* 4 - Wednesday, April 11, 1990 - North Shore News Bos HUNTER ° Eco-Logic ¢ THE BATTLES of South Moresby, Meares Island and the Stein Valley have been characterized by an alliance of native people and environmental groups. On any number of other environmental fronts, this particular combination of forces shows up side-by-side. The surface explanation is that the issues involve unsettled land claims, and therefore the Indians are simply protecting their turf, in alliance with conservationists for no more good reason than the old adage that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Land claims are, of course, a factor. In British Columbia, precious few treaties were ever signed. When B.C. entered Confederation, it was on the basis of a vote taken among the ethnic minority called whites. The vast majority of the territory’s people -— the natives — were simply nct consulted. Tt dawned on me that while the sweat lodge served as both a sensory deprivation chamber and sauna, tts essential Junction was to serve as a church.”’ Nowadays, nobody except a to- talitarian state would try to get away with such a scam. It wouldn’t be recognized by any- body as legitimate. Accordingly, there is a perfectly sound legal basis to the native argument that B.C. belongs to them “lock, stock and barrel.’ But there is much more to the environmentalist/native alliance than land claims. At bottom, the world view of the environmentalist is a 20th century variation on an- cient indigenous religious beliefs. Anybody who studies ecology sooner or later comes to the realization that here is a science that validates at least one religious view of the worid: namely that all life forms are interrelated and in- terdependent, that system into system flows, and that if you do not take a responsible attitude toward nature, nature clobbers you back. I, for one, have felt a powerful affinity with native beliefs — and not a few of their prophecies — for many years, starting in 1971 when I was adopted as an honor- ary brother of Kwaikut! Indians. Since then, I have got to know numerous natives quite well. Next fall, 1 will be having a book published titled ‘‘Made In Occupied Canada,” a revised his- tory of this country from the native point of view, written in collaboration with a Cree friend of mine. It is a kind of Indian ‘“*Roots.”” As an upshot of my relationship with native peopie, I agreed several years ago to the building of a Cree-style sweat lodge in my back acre above Burrard Inlet. I was in- vited in to take part in a ‘‘sweat,”’ which proved to be a revelation. It dawned on me that while the sweat lodge served as both a sen- sory deprivation chamber and a sauna, its essential function was to serve as a church. The Indians I did the sweat with were all pray- ing. For my benefit, the medicine man did part of the ceremony in English. The ‘‘god’’ they were praying to was Mother Earth. They were praying with all the fervor that I remembered from my childhood as a Catholic. But this god of the In- dians could be touched and smell- ed and heard. At its extreme edge, ‘‘deep ecology’’ is indistinguishable from this native view. The ‘‘Gaia” theory postulated by James Lovelock holds that the Earth is, indeed, a living entity which in some vastly mysterious fashion engineers and regulates the biosystem that keeps us all alive and, indeed, creates us. Even in its milder forms, en- vironmentalism tends to re-sanctify the natural world, thus bestowing a higher value upon trees and animal, for instance, than they had so long as the “‘scientific’’ Euro- pean mind-set was dominant. A recent interview in Omni magazine with anthropologist Alfonso Ortiz, a Pueblo Indian, clarified some of these ideas for me. Among native people, Ortiz says, ‘‘there was never an effort to manipulate the creatures. The question most persistently asked was: ‘What place does this being have in the scheme of things?’ You accept the Creator’s wisdom in placing that creature there. You don’t ask, ‘How can I use it?’ “*Most peoples believe they may use anything of the earth for their own benefit. In Native American religions, kinship with nature is the postulate.’’ Note: ‘‘kinship with.’* Not “domination over.’ He adds: ‘Europeans never learned a responsibility to nature. The remaining Native American cosmological world views are models for responsibility toward the future. It’s not too late to turn around the ecological catastrophe. We (are) talking about new ways of perceiving relationships among human beings — a troublesome species — andthe earth. - “*Those ways are already there in Indian teachings, as is the idea of sharing the earth with other life forms and developing new forms of respect in order to develop new relationships with them.”’ He suggests that for America — and obviously this is equally true for Canada — adopting tenets of an Indian world view would be a very healthy thing.’* In fact, as the ‘‘green’’ phenom- enon develops, this is precisely what is happening. Whether one wishes to view it as a parallel de- velopment or simply a kind of belated conversion to native thought, the Greens are simply people who are in the process of being ‘‘Indianized’’ at a very basic level. Dr. Debra Rovinelli & Dr. Bart McRoberts are pleased to announce Dr. Corinne Knight has joined their practice GENERAL EYE AND VISION CARE Dundarave Terace Prof. Bldg. 114-2419 Bellevue Ave., West Vancouver 925-2525 A DAY IN THE FOLLOWING people ap- peared in North and West Van- couver provincial courts recently to face various charges laid against them. Before Judge R.D. Grandison in North Vancouver provincial court on April 4: Ron Alexander Wilson was fined $100 after the 22-year-old North Vancouver man pleaded guilty to failing to leave a licensed premise when requested by a police officer in connection with a Dec. 23, 1989 incident. wee Yok-In Lei was fined $100 after the 25-year-old Vancouver man pleaded guilty to a Jan. 25 hit and run in the parking lot at Capilano College. Before Judge A.J. Scow in North Vancouver provincial court on April 4: Robert Balbir Biln of Squamish and Bruce Douglas Forbes of Brackendale, were fined $200 each after the two men pleaded guilty to two counts of stealing sideview mirrors Jan. 30 in North Van- couver City. Before Judge J.L. McCarthy in North Vancouver provincial court on April 3: Bryan Neil Lockhart was fined $650 and put on probation for 18 months after the 29-year-old West Vancouver man pleaded guilty to assaulting a man in connection with a Nov. 25, 1989 incident. As a condition of his probation, Lockhart was ordered to have no ‘NURSING. *&. » Live-ins ; 24 HOURS A DAY DRAKE MEDOX 987-0861 HEALTH SERVICES” contact with the victim. Before Judge J.K. Shaw in West Vancouver provincial court on March 29: Gordon Russell Everingham received a suspended sentence and was put on probation for 18 months after the 45-year-old North Vancouver man pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman in connection with an Oct. 22, 1989 incident in West Vancouver. Before Judge J.K. Shaw in West Vancouver provincial court on March 28: Stephen Douglas Johnston was sentenced to one day in jail after the 26-year-old Burnaby man pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana in connection with a Nov. 5, 1989 drug seizure. wee Trevor Bruce Wilson was placed on a $1,000 recognizance to keep the peace for one year after the 23- year-old Vancouver man n plead- URT ed guilty to threatening two North Shore women between Oct. 1, 1989 and Nov. 21, 1989. Before Judge R.D. Grandison in West Vancouver provincial court on March 26: Edwin Waltenburgh was fined $300 after the 21-year-old Langley man pleaded guilty to driving Jan. 14 while prohibited from doing so by a court order. Before Judge J.K. Shaw in West Vancouver provincial court on March 12: Fanny Duque Kellems received a conditional discharge and was put on probation for two years after the 47-year-old West Vancouver woman pleaded guilty to pesses- sion of an unregistered 38-calibre Smith and Wesson revolver in connection with an Oct. 3, 1989 incident. Before Judge D.R. Sheppard in Vancouver county court on March Edward Fraser was fined $500 and had his driver’s licence suspended for one year after the 20-year-old Vancouver man plead- ed guilty to dangerous driving in connection with an Oct. 22, 1989 incident in the area of East 15th Street i in North Vancouver. F-A-S-T COLLISION REPAIRS CALL THE PROFESSIONALS AT JAYLORMOTIVE . 1959 LTD. FREE RENTAL COURTESY CARS B.C.A.A. APPROVED — A.R.A. CERTIFIED .C.B.C. VENDOR FOR ALL MAKES AYLORMOTTY! 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