"We did not think of the great open plains, the beautiful rolling hills, and winding streams with tangled growth as "wild". To us it was tame. Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery."

Luther Standing Bear - Rosebud Sioux

Guardian of the Water Medicine

Guardian of the Water Medicine
Dale Auger

Dale Auger

Dale Auger: On Art, Blood and Kindred Spirits
by Terri Mason

Defining Dale Auger in one sentence is akin to releasing the colours of a diamond in one cut. It can’t be done. It’s the many facets that release a diamond’s true brilliance, as it is the many facets of Auger’s life, education, ancestry, experiences and beliefs that have shaped and polished his work into the internationally acclaimed and collected artist that he is today.

Born a Sakaw Cree from the Bigstone Cree Nation in northern Alberta, Auger’s education began as a young boy when his mother would take him to be with the elders. “I used to say to myself, ‘Why is she leaving me with these old people?’ – but today I see the reason; I was being taught in the old way.”

Auger’s respect for traditional teachings led him on a journey to study art, opening the door to a doctorate in education. He is a talented playwright, speaker and visual artist whose vividly coloured acrylics have captured the attention of collectors that reads like an international ‘Who’s Who’ spanning English to Hollywood royalty. The essence of his work is communication, and now Dr. Auger has come full circle, interpreting the life of his culture – from the everyday to the sacred - through the cross-cultural medium of art.

Read the rest here:

http://www.daleauger.com/printversionbio.cfm

Monday, June 16, 2008

Quotes

"But little remains of my ancestors' domain, and I am resolved not to see the day when I have no country." -

Metacom - Wampanoag

Why Moles Live Underground

Cherokee Legend

Many ages ago there was a man who was in love with a young woman. But she disliked him and wanted nothing to do with this young man. He tried in every way to win her favor, but with no success. At last he grew discouraged and made himself sick thinking about it.

Then one day as the man sat alone in his despair, Mole came along, and finding the man so low in his mind, asked what the trouble was. The man told him the whole story of the woman he loved, and her dislike of him. When he had finished, Mole said, "I can help you. Not only will she like you, but she will come to you of her own free will."

That night, while the village slept, burrowing underground to the place where the girl was in bed asleep, Mole took out her Spirit Heart. He came back by the same way and gave her heart to the discouraged lover, who couldn't see it even when it was in his hands. "There," said Mole. "Swallow it, and she will be so drawn to you that she has to come to you."

The man swallowed her heart and felt a warmth in his soul as it went down, and in the morning when the girl woke up she somehow thought of him at once. She felt a strange desire to be with him, to go to him that minute. She couldn't understand it, because she had always disliked him, but the feeling grew so strong that she was compelled to find the man and tell him that she loved him and wanted to be his wife. And so they were married.

All the magicians who knew them both were surprised and wondered how it had come about. When they found that it was the work of Mole, whom they had always thought too insignificant to notice, they were jealous and threatened to kill him. That's why Mole hides under the ground and still doesn't dare to come up.

Five tribes seek to protect Mount Taylor from development

By: Staci Matlock

The state Cultural Properties Review Committee will reconsider a decision to temporarily list Mount Taylor as a cultural resource at a public hearing Saturday in Grants.

In February, the committee approved a temporary listing of 422,840 acres including and around Mount Taylor at the request of five tribes — Navajo, Hopi, Acoma, Laguna and Zuni.

"The tribes were concerned over the years with the unimpeded development" in the area, said Theresa Pasqual, director of the Acoma Pueblo Historic Preservation Office.

The temporary listing gives the tribes and the state Historic Preservation Division one year to gather evidence to get the mountain permanently listed.

The new public hearing was prompted by a recent state attorney general finding that the committee had failed to properly advertise the February meeting and some impacted landowners weren't notified.

There's more here: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/SantaFeNorthernNM/State-reconsiders-temporary-listing-of-Mount-Taylor

Conservative MP apologizes for 'hurtful' comments on aboriginal people

Posted on CBC News.ca

A Conservative MP who on Wednesday told an Ottawa radio station that former residential school students need a stronger work ethic, not more compensation dollars, has apologized for his comments.Pierre Poilievre apologized Thursday for questioning the value of residential school compensation.

Pierre Poilievre stood in the House of Commons Thursday to say he was sorry for his remarks, which were made just hours before Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a public, formal apology to former students of the native residential school program.

"Yesterday on a day when the House and all Canadians were celebrating a new beginning, I made remarks that were hurtful and wrong," Poilievre said.

"I accept responsibility for them and I apologize."

Poilievre had come under heavy criticism for telling CFRA News Talk Radio that he wasn't sure Canada was "getting value for all of this money" being spent to compensate former students of federally financed residential schools.

"My view is that we need to engender the values of hard work and independence and self-reliance. That's the solution in the long run — more money will not solve it," Poilievre said.

The MP for Nepean-Carleton also suggested that aboriginal chiefs have too much power.
"That gets to the heart of the problem on these reserves where there is too much power concentrated in the hands of the leadership, and it makes you wonder where all of this money is going."

Keep reading here: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/12/poilievre-aboriginals.html