News
You’ve got Status: Intervenors on Mining Justice challenge pass BC Supreme Court’s test
Gitxaała’s groundbreaking opposition to B.C.’s outdated and unjust Mineral Tenure Act just got even stronger. It’s now bolstered by the voices of Indigenous organizations, environmental groups, First Nations governments, and responsible mining advocates who have been given leave to intervene in the upcoming court challenge. This historic legal action, scheduled for a seven-day hearing starting…
Salmon Nation launches Edge Prize grant.
Salmon Nation is launching the Edge Prize, which aims to support individuals and organizations working on solutions for their communities, and for the bioregion as a whole. We live in Salmon Nation, a beautiful, rich, and diverse bioregion. Here and beyond, in spite of thechallenges of climate change and cascading system failure, there is so…
PODCAST: The Constitution Express with Doreen Manuel
We sat down with Doreen Manuel, a Secwepemc filmmaker and one of the organizers of the historic Constitution Express.
A RAVEN year in review: highlights from 2022
The year is coming to a close, and for many of us 2022 has been a new chapter in a story of rebirth and transformation in times of uncertainty. As RAVEN heads into its 14th year, and we collectively move forward in our changed world — we know now more than ever that community care…
A timeline: the movement for Indigenous justice
Until very recently, the story that Canada has told about itself has been one-sided and half baked. In the story of “colony to nation,” Indigenous Peoples were part of helping settlers in the early days. They participated in the fur trade, signed a bunch of treaties, then went quiet for 200 years. Then, in the…
Passing forward Grandmother wisdom, wrapped up as legal precedents
As we pick our way along a cedar-lined trail near Bella Bella, B.C. elder Pauline Waterfall explains how her Heiltsuk traditions have been “passed forward” to her. Having suffered through colonial onslaughts of genocide and residential schools, the resilience that Pauline embodies goes much further than just cultural survival. When you follow her into the…
Celebrating Victories in 2022!
Thanks to the RAVEN community, we have a lot to celebrate about 2022! Despite difficult times — wedged between a pandemic and global inflation — we raised over ONE MILLION DOLLARS for Indigenous justice in 2022! Here are some highlights. Beaver Lake Cree Nation: BLCN celebrated a major victory after the Supreme Court of Canada…
A holiday message from our Executive Director, Susan Smitten.
I’m writing this on the ferry back to Victoria, following an uplifting and powerful few days of listening and learning with Gitxaala and Gitanyow leadership in Vancouver. Our Groundswell Mining Justice Summit was one of our first in-person events where we were able to gather in a room in almost three years, it was…
VIDEO: Groundswell Indigenous Mining Summit
Last night, we hosted an absolutely riveting conversation that should motivate anyone with a sense of justice to get behind Gitxaala’s mining challenge. The passionate arguments that presenters brought forward illuminated the genius of pairing the deep wisdom of land-based tradition carriers with the brightest legal strategists in the country. Have a listen. Chat Transcript…
WIN! Roy Henry Vickers & Tall Ship Cruises prizes in RAVEN’s silent auction
Bidding is now open for RAVEN’s fundraising silent auction! Featuring artwork and sailing cruise experiences, the auction is a chance to give twice: get a gift for someone you care about, while also supporting Indigenous Nations to protect land, air and water. Bidding ends: 9:00pm, Thursday 15 December 2022. Serigraphs by Roy Henry Vickers Renowned Indigenous…
Groundswell: An Indigenous Mining Summit
GROUNDSWELL: An Indigenous Mining Justice Summit Get Tickets Chief Txa La Xaatk (Matthew Hill) Hereditary Chief Matthew Hill has dedicated much of his life to working for the betterment of Gitxaała. Naxginkw (Tara Marsden) Tara is from the Lax Ganeda (Frog) Clan of Gitanyow Huwilp of the Gitksan peoples. Her primary focus for her 20-year…
The Story of “Unity”: From Appropriation to Honour
Restorying an appropriated work by Haisla-Heiltsuk artist Mervin Windsor.
Get a sneak peek… and a Home on Native Land mug
Ever find yourself in a conversation about Indigenous rights that goes sideways? We’ve all been there. Whether you get tongue tied trying to explain ‘unceded territory’, or red in the face when trying to confront racist viewpoints, tackling the complexities of how we got to where we are right now as a country is tricky…
John Borrows – On Mindfulness, and Indigenous Law
John Borrows is a member of RAVEN’s legal advisory panel and is co-founder of the joint Common Law and Indigenous Law program at the University of Victoria, the first of its kind. He spoke as part of Sorrento Centre’s Mindfulness and Indigenous Law Conference, sharing beautiful stories and teachings on Indigenous law from his Chippewan of the Nawash Nation and ancestors.
Truth Before Reconciliation: Wenecwtsin Wayne Christian
Wayne Christian (Secwépemc and Syilx Okanagan) shares about his family’s experiences with the Sixties Scoop, and how through revitalization of Indigenous law and traditions is sustaining a new generation of knowledge keepers and land protectors.
Think B.C.’s mineral tenure system is a joke? So do we.
For a $25 fee, you can start prospecting all over B.C: without even notifying the Nation whose land you are on. Put a stop to that: donate.
Trick or Treaty? An Update on the Beaver Lake Cree Nation Campaign
When Beaver Lake Cree Nation declared victory in the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) last March, we didn’t think we’d be telling you this. But: despite a win in the highest court in the land… Beaver Lake Cree Nation (BLCN) is back in court and having to prove, yet again, that they are indeed unable to afford to pay the full cost of its Defend the Treaties trial.
VIDEO: A Community-Led Approach to an Environmental Impact Assessment
Environmental Impact Assessments are standard protocol after an oil spill like the one that occurred in Heiltsuk waters after the Nathan E. Stewart tug ran aground on October 13, 2016. But who leads them, and how they are done is not so simple.
Reconciliation is STILL a verb
Eleven. That’s how many of the 94 Calls to Action from 2015’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission have been completed. Enshrining today, September 30, as National Day of Truth and Reconciliation was one of them. The ones that remain? As urgent as ever. Right now, in Wetsuwet’en territory, a corporation is drilling under a sacred river…
World Rivers Day 2022
Water cloaks our planet and is the source of all life, and rivers are the threads of our waterways. September 25 is World Rivers Day and we are celebrating the Nations whose stewardship and care is working to protect the world’s rivers for everyone.