Indigenous Peoples FPIC Protocols

No outside law can remove us due to our deep connection and intimacy to our lake and territory, a connection that has evolved over thousands of years as evidenced in KI’s recent finding of ancestral remains that are over 5,000 years old. Through our ecological compact we have accumulated intimate Indigenous ecological knowledge and laws that are very deep; they are within us, we live them. This knowledge is profound, yet it is delicate and hard to grasp because is not written, and it is unseen; it is within our hearts and within our minds. It can never be fully documented, and can never be bounded. Our territory is the best and rightful place for our people. The Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug has ancient place names for every spring, cove, point, bend, pool and rapid on every stream, river, lake and wetland in our territory. We have lived here, used and cared for these lands and waters ever since the beginning of time. We sustain ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually through our relationship and responsibility to each other and to the natural world that we are a part of. We continue to live, to use and protect our territory according to our own laws, ceremonies, and protocols, based on the teachings of the elders handed down through the generation from the Creator. Arising from this we have inherent, fundamental, and inalienable rights as indigenous peoples to our lands and waters. These include, but are not limited to, those rights recognized in the Convention on Biodiversity, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, CERD General Recommendation 23.The UN Human Right to Water and Sanitation resolution, Treaty #9, the Constitution of Canada, and Supreme Court of Canada rulings. This declaration is a physical reflection that flows from our inherent spiritual bond with our homeland. We will continue to live and assert out inherent rights and responsibilities on our territory.