The territorial land of the Nuxalk (Nu-Hauck) Nation is located
in the Great Coast Rainforest of the central coast of British
Columbia. This land is being decimated by logging in violation
of the Canadian government's own national laws and agreements
concerning tribal nations and their lands. Two Nuxalk Nation
Chiefs, Ed Moody and Lawrence Pootlass, will visit Los Angeles
January 10-13, 1996 for an interchange with the people of
Southern California. The Chiefs are coming to remind us all of
the connections between northern temperate forests, the lives of
sovereign native peoples, the health of the global biosphere and
the wood and paper products we use in our daily lives.
The Nuxalk Nation has not signed any treaty agreement with the
Canadian government but International Forest Products Ltd.
(INTERFOR) is working with the government's armed assistance to
deforest the tribal area as quickly as possible. Further, the
Canadian government is actively working to usurp native land
rights in British Columbia and to change the traditional ways of
the indigenous nations to accomodate the decimation of their land
by corporations such as INTERFOR.
The Head Chiefs of the Nuxalk Nation directly involved in this
struggle will be in Los Angeles this week. These individuals
were imprisoned for attempting to stop the decimation of their
land and traditional food sources, and their trial resumes in the
Supreme Court of British Columbia on January 15th. They now seek
to bring the Canadian government's refusal to heed its own laws
and decrees into the light of international scrutiny.
Events in LA will kick off Thursday January 11, 1996 with a
presentation by the Chiefs to hundreds of schoolchildren at the
Mt. Vernon Middle School (9:00 AM - 10:10 AM 4066 17th ST., Los
Angeles). Contact Kim Mizrahi at 310-306-0655. A blessing for
the Earth will take place at the bluffs overlooking the Ballona
Wetlands at 12:00 Noon, (80th and Berger St). On Friday, January
12th, the Chiefs will again share their message with the
children, this time at the Crossroads School in Santa Monica from
8:40 AM to 9:00 AM. An informal gathering will take place at the
Earth Trust House that evening starting at 7:00 PM (20110
Rockport Way, Malibu, CA).
In these days of changing global weather patterns the effects of
forest decimation will be felt by us here in Los Angeles. With
NAFTA we will see the continued decimation of native peoples'
resources throughout the continent. We stand with the Nuxalk
people in their fight to protect their ancestral tribal lands.
To the Nuxalk, the land is alive, a sacred gift from the creator,
and the people are obligated by Potlatch to protect the land so
that it will continue to provide for them. We ask that all
people everywhere concerned with the future and the health of the
planet and our children stand with the Nuxalk as well. The
struggle to protect sacred land by the Nuxalk Nation will be one
of the major environmental victories of 1996.
Contacts:
Forest Action Network (FAN California)
John Quigley, Earth Trust, 310-456-8300, FAX 310-456-0388
Greg Sotir, 213-467-9858, FAX 213-467-9868
Celia Alario, Reverence For Life Realized, ph/fx 310-314-4833