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Melissa Hotain
by Chanda Hunnie
Melissa Hotain, from Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, is a mother of twin boys, and grandmother of two. She believes in the importance of revitalizing a spiritual kinship with the natural world. She has dabbled in many employment areas, however, never finding herself fully content, she chose to seek more challenging and meaningful ways to dedicate her time. In 1995 Mrs. Hotain applied to the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER) program and was one of the first to be recruited. She is now the Environmental Policy Analyst for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.
“It was something that was more grassroots; somewhere I could make an impact. Here I could change attitudes and change my own attitudes too.”
As an Environmental Policy Analyst, Mrs. Hotain’s objective is to review the environmental policies that affect First Nations, and determine how they can be improved. She explains, “Do the policies work? Do they fit? A lot of times in the past, policies were made for First Nations, not with them. We’re trying to change that.” Finding out what the issues are, and ongoing monitoring of the policies that affect people at the community level, is all part of the responsibility.
“It was something that was more grassroots; somewhere I could make an impact. Here I could change attitudes and change my own attitudes too.”
Mrs. Hotain’s involvement encompasses an array of issues. The “environment” includes: climate change, water and wastewater issues, forestry, fisheries, species at risk, environmental contaminants, and overall environmental health. More specifically, participation and consultation in areas include: hog production, Red River Valley Water Supply Project, Devil’s Lake Outlet, Protocol for Safe Drinking Water in First Nations Communities, and Manitoba Model Forest. With this awareness it becomes strikingly obvious the extent of the task that she is undertaking.
More resources, including public participation and mobilization, are necessary to address environmental issues that affect Indigenous people. The main obstacle, Mrs. Hotain concedes, is a persistent lack of resources. Other provincial counterparts to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs are better equipped to deal with the challenges. “There is more work that we can do,” she contends. “Others have more resources and staff, which make them stronger, more able to respond. Eventually I’d like to move in this direction.”
Indigenous Spiritual Kinship
The Indigenous worldview is unique. It contains the knowledge that life on earth is co-dependent, where all things are connected and equal. Mrs. Hotain explains, “First Nations are very tied to the land traditionally. Every different cultural group has teachings, stories from time immemorial, that show our affinity with the land. Animals gave themselves to you, and you respected them in return. The land was respected and cared for; it was all we had and it was a way of life. How we treated the land, is how it treated us.”
The Indigenous way of life depended on this reciprocity, which is guided by the subsistence, or hunting and gathering lifestyle of the people. An unspoken commitment existed between human beings and animals; consequently the relationship with animals was analogous to kinship. “We never considered ourselves superior beings. The knowledge was that we were brothers and sisters with the animals.” Mrs. Hotain adds, “We just need to revitalize and practice it again.”
The east side of Lake Winnipeg, Canada’s largest intact fragment of boreal forest, is an area where First Nations communities still practice traditional activities. Therefore the survival of the relatively isolated people who reside there is directly related to the health of the land. “First Nations connection to the land is holistic. It is a way of life; if you alter it, it affects everything. To me, you have to think about the value of having the trees, the flora and fauna, everything that comes with it. The changes imposed [on the east side] affects and alters the way one is able to practice good health.”
Individually and collectively, striving and conducting ourselves in ways that create positive and respectful relationships, including our relationship with the natural world, is fundamental to the Indigenous cosmology. In a time when the natural functions of the earth are being unduly strained by human activity, the need to revitalize the knowledge of spiritual kinship is even more paramount. Through dedicated people, there appears to be movement in this direction. Still, more voices and leadership is needed.
Possessing a unique connection to the land, First Nations people have a valuable knowledge of the natural world. Boreal forest and wilderness protection efforts would benefit tremendously with this knowledge and experience. Wary of the signs related to a global environmental catastrophe, Mrs. Hotain warns, “It is no longer a matter of if, but when will a pandemic occur? How prepared are we? Elders are all saying the time to do something is now.”
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March 19th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Thank you for sharing this inspiring interview. I’m glad to see indigenous people’s taking control of their resources. There are many examples of how indigenous wisdom can contribute to today’s natural resource issues and policy decisions - now here is another one. Thank you.
May 8th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I have to say meegwetch! It is leaders like you who choose to step into the unknowen and share and speak of the challenges our people face with the damaages we all do to our precious mother earth on daily bases.The challenges our people face needs to be addressed nation to nation from leaders to leaders like yourself!
TIRED OF THINKING !! TIME FOR ACTION !! Im In !!!