http://www.sonomacountyfreepress.com/features/pay2pray.html Don't Pay to Pray by Lorayne Martinez
Praying or remembering our essence is as natural to us as breathing.
Also like breathing, we very often forget to do it. Well as many of us are aware, for many years now and ever on the increase, there are those that wish to "help" us. For a price, however. Most of these "teachers", "gurus", "shamans", "medicine people" are self proclaimed, self taught, or ordained so by someone who is. They have read books, attended lectures, seminars, workshops and/or intensives that are very expensive. They have gone home and practiced and analyzed whatever they were sold. In a moment of ecstasy, they "realized" they were good at it, they, too, had a gift. But far from giving, these people take and take and take. They take peoples money, peoples attention, they take peoples identities. All the while you are being told, "the more you give, the more you receive." This pulls on peoples needs for spiritual connectedness, healing, and power. This is spiritual exploitation.
* Spiritual exploitation breeds genocide at its core.
* Spiritual exploitation breeds dependency.
* Spiritual exploitation is capitalism at its most manipulative.
It's all about Power and Money, marketed in a magical cape of lavender and rainbows.
In my opinion, one of these supposed medicine people Brooke Edwards, a.k.a. Brooke Medicine Eagle, was here in Sonoma County in March. Many of us were there to encourage others not to support this spiritual genocide and exploitation. Most went in , but several did stay out to discuss this issue, and one person walked by my sign, read it "DON'T PAY TO PRAY", said vehemently "What is this shit?!", and kept walking. After the approximately two and a half hour talk, which cost twenty dollars, Brooke came out and was calmly told by a spokesperson from the Center For The Spirit to stop exploiting American Indian ways, in particular those of the Crow Tribe of Montana.
She claimed to conduct what she does in a respectful, harmonious way. However, she did not ask any questions as to who she was offending, why, or to set up a time to discuss any of these issues. She didn't appear to "hear" what was being said. In my estimation she seemed a very gracious brick wall, unwilling to communicate but oh so nice about it. Which is basically how all people of color, including my ancestors here in the western hemisphere, have been and continue to be treated. As they smile and chop off our hands for not giving gold, they ignore our existence, our screams and continue their mantra I WANT, I WANT, I WANT.
Summer Solstice is past now but thought this important to send out. Also there are more people who have died because of fake ceremonies and people running them who have no right too than are on this list...some food for thought people..... Education is the key.... when we went to Yellowstone to talk to the Eden event we kept hearing "We had no idea.." over and over again...and thats just it - they have NO IDEA.... coming from a non-native culture - they dont know a real spiritual leader from the fake down the street..we made a difference in alot of peoples perceptions and beliefs up there and it will spread.... changes are happening....we can all make a difference. Another key that was discussed is that people dont have to follow native ways to be spiritual people....but that is another whole long discussion ... Kitty
____________________
Summer Solstice is approaching and so is the chance of someone dying again in a New Age sweat lodge.
Please remember the victims of the New Age commodification of our culture in your prayers this week.
They were all human beings and none of them deserved to die this way.
In Memoriam
Rowen Cooke 37, Melbourne Australia died in a sweat lodge November 4, 2004 Kylie Watts, 30 Byron Bay in New South Wales died in a sweat lodge in 2003 Kirsten "Kris" Babcock 34 Redding, California died in a sweat lodge on June 21, 2002 David Thomas Hawker, 36, of Union City, California died in a sweat lodge on June 21, 2002 Gordon Reynolds, 43 of Twickenham, West London died in a sweat lodge on November 21, 1996 Kelly Rice, 35 of Austin, Texas, housekeeper and masseuse, died of accidental heatstroke inside a sweat lodge in June1993 Ronald Delgado of Santa Barbara California was killed in Archie Fire Lame Deer's 'Vision Quest' on July 12, 1980
Many of these people died in sweats held on very hot days around the summer solstice.
With the popularity of the twinkie sweat lodge ever increasing there's an increased probability that someone will die this weekend.
Please don't let these deaths be forgotten.
If you have time, please consider grass roots organizing to educate people about the dangers of these sweats and the harm that they do to native people or to protest any sweat lodges in your area.
Don't Pay to Pray has been keeping statistics on the number and cost of non-NDN sweat lodges since 2001.
We found that the average cost of sweats reported to us from people across the United States and Canada has increased from $46.67 in 2001 to $95.
00 in 2007 and it skyrocketed to $965.26 in 2008.
The number reported to us has risen nearly 900%.
It appears that the sweat-lodge cottage industry is not a mainstream high-end service.
This only increases the liklihood that someone will die this weekend.
We've noticed that many of the more expensive sweats now require waivers.
(Note: SOTEMS is the group that was running the sweat where Rowan Cooke died. He was only 37 and he had a young son.
)
It tells you a lot about the true character of people when you see that their primary response to this horrible mistake was to protect themselves legally in the event of future deaths.
We've noticed that those who conduct these sweats are getting bolder in insisting on payment for their services and more and more people are simply taking them at their word.
Most frauds are now claiming that payment is merely an "exchange of energy" and that it is no longer appropriate just to give the twinkie shame-man blankets, food or gas – we're hearing over and over again that it's appropriate to give large sums of "energy" (that means money).
As activists, we can't let our voices be drowned out by those who would commercialize our spirituality.
Every year we post the solstice sweats and ask for help getting the word out.
Today, a cousin pointed out to me that it's probably now true that more non-NDN people have participated in sweat lodges than have NDN people.
Through their numbers and their resources, non NDNs have barged into our communities and have nearly supplanted us from our own cultures.
This weekend millions of people all over the world will attend twisted versions of sweat lodge ceremonies believing they are doing something good that is sanctioned by indigenous spiritual leaders.
The price of the average twinkie sweat lodge is rapidly growing beyond the means of the poorest people so the frauds have priced out everybody but the richest, whitest people from the trendiest sweats.
I don't really think this is completely unintentional.
Whether they intend it or not, those who claim to respect our religion are supplanting authentic native people from our own religious practices.
We have compiled as much information as we can find, but we need help to get the word out about these frauds.
Please take some time today and get the word out about them.
Feel free to forward the list to any listserves or organizations that you think might be helpful.
The list can be downloaded from the files at Debunking Debunkers rule
Abuse and Exploitation of American Indian Sacred Traditions A Statement from the Center for the SPIRIT
One phenomenally successful exploiter of traditional Indian spirituality is a woman named Brooke Edwards, who transacts her business under the assumed name of "Brooke Medicine Eagle". Ms. "Medicine Eagle" operates "spirituality camps" in Montana, charging as much as $1,500 per person for the privilege of putting up a tent on her ranch for two weeks. (Assuming that at least twenty people participate in each session, Ms. "Medicine Eagle" takes in at least $30,000 every two weeks, all summer long.) Ms. "Medicine Eagle" has been denounced by the Crow Tribe of Montana, with whom she claims affiliation as a spiritual "teacher", for misrepresenting and abusing the spiritual traditions of the Crow people through her high-profit cottage industry. According to John Pretty On Top, traditional Crow sundance chief and the officially designated Cultural Director and Speaker for the Crow Tribe, Ms. "Medicine Eagle" is neither a traditional medicine woman (contrary to her paid advertisements) nor an enrolled member of the Crow Tribe. Rather, Ms. "Medicine Eagle" is a profound embarrassment to traditional Crow People, says Mr. Pretty On Top:
"The book she published is so far away from Crow spirituality she's not recognized anywhere in our traditional ways". Mr. Pretty On Top has expressed concern for the harm to the reputation of legitimate Crow spirituality that inevitably follows from the prosperous charlatanism of imposters like Brooke Edwards and he urges non-Indians not to support Ms. "Medicine Eagle" financially or otherwise.
We join with John Pretty On Top and the Crow Tribe of Montana in urging all supporters of American Indian people to help us in our struggle for social justice and religious freedom by actively opposing the spiritual genocide manifest in the exploitation and abuse of our most precious sacred traditions by cultists, con artists, hucksters, charlatans and "plastic medicine people" like Brooke Edwards. And we invite you to contact us at Center for the SPIRIT whenever you become aware of situations in which American Indian sacred traditions are being exploited and abused, so that we may help you and your community develop and implement an effective strategy of community education and active resistance to such exploitation.
Center for the SPIRIT (Support and Protection of Indian Religions and Indigenous Traditions) is a nonprofit organization of American Indian people dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of American Indian spiritual practices and religious traditions. Headquartered in Oakland we have begun to systematically address the momentous problem of "New Age" exploitation and expropriation of the sacred traditions of American Indian tribes--a problem which has proliferated alarmingly in the Bay Area and throughout California in recent years.
We can be reached at P.O. Box 17002, Oakland , Calif. 94601.
http://www.sonomacountyfreepress.com/features/pay2pray.html Don't Pay to Pray by Lorayne Martinez
Praying or remembering our essence is as natural to us as breathing.
Also like breathing, we very often forget to do it. Well as many of us are aware, for many years now and ever on the increase, there are those that wish to "help" us. For a price, however. Most of these "teachers", "gurus", "shamans", "medicine people" are self proclaimed, self taught, or ordained so by someone who is. They have read books, attended lectures, seminars, workshops and/or intensives that are very expensive. They have gone home and practiced and analyzed whatever they were sold. In a moment of ecstasy, they "realized" they were good at it, they, too, had a gift. But far from giving, these people take and take and take. They take peoples money, peoples attention, they take peoples identities. All the while you are being told, "the more you give, the more you receive." This pulls on peoples needs for spiritual connectedness, healing, and power. This is spiritual exploitation.
* Spiritual exploitation breeds genocide at its core.
* Spiritual exploitation breeds dependency.
* Spiritual exploitation is capitalism at its most manipulative.
It's all about Power and Money, marketed in a magical cape of lavender and rainbows.
In my opinion, one of these supposed medicine people Brooke Edwards, a.k.a. Brooke Medicine Eagle, was here in Sonoma County in March. Many of us were there to encourage others not to support this spiritual genocide and exploitation. Most went in , but several did stay out to discuss this issue, and one person walked by my sign, read it "DON'T PAY TO PRAY", said vehemently "What is this shit?!", and kept walking. After the approximately two and a half hour talk, which cost twenty dollars, Brooke came out and was calmly told by a spokesperson from the Center For The Spirit to stop exploiting American Indian ways, in particular those of the Crow Tribe of Montana.
She claimed to conduct what she does in a respectful, harmonious way. However, she did not ask any questions as to who she was offending, why, or to set up a time to discuss any of these issues. She didn't appear to "hear" what was being said. In my estimation she seemed a very gracious brick wall, unwilling to communicate but oh so nice about it. Which is basically how all people of color, including my ancestors here in the western hemisphere, have been and continue to be treated. As they smile and chop off our hands for not giving gold, they ignore our existence, our screams and continue their mantra I WANT, I WANT, I WANT.
Summer Solstice is past now but thought this important to send out. Also there are more people who have died because of fake ceremonies and people running them who have no right too than are on this list...some food for thought people..... Education is the key.... when we went to Yellowstone to talk to the Eden event we kept hearing "We had no idea.." over and over again...and thats just it - they have NO IDEA.... coming from a non-native culture - they dont know a real spiritual leader from the fake down the street..we made a difference in alot of peoples perceptions and beliefs up there and it will spread.... changes are happening....we can all make a difference. Another key that was discussed is that people dont have to follow native ways to be spiritual people....but that is another whole long discussion ... Kitty
____________________
Summer Solstice is approaching and so is the chance of someone dying again in a New Age sweat lodge.
Please remember the victims of the New Age commodification of our culture in your prayers this week.
They were all human beings and none of them deserved to die this way.
In Memoriam
Rowen Cooke 37, Melbourne Australia died in a sweat lodge November 4, 2004 Kylie Watts, 30 Byron Bay in New South Wales died in a sweat lodge in 2003 Kirsten "Kris" Babcock 34 Redding, California died in a sweat lodge on June 21, 2002 David Thomas Hawker, 36, of Union City, California died in a sweat lodge on June 21, 2002 Gordon Reynolds, 43 of Twickenham, West London died in a sweat lodge on November 21, 1996 Kelly Rice, 35 of Austin, Texas, housekeeper and masseuse, died of accidental heatstroke inside a sweat lodge in June1993 Ronald Delgado of Santa Barbara California was killed in Archie Fire Lame Deer's 'Vision Quest' on July 12, 1980
Many of these people died in sweats held on very hot days around the summer solstice.
With the popularity of the twinkie sweat lodge ever increasing there's an increased probability that someone will die this weekend.
Please don't let these deaths be forgotten.
If you have time, please consider grass roots organizing to educate people about the dangers of these sweats and the harm that they do to native people or to protest any sweat lodges in your area.
Don't Pay to Pray has been keeping statistics on the number and cost of non-NDN sweat lodges since 2001.
We found that the average cost of sweats reported to us from people across the United States and Canada has increased from $46.67 in 2001 to $95.
00 in 2007 and it skyrocketed to $965.26 in 2008.
The number reported to us has risen nearly 900%.
It appears that the sweat-lodge cottage industry is not a mainstream high-end service.
This only increases the liklihood that someone will die this weekend.
We've noticed that many of the more expensive sweats now require waivers.
(Note: SOTEMS is the group that was running the sweat where Rowan Cooke died. He was only 37 and he had a young son.
)
It tells you a lot about the true character of people when you see that their primary response to this horrible mistake was to protect themselves legally in the event of future deaths.
We've noticed that those who conduct these sweats are getting bolder in insisting on payment for their services and more and more people are simply taking them at their word.
Most frauds are now claiming that payment is merely an "exchange of energy" and that it is no longer appropriate just to give the twinkie shame-man blankets, food or gas – we're hearing over and over again that it's appropriate to give large sums of "energy" (that means money).
As activists, we can't let our voices be drowned out by those who would commercialize our spirituality.
Every year we post the solstice sweats and ask for help getting the word out.
Today, a cousin pointed out to me that it's probably now true that more non-NDN people have participated in sweat lodges than have NDN people.
Through their numbers and their resources, non NDNs have barged into our communities and have nearly supplanted us from our own cultures.
This weekend millions of people all over the world will attend twisted versions of sweat lodge ceremonies believing they are doing something good that is sanctioned by indigenous spiritual leaders.
The price of the average twinkie sweat lodge is rapidly growing beyond the means of the poorest people so the frauds have priced out everybody but the richest, whitest people from the trendiest sweats.
I don't really think this is completely unintentional.
Whether they intend it or not, those who claim to respect our religion are supplanting authentic native people from our own religious practices.
We have compiled as much information as we can find, but we need help to get the word out about these frauds.
Please take some time today and get the word out about them.
Feel free to forward the list to any listserves or organizations that you think might be helpful.
The list can be downloaded from the files at Debunking Debunkers rule
Abuse and Exploitation of American Indian Sacred Traditions A Statement from the Center for the SPIRIT
One phenomenally successful exploiter of traditional Indian spirituality is a woman named Brooke Edwards, who transacts her business under the assumed name of "Brooke Medicine Eagle". Ms. "Medicine Eagle" operates "spirituality camps" in Montana, charging as much as $1,500 per person for the privilege of putting up a tent on her ranch for two weeks. (Assuming that at least twenty people participate in each session, Ms. "Medicine Eagle" takes in at least $30,000 every two weeks, all summer long.) Ms. "Medicine Eagle" has been denounced by the Crow Tribe of Montana, with whom she claims affiliation as a spiritual "teacher", for misrepresenting and abusing the spiritual traditions of the Crow people through her high-profit cottage industry. According to John Pretty On Top, traditional Crow sundance chief and the officially designated Cultural Director and Speaker for the Crow Tribe, Ms. "Medicine Eagle" is neither a traditional medicine woman (contrary to her paid advertisements) nor an enrolled member of the Crow Tribe. Rather, Ms. "Medicine Eagle" is a profound embarrassment to traditional Crow People, says Mr. Pretty On Top:
"The book she published is so far away from Crow spirituality she's not recognized anywhere in our traditional ways". Mr. Pretty On Top has expressed concern for the harm to the reputation of legitimate Crow spirituality that inevitably follows from the prosperous charlatanism of imposters like Brooke Edwards and he urges non-Indians not to support Ms. "Medicine Eagle" financially or otherwise.
We join with John Pretty On Top and the Crow Tribe of Montana in urging all supporters of American Indian people to help us in our struggle for social justice and religious freedom by actively opposing the spiritual genocide manifest in the exploitation and abuse of our most precious sacred traditions by cultists, con artists, hucksters, charlatans and "plastic medicine people" like Brooke Edwards. And we invite you to contact us at Center for the SPIRIT whenever you become aware of situations in which American Indian sacred traditions are being exploited and abused, so that we may help you and your community develop and implement an effective strategy of community education and active resistance to such exploitation.
Center for the SPIRIT (Support and Protection of Indian Religions and Indigenous Traditions) is a nonprofit organization of American Indian people dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of American Indian spiritual practices and religious traditions. Headquartered in Oakland we have begun to systematically address the momentous problem of "New Age" exploitation and expropriation of the sacred traditions of American Indian tribes--a problem which has proliferated alarmingly in the Bay Area and throughout California in recent years.
We can be reached at P.O. Box 17002, Oakland , Calif. 94601.
...ya...it's blood money...and doing this..would make us as dirty as them...imho :) But..of course this $ could be useful...if we could stand the idea of doing business with them ;)..honestly tho...what would possibly happen Now..to make them Honour any deal they make? The whole point is luv...they Never have ishi
----------------- Original Message ----------------- From: Elliander Date: Jun 1, 2008 1:25 PM
I am curious about something. The Lakota wish to Secede from the United States, and have declined the Federal Settlement that is now at 1 Billion because they would rather have their land.
But just declining the 1 Billion won't give them their land back, and neither will accepting the 1 Billion diminish their rights to the land that they already occupy. The Federal Government, under it's own laws, cannot give the private land it sold to U.S. citizens back to the natives even under imminent domain, and the only thing the Lakota could gain legally would be state and federal buildings and land, which chances are, they would not give up anyway.
However, when I figure the math... If they accepted the 1 Billion, under a condition that it is accepted as a repayment for pain and suffering, and *NOT* a payment for their land then on the contrary they could potentially get all of their land back.
I reason it in this way:
If one takes 1 Billion dollars, and put it into a high interest savings account, and spread the savings through enough savings to ensure it remains FDIC insured, then every month the interest would yield 2.5 Million Dollars. Of course, this figure considers taxes on interest reducing the actual interest at X .02, but since this is a tribe we are talking about, this is an under estimate figure for argument sake.
Now, if I had that much money, and had the tax free status of a native tribe, I would begin it all in the banks for interest earnings, choosing the Swiss bank and the swiss currency. Since no taxes would be taken, and it would prevent the American Government from affecting the assets when the tribe becomes more of a threat.
I would then slowly take the money, and invest it into land and infrastructure. For example, in just a few months, a modern monolithic farming complex could be built to not only feed all the Lakota people, but could produce a surplus for export in a time when Grain is in high demand. I would choose to stock pile a portion of every excess, just in case, and choose to export grains for sale to other countries outside the united states, and push for a free trade agreement. Typically, nations that trade with each other are better recognized internationally. This would both improve standing as a nation, and create a source of income.
Once Infrastructure of food, water, and waste treatment is taken care of - with decentralized electricity from solar and/or wind, 2.5 million dollars could be used to buy out connecting land. It will be slow at first, but as income from investing in corporations in other lands increases in returns, the rate of the tribe's ability to buy land increases exponentially.
The trick is to make sure to never spend more than the monthly income. And to focus on increasing that monthly income. Within a few years, the Lakota Territory could at least double in size with the monthly income at about 5 million dollars.
(this of course assumes the government does not try to block the Lakota from buying out surrounding land)
There will be areas resistant to sale, so instead of trying to sweeten the pot for them, buy out around them, isolating them. When the neighborhood changes, it will sell eventually.
Eventually, when the American economy collapses, the effort of investing in economies outside America will work in significant favor since the money will be worth so much more when converted to USD. Land buy outs would increase faster and faster the more the American currency slumps in the direction it is already going.
_______
I guess I have to wonder... why don't they do this? It seems like the most effective option. Using the Economic Machine against America. Or are their other reasons I am not aware of, why they choose not to accept the 1 Billion USD?
TY luv...this is the mindset that keeps us down. It's still prevalent today in Religious Right minds & hearts..and they are tight with every Gov we get in office.....i've looked at this terrible problem from every angle i could find..can not see how we can get out from under Gov unless we utterly seceed...it's the only way..and when push comes to shove...what will happen then?
----------------- Bulletin Message ----------------- From: Raven Owl Date: Jun 1, 2008 1:47 AM
The Sand Creek Massacre
Southern Cheyenne
November 29, 1864
Colorado Territory during the 1850's and 1860's was a place of phenomenal growth spurred by gold and silver rushes.
Miners by the tens of thousands had elbowed their way into mineral fields, dislocating and angering the Cheyennes and Arapahos.
The Pike's Peak Gold Rush in 1858 brought the the tension to a boiling point.
Tribesmen attacked wagon trains, mining camps, and stagecoach lines during the Civil War, when the military garrisons out west were reduced by the war.
One white family died within 20 miles of Denver.
This outbreak of violence is sometimes referred to as the Cheyenne-Arapaho War or the Colorado War of 1864-65.
Governor John Evans of Colorado Territory sought to open up the Cheyenne and Arapaho hunting grounds to white development.
The tribes, however, refused to sell their lands and settle on reservations.
Evens decided to call out volunteer militiamen under Colonel John Chivington to quell the mounting violence.
Evans used isolated incidents of violence as a pretext to order troops into the field under the ambitious, Indian-hating territory military commander Colonel Chivington.
Though John Chivington had once belonged to the clergy, his compassion for his fellow man didn't extend to the Indians.
Sand Creek Massacre
In the spring of 1864, while the Civil War raged in the east, Chivington launched a campaign of violence against the Cheyenne and their allies, his troops attacking any and all Indians and razing their villages.
The Cheyennes, joined by neighboring Arapahos, Sioux, Comanches, and Kiowas in both Colorado and Kansas, went on the defensive warpath.
Evans and Chivington reinforced their militia, raising the Third Colorado Calvary of short-term volunteers who referred to themselves as "Hundred Dazers".
After a summer of scattered small raids and clashes, white and Indian representatives met at Camp Weld outside of Denver on September 28.
No treaties were signed, but the Indians believed that by reporting and camping near army posts, they would be declaring peace and accepting sanctuary.
Black Kettle was a peace-seeking chief of a band of some 600 Southern Cheyennes and Arapahos that followed the buffalo along the Arkansas River of Colorado and Kansas.
They reported to Fort Lyon and then camped on Sand Creek about 40 miles north.
Shortly afterward, Chivington led a force of about 700 men into Fort Lyon, and gave the garrison notice of his plans for an attack on the Indian encampment.
Black Kettle ever trusting raised both an American and a white flag of peace over his tepee. In response, Chivington raised his arm for the attack. Chivington wanted a victory, not prisoners, and so men, women and children were hunted down and shot.
With cannons and rifles pounding them, the Indians scattered in panic. Then the crazed soldiers charged and killed anything that moved. A few warriors managed to fight back to allow some of the tribe to escape across the stream, including Black Kettle.
The colonel was as thourough as he was heartless. An interpreter living in the village testified, "THEY WERE SCALPED, THEIR BRAINS KNOCKED OUT; THE MEN USED THEIR KNIVES, RIPPED OPEN WOMEN, CLUBBED LITTLE CHILDREN, KNOCKED THEM IN THE HEAD WITH THEIR RIFLE BUTTS, BEAT THEIR BRAINS OUT, MUTILATED THEIR BODIES IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD." By the end of the one-sided battle as many as 200 Indians, more than half women and children, had been killed and mutilated.
While the Sand Creek Massacre outraged easterners, it seemed to please many people in Colorado Territory. Chivington later appeared on a Denver stage where he regaled delighted audiences with his war stories and displayed 100 Indian scalps, including the pubic hairs of women.
Chivington was later denounced in a congressional investigation and forced to resign. When asked at the military inquiry why children had been killed, one of the soldiers quoted Chivington as saying, "NITS MAKE LICE." Yet the after-the-fact reprimand of the colonel meant nothing to the Indians.
As word of the massacre spread among them via refugees, Indians of the southern and northern plains stiffened in their resolve to resist white encroachment. An avenging wildfire swept the land and peace returned only after a quarter of a century. .. .. .. ..
Reverend Kevin Annett's biographical work, which recounts his gradual uncovering of the evidence of genocide and mass murder in his Church's "Indian Residential Schools" on Canada's West Coast.
ALL 11 YouTubes:
Mass Graves at former Indian Residential Schools and Hospitals across Canada
A.
British Columbia
1. Port Alberni: Presbyterian-United Church school (1895-1973), now occupied by the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council (NTC) office, Kitskuksis Road . Grave site is a series of sinkhole rows in hills 100 metres due west of the NTC building, in thick foliage, past an unused water pipeline. Children also interred at Tseshaht reserve cemetery, and in wooded gully east of Catholic cemetery on River Road .
2. Alert Bay : St. Michael's Anglican school (1878-1975), situated on Cormorant Island offshore from Port McNeill. Presently building is used by Namgis First Nation. Site is an overgrown field adjacent to the building, and also under the foundations of the present new building, constructed during the 1960's. Skeletons seen "between the walls".
3. Kuper Island: Catholic school (1890-1975), offshore from Chemainus. Land occupied by Penelakut Band. Former building is destroyed except for a staircase. Two grave sites: one immediately south of the former building, in a field containing a conventional cemetery; another at the west shoreline in a lagoon near the main dock.
4. Nanaimo Indian Hospital: Indian Affairs and United Church experimental facility (1942-1970) on Department of National Defense land. Buildings now destroyed. Grave sites are immediately east of former buildings on Fifth avenue , adjacent to and south of Malaspina College .
5. Mission: St. Mary's Catholic school (1861-1984), adjacent to and north of Lougheed Highway and Fraser River Heritage Park . Original school buildings are destroyed, but many foundations are visible on the grounds of the Park.
In this area there are two grave sites: a) immediately adjacent to former girls' dormitory and present cemetery for priests, and a larger mass grave in an artificial earthen mound, north of the cemetery among overgrown foliage and blackberry bushes, and b) east of the old school grounds, on the hilly slopes next to the field leading to the newer school building which is presently used by the Sto:lo First Nation. Hill site is 150 metres west of building.
6. North Vancouver: Squamish (1898-1959) and Sechelt (1912-1975) Catholic schools, buildings destroyed. Graves of children who died in these schools interred in the Squamish Band Cemetery , North Vancouver .
7. Sardis: Coqualeetza Methodist-United Church school (1889-1940), then experimental hospital run by federal government (1940-1969). Native burial site next to Sto:lo reserve and Little Mountain school, also possibly adjacent to former school-hospital building.
8. Cranbrook: St. Eugene Catholic school (1898-1970), recently converted into a tourist "resort" with federal funding, resulting in the covering-over of a mass burial site by a golf course in front of the building. Numerous grave sites are around and under this golf course.
9. Williams Lake : Catholic school (1890-1981), buildings destroyed but foundations intact, five miles south of city. Grave sites reported north of school grounds and under foundations of tunnel-like structure.
10. Meares Island (Tofino): Kakawis-Christie Catholic school (1898-1974). Buildings incorporated into Kakawis Healing Centre. Body storage room reported in basement, adjacent to burial grounds south of school.
11. Kamloops : Catholic school (1890-1978). Buildings intact. Mass grave south of school, adjacent to and amidst orchard. Numerous burials witnessed there.
12. Lytton: St. George's Anglican school (1901-1979). Graves of students flogged to death, and others, reported under floorboards and next to playground.
13. Fraser Lake : Lejac Catholic school (1910-1976), buildings destroyed. Graves reported under old foundations and between the walls.
Alberta:
1. Edmonton : United Church school (1919-1960), presently site of the Poundmaker Lodge in St. Albert . Graves of children reported south of former school site, under thick hedge that runs north-south, adjacent to memorial marker.
2. Edmonton : Charles Camsell Hospital (1945-1967), building intact, experimental hospital run by Indian Affairs and United Church . Mass graves of children from hospital reported south of building, near staff garden.
3. Saddle Lake : Bluequills Catholic school (1898-1970), building intact, skeletons and skulls observed in basement furnace. Mass grave reported adjacent to school.
4. Hobbema: Ermineskin Catholic school (1916-1973), five intact skeletons observed in school furnace. Graves under former building foundations.
Manitoba:
1. Brandon : Methodist-United Church school (1895-1972). Building intact. Burials reported west of school building.
2. Portage La Prairie: Presbyterian-United Church school (1895-1950). Children buried at nearby Hillside Cemetery .
3. Norway House: Methodist-United Church school (1900-1974). "Very old" grave site next to former school building, demolished by United Church in 2004.
Ontario:
1. Thunder Bay : Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital , still in operation. Experimental centre. Women and children reported buried adjacent to hospital grounds.
2. Sioux Lookout: Pelican Lake Catholic school (1911-1973). Burials of children in mound near to school.
3. Kenora: Cecilia Jeffrey school, Presbyterian-United Church (1900-1966). Large burial mound east of former school.
4. Fort Albany : St. Anne's Catholic school (1936-1964). Children killed in electric chair buried next to school.
5. Spanish: Catholic school (1883-1965). Numerous graves.
6. Brantford : Mohawk Institute, Anglican church (1850-1969), building intact. Series of graves in orchard behind school building, under rows of trees.
7. Sault Ste. Marie: Shingwauk Anglican school (1873-1969), some intact buildings. Several graves of children reported on grounds of old school.
Quebec:
1. Montreal : Allan Memorial Institute, McGill University , still in operation since opening in 1940. MKULTRA experimental centre. Mass grave of children killed there north of building, on southern slopes of Mount Royal behind stone wall.
Sources:
- Eyewitness accounts from survivors of these institutions, catalogued in Hidden from History: The Canadian Holocaust (2nd ed., 2005) by Kevin Annett. Other accounts are from local residents.
- Documents and other material from the Department of Indian Affairs RG 10 microfilm series on Indian Residential Schools in Koerner Library, University of B.C.
- Survey data and physical evidence obtained from grave sites in Port Alberni , Mission , and other locations.
This is a partial list and does not include all of the grave sites connected to Indian residential Schools and hospitals across Canada. In many cases, children who were dying of diseases were sent home to die by school and church officials, and the remains of other children who died at the school were incinerated in the residential school furnaces.
This information is submitted by The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD) to the world media, the United Nations, and to the International Human Rights Tribunal into Genocide in Canada (IHRTGC). The IHRTGC will commence its investigations on April 15, 2008 on Squamish Nation territory.
For more information on the independent inquiry into genocide in Canada being conducted by the IHRTGC, write to: genocidetribunal@yahoo.ca
10 April, 2008 Squamish Nation Territory (" Vancouver , Canada ")
Here is how you can spread the Hopi Message Body: Mar 28, 2008 7:07 AM Subject: Greetings:Here is how you can help spread the Hopi Message Body: ----------------- Bulletin Message ----------------- From: Pretty Moon Date: Mar 27, 2008 11:14 PM
Step 1. Re-post this Bulletin.
Step 2. Add this message to your profile page or as a blog.
Step 3.Ask those that help to add me on their friends list so that I may have a record of those that helped.
Anything you are willing to do will be most appreciated. Please be sure to let me know so that I may have a record.
Perhaps some of you have a media connection that would be willing to publish or air this message.
Much Love and good fortune to all of you.
Robert Taylor His Final Message to Mankind
From Hotevilla, Arizona, USA
Dan Evehema, Eldest Elder I am very glad to have this time to send a message to you. We are celebrating a time in our history which is both filled with joy and sadness.
I am very glad that our Hindu brothers have given us this opportunity to share these feelings with you because we know many of you are having the same troubles.
We Hopi believe that the human race has passed through three different worlds and life ways since the beginning. At the end of each prior world, human life has been purified or punished by the Great Spirit "Massauu" due mainly to corruption, greed, and turning away from the Great Spirit's teachings.
The last great destruction was the flood which destroyed all but a few faithful ones who asked and received a permission from the Great Spirit to live with Him in this new land.
The Great Spirit said, "It is up to you, if you are willing to live my poor, humble, and simple life way. It is hard but if you agree to live according to my teachings and instructions, if you never lose faith in the life I shall give you, you may come and live with me.
The Hopi and all who were saved from the great flood made a sacred covenant with the Great Spirit at that time. We Hopi made an oath that we will never turn away from Him. For us the Creator's laws never change or break down. To the Hopi the Great Spirit is all powerful.
He appeared to the first people as a man and talked with them in the beginning of this creation world. He taught us how to live, to worship, where to go and what food to carry, gave us seeds to plant and harvest. He gave us a set of sacred stone tablets into which He breathed all teachings in order to safeguard his land and life.
In these stone tablets were made, instructions and prophecies and warnings. This was done with the help of a Spider woman and Her two grandsons. They were wise and powerful helpers of the Great Spirit.
Before the Great Spirit went into hiding, He and Spider woman put before the leaders of the different groups of people many colors and sizes of corn for them to choose their food in this world. The Hopi was the last to pick and then choose their food in this world. The Hopi then chose the smallest ear of corn.
Then Massauu said, "You have shown me you are wise and humble. For this reason you will be called Hopi (people of peace) and I will place in your authority all land and life to guard, protect, and hold trust for Me until I return to you in later days for I am the First and the Last.
This why when a Hopi is ordained into the higher religious order, the earth and all living things are placed upon his hands. He becomes a parent to all life on earth. He is entitled to advise and correct his children in whatever peaceful way he can. So we can never give up knowing that our message of peace will reach our children. Then it is together with the other spiritual leaders the destiny of our future children is placed.
We are instructed to hold this world in balance within the land and the many universes with special prayers and ritual which continue to this day.
It was to the Spider woman's two grandsons the sacred stone tablets were given. These two brothers were then instructed to carry them to a place the Great Spirit had instructed them. The older brother was to go immediately to the east, to the rising sun and upon reaching his destination was instructed to immediately start to look for his younger brother who shall remain in the land of the Great Spirit.
The Older brothers mission when he returned was to help his younger brother (Hopi) bring obout peace, brotherhood and everlasting life on his return. Hopi, the younger brother, was instructed to cover all land and mark it well with footprints and sacred markings to claim this land for the Creator and peace on earth.
We established our ceremonials and sacred shrines to hold this world in balance in accordance with our first promise to the Creator. This is how our migration story goes, until we meet the Creator at Old Oribe (place that solidifies) over 1000 years ago.
It was at that meeting when he gave to us these prophecies to give to you now at this closing of the Fourth World of destruction and the beginning of the Fifth World of peace. He gave us many prophecies to pass on to you and all have come to pass. This is how we know the timing is now to reveal the last warnings and instructions to mankind.
We were told to settle permanently here in Hopi land where we met the Great Spirit and wait for Older Brother who went east to return to us. When he returns to this land he will place his stone tablets side by side to show all the world that they are our true brothers.
When the road in the sky has been fulfilled and when the inventing of something, in Hopi means, gourd of ashes, a gourd that when drops upon the earth will boil everything within a large space and nothing will grow for a very long time.
When the leaders turned to evil ways instead of the Great Spirit we were told there would be many ways this life may be destroyed. If human kind does not heed our prophecy and return to one's original spiritual instructions.
We were told of three helpers who were commissioned by the Great Spirit to help Hopi bring about the peaceful life on earth would appear to help us and we should not change our homes, our ceremonials, our hair, because the true helpers might not recognize us as the true Hopi.
So we have been waiting all these years.
It is known that our True White Brother, when he comes, will be all powerful and will wear a red cap or red cloak. He will be large in population, belong to no religion but his very own. He will bring with him the sacred stone tablets. With him there will be two great ones both very wise and powerful.
One will have a symbol or sign of swastika which represents purity and is Female, a producer of life. The third one or the second one of the two helpers to our True White Brother will have a sign of a symbol of the sun. He, too, will be many people and very wise and powerful. We have in our sacred Kachina ceremonies a gourd rattle which is still in use today with these symbols of these powerful helpers of our True Brother.
It is also prophesied that if these three fail to fulfill their mission then the one from the west will come like a big storm. He will be many, in numbers and unmerciful. When he comes he will cover the land like the red ants and over take this land in one day.
If the three helpers chosen by the Creator fulfill their sacred mission and even if there are only one, two, or three of the true Hopi remaining holding fast to the last ancient teaching and instructions the Great Spirit, Massauu will appear before all and our would will be saved.
The three will lay our a new life plan which leads to everlasting life and peace. The earth will become new as it was from the beginning. Flowers will bloom again, wild game will return to barren lands and there will be abundance of food for all. Those who are saved will share everything equally and they all will recognize Great Spirit and speak one language.
We are now faced with great problems, not only here but throughout the land. Ancient cultures are being annihilated. Our people's lands are being taken from them, leaving them no place to call their own.
Why is this happening? It is happening because many have given up or manipulated their original spiritual teachings. The way of life which the Great Spirit has given to all its people of the world, whatever your original instructions are not being honored. It is because of this great sickness called greed, which infects every land and country that simple people are losing what they have kept for thousands of years.
Now we are at the very end of our trail.
Many people no longer recognize the true path of the Great Spirit. They have, in fact, no respect for the Great Spirit or for our precious Mother Earth, who gives us all life. We are instructed in our ancient prophecy that this would occur.
We were told that someone would try to go up to the moon: that they would bring something back from the moon; and that after that, nature would show signs of losing its balance. Now we see that coming about.
All over the world there are now many signs that nature is no longer in balance. Floods, drought, earthquakes, and great storms are occurring and causing much suffering. We do not want this to occur in our country and we pray to the Great Spirit to save us from such things. But there are now signs that this very same thing might happen very soon on our own land.
Now we must look upon each other as brothers and sisters. There is no more time for divisions between people. Today I call upon all of us, from right here at home, Hotevilla, where we to are guilty of gossiping and causing divisions even among our own families; out to the entire world where thievery, war, and lying goes on every day. These divisions will not be our salvation. Wars only bring more wars never peace.
Only by joining together in a Spiritual Peace with love in our hearts for one another, love in our hearts for the Great Spirit and Mother Earth, shall we be saved from the terrible Purification Day which is just ahead.
There are many of you in this world who are honest people. We know you spiritually for we are the "Men's Society Grandfathers" who have been charged to pray for you and all life on earth never forgetting anything or any one in our ceremonials.
Our prayer is to have a good happy life, plenty of soft gentle rain for abundant crops. We pray for balance on earth to live in peace and leave a beautiful world to the children yet to come.
We know you have good hearts but good hearts are not enough to help us out with these great problems. In the past some of you have tried to help us Hopis, and we will always be thankful for you efforts. But now we need your help in the worst way.
We want the people of the world to know the truth of our situation. This land which people call the Land of the Freedom celebrates many days reminding people of the world of these things. Yet in well over 200 years the original Americans have not seen a free day.
We are suffering the final insult.
Our people are now losing the one thing which give life and meaning of life -- our ceremonial land, which is being taken away from us. Hotevilla is the last holy consecrated, undisturbed traditional Native American sacred shrine to the Creator. As the prophecy says, this sacred shrine must keep its spiritual pathways open.
This village is the spiritual vortex for the Hopi to guide the many awakening Native Americans and other true hearts home to their own unique culture. Hotevilla was established by the last remaining spiritual elders to maintain peace and balance on this continent from the tip of South America up to Alaska. Many of our friends say Hotevilla is a sacred shrine, a national and world treasure and must be preserved. We need your help.
Where is the freedom which you all fight for and sacrifice your children for? Is it only the Indian people who have lost or are all Americans losing the very thing which you original came here to find? We don't share the freedom of the press because what gets into the papers is what the government wants people to believe, not what is really happening. We have no freedom of speech, because we are persecuted by our own people for speaking our beliefs. We are at the final stages now and there is a last force that is about to take away our remaining homeland. We are still being denied many things including the rite to be Hopis and to make our living in accordance with our religious teachings. The Hopi leaders have warned leaders in the White House and the leaders in the Glass House but they do not listen. So as our prophecy says then it must be up to the people with good pure hearts that will not be afraid to help us to fulfill our destiny in peace for this world.
We now stand at a cross road whether to lead ourselves in everlasting life or total destruction. We believe that human beings spiritual power through prayer is so strong it decides life on earth.
So many people have come to Hopiland to meet with us. Some of you we have met on your lands. Many times people have asked how they can help us. Now I hope and pray that your help will come.
If you have a way to spread the truth, through the newspapers, radio, books, thought meeting with powerful people, tell the truth! Tell them what you know to be true. Tell them what you have seen here; what you have heard us say; what you have seen with your own eyes. In this way, if we do fall, let it be said that we tried, right up to the end, to hold fast to the path of peace as we were originally instructed to do by the Great Spirit.
Should you really succeed, we will all realize our mistakes of the past and return to the true path-living in harmony as brothers and sisters, sharing our mother, the earth with all other living creatures. In this way we could bring about a new world. A world which would be led by the great Spirit and our mother will provide plenty and happiness for all.
God bless you, each one of you and know our prayers for peace meet yours as the sun rises and sets. May the Great Spirit guide you safely into the path of love, peace freedom and God on this Earth Mother. May the holy ancestors of love and light keep you safe in your land and homes. Pray for God to give you something important to do in this great work which lies ahead of us all to bring peace on earth.
We the Hopi still hold the sacred stone tablets and now await the coming of our True White Brother and others seriously ready to work for the Creator's peace on earth.
Be well, my children, and think good thoughts of peace and togetherness. Peace for all life on earth and peace with one another in our homes, families and countries. We are not so different in the Creator's eyes.
The same great Father Sun shines his love on each of us daily just as Mother Earth prepares the sustenance for our table, do they not?
Here is how you can spread the Hopi Message Body: Mar 28, 2008 7:07 AM Subject: Greetings:Here is how you can help spread the Hopi Message Body: ----------------- Bulletin Message ----------------- From: Pretty Moon Date: Mar 27, 2008 11:14 PM
Step 1. Re-post this Bulletin.
Step 2. Add this message to your profile page or as a blog.
Step 3.Ask those that help to add me on their friends list so that I may have a record of those that helped.
Anything you are willing to do will be most appreciated. Please be sure to let me know so that I may have a record.
Perhaps some of you have a media connection that would be willing to publish or air this message.
Much Love and good fortune to all of you.
Robert Taylor His Final Message to Mankind
From Hotevilla, Arizona, USA
Dan Evehema, Eldest Elder I am very glad to have this time to send a message to you. We are celebrating a time in our history which is both filled with joy and sadness.
I am very glad that our Hindu brothers have given us this opportunity to share these feelings with you because we know many of you are having the same troubles.
We Hopi believe that the human race has passed through three different worlds and life ways since the beginning. At the end of each prior world, human life has been purified or punished by the Great Spirit "Massauu" due mainly to corruption, greed, and turning away from the Great Spirit's teachings.
The last great destruction was the flood which destroyed all but a few faithful ones who asked and received a permission from the Great Spirit to live with Him in this new land.
The Great Spirit said, "It is up to you, if you are willing to live my poor, humble, and simple life way. It is hard but if you agree to live according to my teachings and instructions, if you never lose faith in the life I shall give you, you may come and live with me.
The Hopi and all who were saved from the great flood made a sacred covenant with the Great Spirit at that time. We Hopi made an oath that we will never turn away from Him. For us the Creator's laws never change or break down. To the Hopi the Great Spirit is all powerful.
He appeared to the first people as a man and talked with them in the beginning of this creation world. He taught us how to live, to worship, where to go and what food to carry, gave us seeds to plant and harvest. He gave us a set of sacred stone tablets into which He breathed all teachings in order to safeguard his land and life.
In these stone tablets were made, instructions and prophecies and warnings. This was done with the help of a Spider woman and Her two grandsons. They were wise and powerful helpers of the Great Spirit.
Before the Great Spirit went into hiding, He and Spider woman put before the leaders of the different groups of people many colors and sizes of corn for them to choose their food in this world. The Hopi was the last to pick and then choose their food in this world. The Hopi then chose the smallest ear of corn.
Then Massauu said, "You have shown me you are wise and humble. For this reason you will be called Hopi (people of peace) and I will place in your authority all land and life to guard, protect, and hold trust for Me until I return to you in later days for I am the First and the Last.
This why when a Hopi is ordained into the higher religious order, the earth and all living things are placed upon his hands. He becomes a parent to all life on earth. He is entitled to advise and correct his children in whatever peaceful way he can. So we can never give up knowing that our message of peace will reach our children. Then it is together with the other spiritual leaders the destiny of our future children is placed.
We are instructed to hold this world in balance within the land and the many universes with special prayers and ritual which continue to this day.
It was to the Spider woman's two grandsons the sacred stone tablets were given. These two brothers were then instructed to carry them to a place the Great Spirit had instructed them. The older brother was to go immediately to the east, to the rising sun and upon reaching his destination was instructed to immediately start to look for his younger brother who shall remain in the land of the Great Spirit.
The Older brothers mission when he returned was to help his younger brother (Hopi) bring obout peace, brotherhood and everlasting life on his return. Hopi, the younger brother, was instructed to cover all land and mark it well with footprints and sacred markings to claim this land for the Creator and peace on earth.
We established our ceremonials and sacred shrines to hold this world in balance in accordance with our first promise to the Creator. This is how our migration story goes, until we meet the Creator at Old Oribe (place that solidifies) over 1000 years ago.
It was at that meeting when he gave to us these prophecies to give to you now at this closing of the Fourth World of destruction and the beginning of the Fifth World of peace. He gave us many prophecies to pass on to you and all have come to pass. This is how we know the timing is now to reveal the last warnings and instructions to mankind.
We were told to settle permanently here in Hopi land where we met the Great Spirit and wait for Older Brother who went east to return to us. When he returns to this land he will place his stone tablets side by side to show all the world that they are our true brothers.
When the road in the sky has been fulfilled and when the inventing of something, in Hopi means, gourd of ashes, a gourd that when drops upon the earth will boil everything within a large space and nothing will grow for a very long time.
When the leaders turned to evil ways instead of the Great Spirit we were told there would be many ways this life may be destroyed. If human kind does not heed our prophecy and return to one's original spiritual instructions.
We were told of three helpers who were commissioned by the Great Spirit to help Hopi bring about the peaceful life on earth would appear to help us and we should not change our homes, our ceremonials, our hair, because the true helpers might not recognize us as the true Hopi.
So we have been waiting all these years.
It is known that our True White Brother, when he comes, will be all powerful and will wear a red cap or red cloak. He will be large in population, belong to no religion but his very own. He will bring with him the sacred stone tablets. With him there will be two great ones both very wise and powerful.
One will have a symbol or sign of swastika which represents purity and is Female, a producer of life. The third one or the second one of the two helpers to our True White Brother will have a sign of a symbol of the sun. He, too, will be many people and very wise and powerful. We have in our sacred Kachina ceremonies a gourd rattle which is still in use today with these symbols of these powerful helpers of our True Brother.
It is also prophesied that if these three fail to fulfill their mission then the one from the west will come like a big storm. He will be many, in numbers and unmerciful. When he comes he will cover the land like the red ants and over take this land in one day.
If the three helpers chosen by the Creator fulfill their sacred mission and even if there are only one, two, or three of the true Hopi remaining holding fast to the last ancient teaching and instructions the Great Spirit, Massauu will appear before all and our would will be saved.
The three will lay our a new life plan which leads to everlasting life and peace. The earth will become new as it was from the beginning. Flowers will bloom again, wild game will return to barren lands and there will be abundance of food for all. Those who are saved will share everything equally and they all will recognize Great Spirit and speak one language.
We are now faced with great problems, not only here but throughout the land. Ancient cultures are being annihilated. Our people's lands are being taken from them, leaving them no place to call their own.
Why is this happening? It is happening because many have given up or manipulated their original spiritual teachings. The way of life which the Great Spirit has given to all its people of the world, whatever your original instructions are not being honored. It is because of this great sickness called greed, which infects every land and country that simple people are losing what they have kept for thousands of years.
Now we are at the very end of our trail.
Many people no longer recognize the true path of the Great Spirit. They have, in fact, no respect for the Great Spirit or for our precious Mother Earth, who gives us all life. We are instructed in our ancient prophecy that this would occur.
nauseated
