Land of the People

Eriel Deranger: Indigenous Communities Are Leading the Environmental Justice Movement

Eriel Deranger is a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, the “people of the willow,” and is at the forefront of the Indigenous environmental justice movement. Eriel projects that she is, “working to ensure that my children and the generations to come have an ability to understand our culture, our identity, and our connections to our places of being.” In this article Deranger discuss various projects that she is collectively working on with other members of the Indigenous community as well as environmental groups and activists. Her main focus at the time of this article were the tar sands in Alberta, Canada. The extraction of oil from tar sands is much more costly and environmentally harmful than other processes of oil extraction, and many lie near Indigenous communities that rely on the water sources that are often polluted by the process.

However, the most profound element of this article is Deranger explantation of why the environmental movement is so important to Indigenous people. She states that, “I’ve never actually considered myself an environmentalist” because the land and her people are so closely tied that it is not simply about protecting the environment, it is about preserving her people’s identity. At a time when the validity and pressing urgency of environmental action is being questioned, I think it is very important to view these issues with a different lense. Eriel Deranger is an individual who presents many admirable qualities that bring to light many important discussions

Interesting and thought provoking questions that my students could ask include:

• What were the treaties mentioned in this article and how were they broken? How often are treaties with Indigenous people broken and what legal protections do they have?
• Am I more convinced by Eriel’s position than I would be of another person of a different background or race? Why?
• What are some examples of how Indigenous communities are connected to the land? How are their traditions and cultures different that someone of anglo-descent? How does this differ around the world?

Grand Challenges that this article could tie into:

Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet

• Develop concepts, theories, tools, and models that

contribute directly to halting biodiversity loss,

managing species and their habitats, restoring

ecosystems, and mitigating threats to the

Environment.

• Improve knowledge of the relationships between

cultures and biological diversity over time in order

to better sustain both.

Understanding the American Experience

• Interpretation of the diverse communities of the

United States, particularly African American, Latino,

Asian Pacific American, and Native American, as

well as the cultural interrelationships among these

communities.

• Study historic and contemporary cultural and artistic

heritage, with emphasis on the heritage, arts,

indigenous knowledge and expressive systems, and

contemporary art and design.

• Deepen our understanding of significant global

political and historic patterns and events and their

impact on our ecology and environment.

Montana Social Studies Content Standard 3: Students apply geographic knowledge and skills (e.g., location, place, human/environment interactions, movement, and regions).

End of Grade 8:

3. analyze diverse land use and explain the historical and contemporary effects of this use on the environment, with an emphasis on Montana.

7. describe major changes in a local area that have been caused by human beings (e.g., a new highway, a fire, construction of a new dam, logging, mining) and analyze the probable effects on the community and environment.

Upon Graduation — End of Grade 12:

4. analyze how human settlement patterns create cooperation and conflict which influence the division and control of the Earth (e.g., treaties, economics, exploration, borders, religion, exploitation, water rights).

7. describe and compare how people create places that reflect culture, human needs, government policy, and current values and ideas as they design and build (e.g., buildings, neighborhoods, parks, industrial and agricultural centers, farms/ranches).

Because this article presents several complex issues, I would like to hold a socratic seminar as mentioned from the 50 routines textbook. As mentioned above this article begs students to ask and question not only the political circumstances of the issue, but also the legal and environmental stipulations. For this reason I would like to have a socratic seminar where students may ask questions of me, their peers, and potentially a guest speaker if available. This way we can professionally address all sides of the issue. From here I would move to another activity that gives students practice in legal defence and Indian law. The activity would ask each student to find a treaty that was made with a Native American Tribe that was broken by the U.S. government. It may be any tribe and any time period. The student would then act as the defense for the Native American tribe in a mock trial versus the United States. The purpose of this activity would be to help students understand Native American law while also practicing critical thinking and questioning.