Category: Movie

Indigenous climate activist, writer, and filmmaker Clayton Thomas-Müller was raised in Winnipeg, a city named after the Cree word meaning “muddy waters.” His memoir, Life in the City of Dirty Water, published in August 2021, recounts his early years of dislocation growing up in the core of the Manitoba capital—from the domestic and sexual abuse he endured to the drugs he sold to survive (his first job was managing a drug house for the largest Indigenous gang in the country).

Clayton’s early struggles are only the beginning of his remarkable story, however. Years later, his immersion in Cree spirituality and reconnection with the land and his home territory of Pukatawagan led him on a personal healing journey that saw him become a leading organizer on the frontlines of environmental resistance, opening new pathways against the extractive forces perpetuating climate breakdown.

Indigenous rights, worldviews, and self-determination are medicines for the climate crisis, what Clayton might refer to as a “bush pharmacy.” These medicines were threatened by European colonial and economic systems like capitalism and residential schools. Since contact, Indigenous peoples have resisted—from the fur trade centuries ago to clear-cut logging and the tar sands today—and they continue to do so despite surviving a genocide that sought to eradicate their languages, ceremonies, traditional knowledge and philosophy.

Life in the City of Dirty Water chronicles both Clayton’s past and current work as a campaigner for the international climate justice organization 350.org, as well as his two-decade-long work as a campaigner for Indigenous peoples struggling against resource extraction projects. And the memoir is personal: it reads as if you’re at a coffee shop with Clayton discussing strategies about how to heal yourself and Mother Earth.

In this interview, which has been edited for clarity and length, Canadian Dimension sat down with Clayton to talk about his work as an activist, his journey of healing, and the importance of invoking the sacred.

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Matteo Cimellaro: Can you explain your own process of healing and how that has informed your work as an activist?

Clayton Thomas-Müller: That’s been an arduous journey over the years. I’ve relapsed with alcoholism and drug abuse and self-destructive behaviours, usually in time of burn-out. Right out of working for the Manitoba Warriors, I went straight into the frontline doing gang intervention and decolonization work with young people in the inner city and on reserves. This crew I was part of was the Native Youth Movement; we would go into communities just with our bundles and pipes and open up with a pipe ceremony and have conversations about decolonialism and about prophecy. We talked about the seven-generation prophecy, where Indigenous youth and allies will come together to enact a new age of healing and rebirth for Native people and Turtle Island.

MC: In the book, you constantly invoke love, care, and joy as essential parts of your healing process. Do you think it is necessary to have that love, care, and joy in your activist work? To transform the anger and resentment in the work into a project, an ethic, of care?

CTM: Anger makes sense; it’s a reality. Anger and fear and shame are words that pop into mind that our people carry disproportionately. And there’s also under-resourcing. What feeds into that anger is all of the stereotypes that come from a very well-funded campaign from the colonial state, from corporations, from the private sector, and white supremacist social movement vehicles. They’re all focused on one thing: to keep the Canadian economic engine going. And even though that engine’s success is rooted in the dispossession of our people from our homelands, and the disenfranchisement from our collective right enshrined in section 35 of the Canadian constitution and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. These are inalienable rights that corporations, provincial governments, and federal governments aren’t supposed to interfere with—they are Creator-given rights. And our people would refer to them as responsibilities as stewards to the land, air, water, and climate.

Anger is self-destructive. I write about this in the memoir. I used that little ball of condensed anger—it’s like having a black hole inside of your belly—and I used the energy of that to strike out against our enemies, those people that would sacrifice our communities at the altar of irresponsible policy. Most of the time it would be our own Native people: Indian Act chiefs and councils who would be sitting across the table from government liaisons. Now that I’m a bit older and had a few battles, and have a few battle scars, I recognize how working from a place of anger and resentment and hatred and fear and shame, leads to you beginning to cannibalize yourself, and falling into negative patterns with yourself and others.

MC: Canadians might see a lot of Indigenous activism, especially blockades and pipeline protests as radical, perhaps even dangerous. Do you think there will be a time where the majority of Canadians will follow Indigenous leaders on issues like climate and self-determination?

CTM: First off, I’m not interested in trying to appeal to the conservative voter who lives in the 3,500-square-foot house with a three-door garage, the pool in the back, and a cottage wherever. Because for the most part, when they hear about change, decolonization, human rights, white privilege, and dismantling white supremacy, they get scared. All they hear is you’re trying to make my life less prosperous for me and my family.

The reality is Canadians are card-carrying, law-abiding citizens; if we change the system, if we change the law, Canadians will follow it, and will see how a lot of the problems that exist in society dissipate when we prioritize the most marginalized segments of society—when we prioritize First Nations, immigrants, migrants, and brown and black people in this country. Problems exist because 80 percent of Canada’s population is white presenting; until white supremacy and colonization becomes a white problem, problems will continue to exist, because these are the people that are benefiting from systems of oppression.

When a segment of society has control of the military, the police apparatus, economic things like mortgages and tax write-offs, and all the capital you’ve inherited, it’s easy to not see what everybody else is going through. That’s why you have labels on First Nations, but in reality, Natives have been subsidizing wealth in this country since its inception.

MC: That’s putting it lightly.

CTM: Yeah, and I think Native peoples are sick and tired of that. And white people are starting to fall through the cracks of the social safety net, and young people are woke nowadays, and even elementary kids have an analysis. One of the things I get optimistic about now is that 70 percent of the Native population is under the age of 30, so what we’re going to witness over the next decade is this entrance into Canada’s labour economy of workers that are Indigenous.

MC: Indigenous people prioritize their own form of reconciliation: reclaiming their lands, returning to ceremony, returning to forms of being on the land that honours the Creator. Can you speak to the journey from oppressive colonization to a healing predicated on the reclamation of Indigenous spirituality?

CTM: Colonialism is the cause of our existential threat of climate change. We have CEOs in black suits coming into our communities promising quick-fixes and changing our relationship to the sacredness of the Earth through mass extractivism. Instead of Catholicism being the religion of the day, now it’s capitalism.

But for me healing is a constant thing, like education, it’s something you revisit; it’s a well you draw from not just when you are in crisis, but also in celebration. When somebody is born, married, it’s important to invoke the sacred. And that’s something I still struggle with to this day: learning to be in balance and having an ongoing conversation with the Creator because that’s something everybody should do and can do.

The post ‘Healing Is a Constant Thing’: In Conversation with Clayton Thomas-Müller appeared first on Nature Canada.

As the Canadian ecologist Suzanne Simard discovered, the trees of a forest “speak” to each other under the earth, sharing nutrients through the fungal colonies that inhabit their root systems. The geobiologist Hope Jahren called this process “soil talking.” 

Similarly, local nature groups depend on a larger community for the life-sustaining flow of knowledge and support. That’s where Nature Canada comes in. We’ve been “soil-talking” for 80 years.

In an earlier incarnation, we were a federation—a national representative of local nature groups. Over the years, we’ve become less of a federation and more of our own entity. But our network of local groups, the Nature Network, remains one of our greatest strengths. We currently have over 1000 groups in our Nature Network database. 

Who are our partners?

They are the members of Bird-Safe Guelph, who work with us on our Bird-Friendly City program and who are helping local birds “survive and thrive.” They are the planters and tenders of Saskatoon’s SOS Trees Coalition, who have been protecting and fostering urban forests since 1992. They are the citizens of Climate Network Lanark, who are bringing climate change action down to the people’s scale by implementing local climate initiatives. 

And they are the Indigenous groups and communities—the Cree of Eeyou Istchee on James Bay, for example, who are working to protect the bird and wildlife habitat of their homeland; and the Métis of Île-à-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan, who are leading the effort to create Sakitawak IPCA (Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area). 

In sum, they are birders, botanists, hikers, canoeists, trail associations, wildlife centres, land trusts, naturalist groups, friends of local parks and all-around patriots of the living world. They are not just protecting landscapes and waterscapes; they are preserving ways of life.  

That’s why, in 2021, we supported our partners to the tune of over $1.1 million. In addition to providing funding, we have convened regular working groups and communities of practice, and offered tools and services to help groups with their own engagement work. 

And, as we help local groups realize their potential, they help us realize ours.

Nature Canada conducts national campaigns on important themes ranging from expanding protected areas to promoting nature-based climate solutions. For each of our national campaigns, we rally local groups whose interests dovetail with the focus of the campaign. For example, over 400 of our partners have contributed in some way to our protected areas advocacy. 

Despite our success in engaging hundreds of nature groups, we’re very keen on growing the network—which is why we’re conducting surveys with those groups we’d love to know better.

Like a tree’s root system, our Nature Network is a living lattice, a community of the earth (and for the Earth). Within this community, individual groups not only grow stronger; they can work together to bring about large-scale change. 

Want to learn more about our Nature Network? Reach out to us at engage@naturecanada.ca

The post On Trees, Partnerships and “Soil Talking” appeared first on Nature Canada.

Countries around the globe need to do more to stop the destruction of ecosystems and rescue the planet from human-caused mass extinction. That’s the core message of a major new report written by over 50 researchers from 23 countries.

The report assesses the science underpinning the draft Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, the basis for a new 10-year plan to stem biodiversity loss that will be the focus of discussions at this year’s COP15 Biodiversity Summit in Kunming, China.

The new report concludes that global commitments to protect 30% of land and ocean by 2030 are essential, but insufficient on their own, to address the multiple threats driving species extinction, including pollution, climate change, overharvesting and invasive species.

To address these threats, the authors call for a transformative change in how humanity uses the planet’s resources.

While action at the international level is critical, the authors are clear that many of the day-to-day decisions that affect biodiversity occur at the national level.

Canada can play a critical role in turning the tide on species loss as the home to biodiverse and carbon-rich oceans, forests, wetlands, and grasslands.

We are already providing leadership by investing in the most significant expansion of protected areas on land and ocean in Canadian history and by committing to make Indigenous-led conservation central to this strategy. 

But as the report notes, protecting habitat is not enough to address biodiversity loss. We need comprehensive action to halt and reverse the free fall of species across the country. 

The challenge is that our current biodiversity laws and policies are ineffective and badly out of date. Canada’s Biodiversity Strategy dates from 1995 and remains largely unimplemented. We have fallen short of achieving most of the Biodiversity Goals and Targets set by the federal government in 2015. Biodiversity data and inventories are fragmented, and biodiversity knowledge is not well-integrated or readily accessible to Canadians. 

And much of our data and accounting for nature is just wrong. For example, the government continues to undervalue the climate and ecological importance of ecosystems like primary forests while turning a blind eye to the impacts of industrial logging. 

In its 2021 election platform, the Liberal Party promised to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030, and after forming government, it mandated its Ministers to deliver on this goal. 

We’ll need a national action plan to make this happen with strong Indigenous engagement and rigorous monitoring and accountability.

From the scientists mobilized by the recent UN report to Indigenous leadership across the country and an impressive array of conservation experts across sectors–Canada has the know-how to take this commitment seriously.  

By advancing a domestic action plan to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030, Canada strengthens its position to play a leadership role at COP15. All while helping achieve a 10-year global biodiversity framework to address the threat of mass extinction and putting the world on the path to support the full recovery of nature. 

Future generations and our fellow species deserve no less.

The post New Report Urges Transformative Change to Halt and Reverse Biodiversity Loss by 2030 appeared first on Nature Canada.

About 400,000 tonnes of food waste is thrown out every year in Newfoundland and Labrador, and 3F Waste Recovery, a startup of 11 people in St. Anthony, Newfoundland, wants to decrease that number. The three F’s in the company’s name stand for farm, fish and forestry — the main areas in which they’re trying to reduce waste.

Jonathan Yick is a natural product bioengineer with 3F, working there through Nature Canada’s Work to Grow program. He’s involved in multiple projects that try to reduce waste from the environment – such as dealing with cod by-products and repurposing farm waste.

“I find, especially in Newfoundland, that waste reduction is an issue. Our recycling program, our environmental programs aren’t that great,” Yick said. “Given the way the world is going, we need to start reducing waste now, or else we might not have a world to live in.”

Yick helps with anything related to research and development, such as determining equipment needs, setting up job sites, and other engineering-related tasks.

When it comes to waste that industries produce, Yick gave the example of cod fish. When it’s filleted, only 40 percent of the fish is used. The remaining 60 percent is dumped back into the ocean or sent to a landfill.

“We’re trying to make it so that the by-products, or what you would consider waste, is actually going to be more valuable than the fish fillets,” he said. “By doing that, it will create an incentive for people to develop less waste or find a new use for it.”

As part of the company’s Zero Waste Farms project, the hope is to divert more than 200 metric tons of Newfoundland farm waste.

Dedicated to working in zero waste

Yick said that he always considered a career in the biomedical or environmental field, even though that’s uncommon for his degree.

“Going through mechanical engineering, I always knew that I wanted to steer away from oil and gas, which is one of the main fields for a mechanical engineer, mainly because I didn’t want to contribute to that kind of industry,” he explained.

“When I was told about 3F Waste Recovery, I thought this would be an excellent opportunity. While it doesn’t pay as well as an oil and gas company, I feel like I’m doing something substantial and something meaningful. That’s the main thing.”

Although the Work to Grow position is temporary, he’ll have the opportunity to continue his work with the company afterwards.

“We’re such a small company, so we rely heavily on funding sources, such as Work to Grow,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing to have those opportunities. Otherwise. I don’t think I would have been taken on in the first place.”

Yick hopes that the job will inspire others as well.

“I do believe that our initiatives to approach zero waste will make a huge difference, at least to Newfoundland, and hopefully to the rest of Atlantic Canada. Maybe it can be a model that can be approached by the rest of Canada and even the world.”

The post Work to Grow: A Vision to Reduce and Repurpose Waste in Newfoundland appeared first on Nature Canada.

There are many barriers that Black, Indigenous and other people face when it comes to accessing nature spaces. Major barriers include physical distance, financial costs and barriers related to normalizing “whiteness” in environmental culture.

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), in Alberta, launched the bioDIVERSITY project this summer to help reduce barriers faced by racialized communities and immigrant groups. The CPAWS team is passionate about social justice, and movements like Black Lives Matter were a factor in making bioDIVERSITY happen. The project is unique to the CPAWS Southern Alberta chapter – and in the region.

Jaclyn Angotti, co-lead of the project, says CPAWS wanted to introduce programs that would be more inclusive for all Albertans who want to engage in conservation, environmental education and outdoor recreation.

“We recognize that there are many voices and faces that are traditionally excluded from these spaces. And so, the point of the project is to really break down barriers, and invite folks into the [eco-justice] conversations.”

Hira Shah, also co-lead of the project, says that the people who interact with CPAWS are usually a very white audience, and it can be harder for racialized people to interact with CPAWS programs, but the organization is working to change that.

Some of the activities include Indigenous-led nature walks, with Indigenous speakers and elders to present the walks. Shah says that people were very interested in learning about Indigenous perspectives on nature and what they can do to support Indigenous communities.

“Being a person of colour, I know that, as I’m looking for activities here, around Calgary, it does make me feel a bit more welcome by seeing diverse faces in nature,” Shah says.

CPAWS also runs education programs and summer camps, during which youth learn about eco-justice and green spaces. Soon, the organization will start the Changemakers project, which encourages people to take eco-actions, such as helping in a community garden and buying an environmentally friendly car.

“We really want to make sure that all of these actions are seen as equally important, and as equally contributing to our natural environment as well,” Shaw says.

CPAWS is focused on tackling the history of racism in Canada. Through the bioDIVERSITY project, Angotti says that they want to help shift perspectives in Alberta and across Canada about what is environmentalism and who is an environmentalist.

“We’re trying to look at how we [as a country] have been wrong in the past,” she says.

Connecting with nature is the driving force for people to be inspired to take environmental action. Shah adds that we won’t be able to reach any of our conservation goals on a municipal, provincial or federal level if racialized communities aren’t involved.

“It’s not possible without having everyone on board,” she says. “The goals that we’re aiming for, the steps that we’re trying to achieve, all of these things require full community level participation.”

The post CPAWS Southern Alberta Makes Nature More Accessible to Racialized Communities appeared first on Nature Canada.