our people. But we have to really make that conscious decision to be better, to do better, to treat each other better. And not to talk bad about each other. I think that's really important. I think that's probably one of the most key essential teachings that we have for our survival in the forest. If we can't work together, we will die. It's that simple. And so I think that we have a great responsibility to the lands and waters. Because our culture tells us that we're one with the land. That we are the land. And that our life is a ceremony. It's a gift. And part of that gift is the responsibility to make sure that we left it the same way we found it. And to protect our animals. To protect our plants. To protect our skies so that future generations can have that good medicine too. And so I'd like to see more people get out on the land and put their faith in that education. I don't think we can go wrong by doing that. I think that there's such a wealth of knowledge in a raspberry bush, in a lily pond. There's so much knowledge in just the little biospheres and ecosystems in our region. There's incredible wealth of knowledge and education in that. And so I think that for us to survive, we have to know what that is. That's the basic fundamental principle of who we are is that land, those waters, those animals. Our whole governance system is based on it. Our whole governance system was based on the animals and the knowledge that they had. And so our lodges, our ceremonies, our ways of being on the land is really, really important. It's important for everyone so that we can understand what those natural laws are. And I think that for me, if I was to think ahead and tell future generations what to do, I mean, I would suggest that. Go back to where you really come from. Not colonial systems, not Indian Act, not even treaty. It's even before that. Who are we really as Indigenous people? We're people of the earth. And we need warriors. We need people to stand up and protect our communities, our water, our lands, our animals. And I really believe that when you protect something, that it's not necessarily fighting either. I think there's more power in being for something than there is against something. You know, if you're for flowers and for butterflies and birds, it's more powerful than being against the Indian Act or being against the pipeline. When you're for the lands and waters, you invite everybody to be a part of it. But when you're fighting against something, nobody's going to want to participate. But when you're for something, that's when real change happens. Because everybody can be a part of it. So I believe that the real fight that we have is with our own selves. And if we really want to protect something, then we love that whatever it is we're trying to protect. And there's not a stronger force than that. That's what I think. They say that our people are going to have to know where all the caves are to survive. They're going to have to know the locations of those caves. And also, they need to know who lives there. In our Nishnabe ways, we know that the Meme Gweisiwak live in the rocks. We know serpents have tunnels that go down. They live in those indents at the bottom. We know that mermaids live down there too. And that's really important for us to know, because for thousands of years, our people made petition to those sacred spirits so that we could live a life of balance here on Earth. And so, before they continue, that's really important to know. When I was younger, I learned from a elaborate tunnel system where the serpents lived. There's this place. It was called Jiginabek Gamin. There's an old serpent that lives there, at that lake. And that old serpent, in the springtime, it goes up the Serpent River in the travels to the mouth of the river. And there's a tunnel there. That tunnel, it comes up at a place called Zaadwat. Then that tunnel goes down again. It comes up at Ginnabek Guk Shibiga Ijwat. Then that tunnel goes down again. It comes up at Mende Gweisiwak. Then that tunnel goes down. It comes up at Ginnabek Nihachin. Then it goes down. It comes up at another place, Ginnabek Shibiga Ijwat, which sounds like the other name, but it's different. Then it goes down. It comes up at Shkodin. Then it goes to a Sunni swassening. That tunnel goes all over the place. Our people knew where the tunnel comes up. And that's where they went fast. They always fasted there. And so, if you know that tunnel system, then you'll know where to go during the hardest times. And that's when our people would make petitions to those water beings during times of starvation, sickness, war, whatever. That's when we went there and fasted. That's why all those pictures are painted at those sites. That's why they told the white man when they came here, don't dig deeper than the depth of a plow. The white man wanted that power for themselves, so they dug that power up and looked what happened. They said that power is not for us. It's too powerful for humans. The white man didn't listen. They wanted that for themselves. And look what happened. So as Anishinaabe people, we remain close to those things. And they say all those spots, Mendegueasen, the place of the gift, that very special, sacred rock where that serpent lives, that lives underneath in a tunnel in the water, in a cave. Education. That's what the old people always said. If you want to get educated, go sit there. That's how you'll know something. And that would be my message to future generations. Aho, miigwech.