An Historic Turning Point on the Journey to Recovery from Capitalism and its History of Colonialism: Reclaiming Wolastoq Ceremony

Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

23 June 2018

Charles and Karen McFadden

The Wabanaki Federation unites the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Mi’kmaq, Abenaki and Wolastoqewiyik First Nations. At the invitation of Wolastoqewi Grand Chief Ron Tremblay, representatives of these First Nations and their allies joined in an historic Reclaiming Wolastoq Ceremony, Saturday, June 23, 2018, on the shore of the beautiful river, Wolastoq, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. A turning point for those present, it represents an historical process that is gaining momentum around the globe, that of growing respect and friendship between the First Nations and their allies, who have come together in defense of clean and healthy water and land.

Present among the hundred plus people gathered in Fredericton were First Nations leaders from neighboring states and provinces, including Maine, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario, as well as Wolastoqewi members from up and down the river and allied environmental activists from a dozen or more communities across New Brunswick. Altogether, those present represented protectors of the water and land from dozens of communities throughout New Brunswick, all engaged in resistance to all threats to clean and healthy water.

Environmental successes of the Friendship Alliance in New Brunswick include the cancelling of a project to hydraulically frack shale deposits in the province for natural gas and the cancellation of the Energy East project to pipe bitumen from the Alberta tar sands to Saint John, New Brunswick for export by ship. In process now is resistance to a provincial government backed project to mine molybdenum at Sisson Brook, New Brunswick from a low-grade ore body. Associated with this project is a plan to build the second largest tailings pond in Canada to store the waste products. Resistance is led by Wolastoqewi grandmothers who are encamped on land designated for the construction of the tailings pond. They are supported by the Fredericton Chapter of the Council of Canadians, Mining Watch Canada and other allies.

During the Reclaiming Wolastoq Ceremony, reference was made by First Nations spokespersons and settlers alike to our responsibility to the next seven generations to protect the water as source and sustainer of life. By joining with the First Nations in reclaiming the name Wolastoq for the river we share, historical recognition and respect was accorded by their allies and an implicit commitment was made to self and public education on the history of this river basin and its peoples.

It is our hope that ceremonies like this one will continue and expand in number and depth until all of humanity is liberated from the commodification, privatization and exploitation of nature and people, enabling humanity to move forward to more just, sustainable relationships between people and with nature. Evidence that a path exists for moving away from capitalism and colonialism onto a more just, sustainable path is the Wolastoq Treaty affirmation below, made by Wolastoq Grand Chief Ron Tremblay in conclusion to the Reclaiming Wolastoq Ceremony.

Wolastoqey Lakutuwakon – Wolastoq Treaty

We, Wolastoqewiyik affirm that Wolastoq is the dynamic and creative element that sustains our life. Wolastoq is the main artery that connects to springs, bogs, brooks, marshes, lakes, tributary rivers and into the ocean throughout Wolastokuk (Maliseet Homeland).

In this constant ebb & flow, Wolastoq identifies who we are, as well as the other living beings. We live, grow, play, work, wash, cook, drink, rest, pray and celebrate with Wolastoq. What we do to Wolastoq, we do to ourselves.

Wolastoq is vulnerable, she needs to be protected, and shared freely and fairly. Wolastoq is not a commodity or merely a resource. She is a unique condition, a life giver, a right, and Wolastoq is a dynamic being with creative power of her own.

Wolastoq is central to our homeland. We see the destruction of Wolastoq as the destruction of ourselves. We see that any assault on the good and well-being of our relations in the natural world, upon our homeland, and upon Wolastoq as an act of aggression against us.

Today, we recognize and resist the extensive abuses to Wolastoq that resource industries and governments are unleashing, assaulting Wolastoq directly. These threats and possible threats include:

• fracking

• tar sands pipelines

• mining

• industrial wastewater dumping

• privatizing water services

• clear-cut & spraying in the forest

• river dams

• coastal inundation and flash flooding from severe storms, climate change and clearcutting

• nuclear power generation

• salmon farm mismanagement

• government inaction on protecting Water

These abuses render water toxic, diverted, substandard, unreliable and unavailable. All of these assaults on Wolastoq are abusive to the web of life, which our societies are embedded in and depend upon to survive and thrive for the next seven generations. Our children and grandchildren deserve better and need to be protected from harm.

Wolastoqewiyik oppose these abuses. We are committed to restoring respect to our relationship with Wolastoq, thereby renewing our treaty responsibilities to each other as distinct peoples. When we care for Wolastoq and our homeland, we care for each other.

We will care for Wolastoq by building a sustainable economy that rapidly transitions away from fossil-fuels to renewables, restores our forests, reduces the carbon footprint, decentralizes energy supply, and builds food security through a regional biodiverse farming sector.

We call on Canadian federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments to change their laws and regulations by implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the way it was originally intended.

These laws and regulations must take into account the recognition of sovereign indigenous title of Wolastokuk (Maliseet Homeland), involving our inherent and collective rights, including among others, our fundamental right to self-determination, our right to exercise “Free, Prior, and Informed Consent” and our right to participate in economic development that benefits from our lands and resources. These laws and regulations must also take into account the balance of interests involving the farming sector, forestry sector, renewable energy sector, manufacturing sector, as well as health services and tourism industries, among others.

We, Wolastoqewiyik invite you to join – our shared consciousness – to reconnect in a sacred manner to the natural world. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder to protect Wolastoq to secure a future for our children and our grandchildren.

We reclaim her name as “WOLASTOQ – Beautiful and Bountiful River” from this day forward in Peace and Friendship with our Wabanaki Sisters and Brothers and Treaty Allies.

Kci-woliwon – Great Thanks

Wolastoqewi Grandmothers, Mothers, Women, Citizens: and the

Wolastoq Grand Chief Spassaqsit Possesom – Ron Tremblay