Lessons from a crisis – How to achieve a climate neutral, energy secure and prosperous transition for Europe and the business sector? All across Europe, business networks have been working

Lessons from a crisis – How to achieve a climate neutral, energy secure and prosperous transition for Europe and the business sector? All across Europe, business networks have been working actively to increase climate ambition recognising the economic, social and environmental benefits of the transition towards a climate neutral, resource efficient and sustainable Europe. In January 2022, a roundtable brought together these business networks and policymakers to reflect on how businesses can support Europe’s transition towards climate neutrality and the Fit for 55 Package can deliver this transition. The past year saw a great number of policy developments as the EU and its Member States had to deal with the economic and energy related consequences of the war in Ukraine, with the RePowerEU plan, while negotiating the Fit for 55 Package. This event was an opportunity to reflect on the progress made during the past year. Speakers presented solutions developed by businesses to scale up the production and demand for renewable energy, boost energy efficiency, accelerate the decarbonisation of industry and stimulate green investments. They reflected on how policies can enable businesses to scale up solutions to deal with the current climate and energy crisis while increasing the sustainable competitiveness of the EU’s economy moving forward. The event was chaired by Ursula Woodburn, Head of EU office, CLG Europe. Speakers included: - Yvon Slingenberg, Director of Strategy, Analysis and Planning, Directorate General for Climate Action, European Commission - Ruth Reichstein, Policy Advisor, I.D.E.A, European Commission - Pascal Canfin, Chair of the Environment Committee, European Parliament, Renew - Nicolás González Casares, Member of the European Parliament, S&D - Tomas Lindman, Deputy Director General for International Affairs, Ministry of the Environment, Sweden - Peter Wittoeck, Head of Climate Change Department, Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, Belgium - Ana Struna Bregar, Chief Executive Officer, CER Slovenia - Bjørn K. Haugland, Chief Executive Officer, Skift Business Climate Leaders - Gonzalo Sáenz de Miera, President, Spanish Green Growth Group, and Global Director of Climate Change and Alliances, Iberdrola - Nina Ekelund, Executive Director, Haga Initiative - Ondřej Boreš, Corporate Affairs Director, VELUX Czech Republic - Sabine Nallinger, Managing Director, Stiftung Klimawirschaft - Rasmus Valanko, Managing Director, Systems Transformation, We Mean Business Coalition - Martin Porter, Executive Chair, CISL If you have any questions about this event, please contact [email protected].

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Would you like to learn about Catholic presentation strategies, and get an initial taste of the Pope’s Action Platform to begin a 7-year journey to total sustainability in the spirit of Laudato

Would you like to learn about Catholic presentation strategies, and get an initial taste of the Pope’s Action Platform to begin a 7-year journey to total sustainability in the spirit of Laudato Si’? Roger Ingersoll will discuss learnings related to over 20 presentations to parish communities, Catholic and secular colleges, a seminary, and other faiths (often to very conservative-leaning audiences). Our second presenter, Juan Rios, will cover effective outreach to Catholic Latinos, a recent focus area of the Catholic Action Team. Our final speaker Sr Ricca Dimalibot of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, will discuss climate advocacy within her religious community including initiation of the Pope Francis' 7 year journey to an integral ecology. Skip ahead to the following section(s): (0:00) Introduction & Agenda (1:10) Catholic Presentation Strategies (11:15) Outreach to Catholic Latinos (21:30) Climate Advocacy Within Religious Communities Speaker Bios: Juan Rios has been a part of CCL since 2019, since then I’m the Liaison in New York City’s 9th District for Yvette Clarke. He is also a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Team for the Northwest and Appalachian regions. Being able to speak English and Spanish, he hopes to contribute and be a part of diversifying CCL’s membership and increasing the Spanish audience by being a part of the Latinx Catholic Action Team. Outside of CCL, he studied at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts in Film/television. Sr Ricca Dimalibot, CCVI, MD, is a General Councilor with the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, based in Houston, Texas. The sisters directly serve those in need in El Salvador, Guatemala, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and the United States. She is a Family Medicine physician who runs the CHRISTUS Point of Light Clinic,located in a medically under-served community southeast of Houston. The congregation has taken a very public stand on climate and sustainability by holding climate symposia, as well as an Ecumenical Day of Prayer for faith leaders across Houston in 2019. Roger retired from ExxonMobil after 33 years where he worked on arctic, coastal, and offshore projects worldwide. During his career witnessed significant arctic changes since the 1980’s. Roger's been a member of Citizens Climate Lobby since 2016, is Co-group Leader and Grasstops Lead of TX-08 Woodlands-Huntsville Chapter, and is also active in CCL’s Conservative Caucus, and Catholic Action Teams. Roger has five beautiful grandchildren, so his hope is that Congress enacts meaningful climate legislation as soon as possible to preserve their future.

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Adventurous, open-minded and curious, that’s how my friends would describe me. I am Katharina Flatt, 16 years old and currently in IB1 in Salem. I grew up in a small town in central Germany, almost

Adventurous, open-minded and curious, that’s how my friends would describe me. I am Katharina Flatt, 16 years old and currently in IB1 in Salem. I grew up in a small town in central Germany, almost as a single child as my three older siblings moved out quite early. The limited offers in my hometown, the excitement of my older sibling’s life and most certainly my curiosity gave me the wish to explore different cultures and lifestyles from the very beginning. At the end of primary school, I did my first exchange to France for six months. This experience gave me the opportunity to live in a new environment, learn a new language and develop myself at a very young age. From then on, I’ve done exchanges to Peru and the US. Together with my family, I also started travelling and exploring nature very early and continued this passion. I can never get enough of nature, especially snowy mountains and wide oceans awake an extraordinary feeling in myself. All these interests led to my big wish to participate in “Classroom under Sails”, a project where a group of young students sail across the Atlantic and visit several countries on the way. This was probably the biggest adventure in my life, not always easy but a challenge in itself. Living on a small space with many people, getting up in the middle of the night to do your night watch, having classes on deck on the wavy ocean, glancing into cultures opposite from yours and being exposed to nature for half a year makes you reflect on everything you have ever done. For me, personally, this journey isn’t over, I keep processing what I saw and learned, and I keep doubting my actions and my lifestyle. Certainly, the biggest aspect of my thoughts is about the environment and the inequality behind it. In this talk I want to give a small glimpse of what I have experienced and how my perspective on our consumer society has changed. Adventurous, open-minded and curious, that’s how my friends would describe me. I am Katharina Flatt, 16 years old and currently in IB1 in Salem. I grew up in a small town in central Germany, almost as a single child as my three older siblings moved out quite early. The limited offers in my hometown, the excitement of my older sibling’s life and most certainly my curiosity gave me the wish to explore different cultures and lifestyles from the very beginning. At the end of primary school, I did my first exchange to France for six months. This experience gave me the opportunity to live in a new environment, learn a new language and develop myself at a very young age. From then on, I’ve done exchanges to Peru and the US. Together with my family, I also started travelling and exploring nature very early and continued this passion. I can never get enough of nature, especially snowy mountains and wide oceans awake an extraordinary feeling in myself. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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Obama chose health care. Trump went with taxes. Presidential hopeful Jay Inslee was the only candidate with a very different top priority: to stop climate change. Even though the Washington state

Obama chose health care. Trump went with taxes. Presidential hopeful Jay Inslee was the only candidate with a very different top priority: to stop climate change. Even though the Washington state Governor's campaign is now over, his laser-focus on climate and the environment was a notable departure from other Democratic candidates who regularly mention, but rarely prioritize the issue. A discussion with climate-focused candidate Jay Inslee leading up to the 2020 presidential election. In the second half of the show, Democrats have rallied around the Green New Deal and its lofty promise of a clean energy future. How will it realize its ambitious goals? Still unclear. But there can be no doubt that the tide of climate change awareness is rising among the nation’s voters. And more and more, as their constituents feel the effects of global warming in their own districts, Republicans find that they ignore the topic at their peril. “In every single community in this country, you are able to identify a few changes to the detriment of all as a consequence of a changing climate,” says Ryan Costello, former U.S. representative from Pennsylvania. Costello, a Republican, now manages Americans for Carbon Dividends, an advocacy group that is supported by oil companies and promotes a price on carbon emissions. “It’s gonna be the first election where it's a major issue,” predicts former congressman Carlos Curbelo (R-FL). “I don't support it, but we can thank the Green New Deal for that.” Still, even some Democrats have found themselves caught between the threat of a destabilized climate and other, more immediate, concerns. Christine Pelosi of the Democratic National Committee says that, from her perspective, the conversation is more regional than partisan. “It has a lot more to do with a couple of things,” she says. “One is the existential threat that climate change presents, and the other is the dialogue in which people from poorer communities - frontline communities, indigenous communities, mining communities, industrial communities - say, ‘well, it may be true that the ecology as we know it is going to change in a dozen years. But your change is gonna change my family's economy in two years.” As 2020 looms, many Republicans still fear that voicing support of climate solutions could torpedo their chances for reelection. Curbelo, who co-founded the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus in Congress, believes it’s time to put country ahead of career. #letstalkclimate https://climateone.org/ U.S. Climate Alliance 1:48 Green New Deal 5:40 Sea Level Rise 8:43 Climate Change, An Emotional Topic 10:48 Ryan Costello 14:00 Carlos Curbelo 15:20 Christine Pelosi 18:10 Republicans Taking Risks on Climate Change 23:33

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This richly moving, dynamic, wisdom-packed panel will shift your thinking about the role of business in creating a just, equitable, zero carbon future for humanity and all life on Earth. In

This richly moving, dynamic, wisdom-packed panel will shift your thinking about the role of business in creating a just, equitable, zero carbon future for humanity and all life on Earth. In commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) principles, the inaugural B Corp Global Climate Summit (June 29-30 & July 1, 2021), seeks to evolve the business sector’s collective understanding and practice of Climate Justice and its commitment to human-centered, justice-driven approaches to climate action. With the aim of centering those on the frontlines of climate justice work and those whose lived experiences are most proximate to the challenges at hand, Summit conveners invited a select group of climate justice leaders from around the world to share their views on several key issues about the role of business in taking concrete climate action centered in justice. Their conversation focused on four key questions: 1) What is the most important thing for the business community to understand about the impacts of climate change on your community? 2) Where should the business community be focusing its energy in working on climate justice? 3) What is the action businesses could take that would have the greatest positive impact for your community? (Around climate justice?) 4) What do you want to say to businesses that are working on climate justice? Featured Speakers: Rasheed Ajamu, Curator, Phreedom Jawn (Philadelphia, PA, USA) René Calpanchay, CEO, Pueblos Originales SAS, (Argentina) David Chen, COO & Co-Founder, Golden Sunland (Singapore/Myanmar) Mark Cook, Education Committee Co-Chair, Elders Climate Action (Arizona, USA) Marita Davies, Storyteller & Author, (Melbourne, Australia) Fátima González Torres, Video Strategist and Regional Director, Ecosia (Berlin, Germany) TiQuoria Jackson (pronounced Tih-kohr-ee-uh), Environmental and Climate Justice Co-Chair, Howard County NAACP (Columbia, MD, USA) Gladys Kivati, Founder & Senior Consultant, Sustainable Business Consulting (Nairobi, Kenya) Mitzi Jonelle Tan, Youth Activist (Manila, Philippines) Conversation Hosts Raj Aggarwal, President, Provoc (Washington, DC, USA) Dan Egol, Executive Director, Inclusion NextWork Dr. Ellonda Williams, Director of Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, B Lab (Philadelphia, PA, USA)

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In this episode, Indigenous scholar and organizer Nick Estes explores how Indigenous land-based and Earth-centered societies are advancing regenerative solutions and campaigns to transform

In this episode, Indigenous scholar and organizer Nick Estes explores how Indigenous land-based and Earth-centered societies are advancing regenerative solutions and campaigns to transform capitalism. “Eco-nomics” puts Indigenous leadership at the forefront of assuring a habitable planet. Featuring Nick Estes, Ph.D. (Kul Wicasa/Lower Brule Sioux), is a Professor at the University of Minnesota (https://twin-cities.umn.edu/)  and a member of the Oak Lake Writers Society (https://olws.squarespace.com/) , a group of Dakota, Nakota and Lakota writers. In 2014, he was a co-founder of The Red Nation (https://therednation.org/)  in Albuquerque, NM, an organization dedicated to the liberation of Native people from capitalism and colonialism. He serves on its editorial collective and writes its bi-weekly newsletter (https://therednation.org/category/features/newsletter/) . Nick Estes is also the author of: Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance (https://www.versobooks.com/books/2953-our-history-is-the-future) . Resources Nick Estes – The Age of the Water Protector and Climate Chaos (https://bioneers.org/nick-estes-water-protector-climate-chaos-zstf2206/)  (video) | Bioneers 2022 Keynote Indigenous Pathways to a Regenerative Future (https://bioneers.org/indigenous-pathways-regenerative-future-zstf2112/)  (video) | Bioneers 2021 Panel The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth (https://www.commonnotions.org/the-red-deal)  | The Red Nation Indigenous Resistance Against Carbon (https://www.ienearth.org/indigenous-resistance-against-carbon/)  | Indigenous Environmental Network Credits • Executive Producer: Kenny Ausubel • Written by: Kenny Ausubel • Senior Producer and Station Relations: Stephanie Welch • Program Engineer and Music Supervisor: Emily Harris • Producer: Teo Grossman • Host and Consulting Producer: Neil Harvey • Production Assistance: Anna Rubanova This is an episode of the Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature series. Visit the radio and podcast homepage (https://bioneers.org/bioneers-radio/)  to learn more.

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A fundamental challenge of sustainability is to maintain and improve human well-being for present and future generations. Ensuring clean air is a major challenge worldwide, and this is fundamentally

A fundamental challenge of sustainability is to maintain and improve human well-being for present and future generations. Ensuring clean air is a major challenge worldwide, and this is fundamentally linked to the challenge of climate change. Pollutants that degrade air quality and leads to climate change come from common sources, like power plants and vehicles, and climate change can also make air quality worse, through wildfires and warmer temperatures. Addressing both air pollution and climate change simultaneously is key to ensuring human health and well-being both today and in the future. I argue for a people-centered approach to thinking about these issues as sustainability challenges, in order to identify solutions. Noelle Eckley Selin is an Associate Professor in the Institute for Data, Systems and Society and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. Her research uses atmospheric chemistry modeling to inform decision-making on air pollution, climate change and hazardous substances such as mercury and persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Professor Selin received her PhD from Harvard University in Earth and Planetary Sciences as part of the Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling Group, where she developed and evaluated a global, 3D model of mercury pollution. Prior to her current appointment, she was a research scientist with the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. In addition to her scientific work, she has published articles and book chapters on the interactions between science and policy in international environmental negotiations, in particular focusing on global efforts to regulate hazardous substances. Previously, she was a research associate with the Initiative on Science and Technology for Sustainability at Harvard’s Kennedy School, a visiting researcher at the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen, Denmark, and worked on chemicals issues at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. On campus, Professor Selin is also affiliated with the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change and the MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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Watch the entire Donny Rico series here: http://amwt.ch/3627 Episode #2 in the Adventures of Donny Rico (and Chevron): How to Pollute the Amazon and Get Away wit' it! "Who's Bribin' Who?" To draw

Watch the entire Donny Rico series here: http://amwt.ch/3627 Episode #2 in the Adventures of Donny Rico (and Chevron): How to Pollute the Amazon and Get Away wit' it! "Who's Bribin' Who?" To draw attention to Chevron's threat to open society and freedom of speech Amazon Watch presents The Adventures of "Donny Rico". (see Episode #1 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be9XncS8tiA) Episode 2 focuses on the absurd testimony of Chevron's "key witness" in the bogus RICO action against the Ecuadorians and their lawyers. Read More on the Eye On the Amazon: http://amazonwatch.org/news/2014/0528-whos-bribin-who The only direct testimony supporting Chevron's key claim—i.e. that the Ecuadorian plaintiffs' legal team "bribed" the trial judge to allow them to write the opinion—comes from Guerra, the disgraced former Ecuadorian judge who is probably one of the most openly corrupt witnesses ever to blight an American courthouse. His entire testimony violated U.S. law, which prevents witnesses from being paid for their testimony. Key facts about Guerra: 1. He admits he accepted and paid bribes throughout his legal career, both as a practicing lawyer and as a sitting judge. 2. He was removed as a judge for misconduct. 3. In early 2012, he was nearly destitute and desperate to join his son and daughter living in the United States (his son illegally), but had no basis for immigration. 4. At that time, a high-profile news story broke about an Ecuadorian judge accepting a decision written by a party and given to him on a flash drive. Guerra approached Chevron seeking payment with exactly the same story: he claimed he had evidence that the plaintiffs wrote the judgment and gave it to the judge on a flash drive. 5. Chevron lawyer Andres Rivero and Chevron investigator Yohi Ackerman immediately paid him $18,000 in cash for his story, in violation of ethical rules against paying fact witnesses. Chevron later paid Guerra another $30,000 in cash. It then entered into an agreement to pay him $12,000 a month for at least two years and perhaps indefinitely. 6. Chevron operatives then bought Guerra a car, auto insurance, and health insurance. Company lawyers then moved Guerra, his wife, and his younger son and his son's entire family to the United States and hired lawyers to get them green cards. The incentives for Guerra to say anything to keep the money flowing are obvious. 7. Guerra could never produce the flash drive. His computers did not turn up even a single email from Pablo Fajardo, the lead lawyer for the affected communities in Ecuador, despite the fact Guerra had told Chevron Fajardo had sent him a flash drive with the judgment on it. And Guerra claims to have "lost" his calendar during the year that he said he was in a meeting with Mr. Donziger where discussion of the "bribe" took place. In any event, during the time of the claimed meeting, Mr. Donziger was not even in Ecuador because of an illness in his family, according to immigration records and undisputed testimony. 8. Guerra's testimony changed constantly depending on new evidence. Other documents he produced to substantiate his account appear blatantly forged. All the while, Chevron's high-priced attorneys from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, led by Randy Mastro (who bills at $1,140 per hour), negotiated directly with Guerra in Chicago over his "price" while simultaneously preparing Guerra's sworn affidavit. The entire process is a violation of the ethical rules, as this affidavit by noted legal ethicist Erwin Chemerinsky attests. 9. In his decision, Judge Kaplan admitted Guerra was corrupt. Yet Judge Kaplan decided to credit Guerra's testimony anyway. Otherwise, there would be no high-profile "bribery" A grassroots campaign has already been launched by the Sierra Club and Amazon Watch asking members of the US Senate to investigate and put a stop to Chevron's abuse of the justice system, and vilification of the environmental and human rights community. Chevron's actions in this case and elsewhere set a dangerous precedent and represent a growing and serious threat to the ability of civil society to hold corporations accountable for their misdeeds around the world. Now a wide cross-section of U.S.-based environmental and corporate governance groups have condemned Chevron's most recent retaliatory attacks to intimidate the Ecuadorian indigenous peoples and farmers who have been harmed by the oil giant's massive contamination of their ancestral lands. Learn more and take action at http://chevrontoxico.com

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Stories for a Wiser Forestry by Cathy Fitzgerald Ireland 26 March 2023, Edinburgh Botanic Gardens

A talk prepared by Dr Cathy Fitzgerald for Creative Carbon Scotland's Green Tease Event at

Stories for a Wiser Forestry by Cathy Fitzgerald Ireland 26 March 2023, Edinburgh Botanic Gardens

A talk prepared by Dr Cathy Fitzgerald for Creative Carbon Scotland's Green Tease Event at Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens Mon 27 March 2023 responding to the theme: The Right Tree in the Right Place.

Introduction by Cathy Fitzgerald:

The phrase ‘the right tree in the right place’ commonly repeated by politicians internationally in regards to the value of appropriate tree-planting, offers Ireland-based New Zealand artist and ecoliteracy educator Cathy Fitzgerald an opportunity to think more deeply about wiser ecological permanent forestry. With the recent 2023 IPCC report again confirming that business-as-usual is threatening the life support systems of Earth, wiser ecological forestry is urgently needed-at-scale, as an alternative to ecocidal clear-fell monoculture forestry, to foster enduring personal, collective, planetary and intergenerational well-being.

The presentation gives a sense of Fitzgerald’s creative story-telling for wiser forestry through her blogging at Hollywood Forest Story.com. Since 2008, she has through online writing, photography and video reflected on, shared and developed an audience interested in her firsthand experiences of learning how to transform a tiny 2-acre conifer plantation in rural Ireland, into a more resilient mixed-species forest (through selective tree-thinning that encourages regeneration of mixed tree species) with new-to-Ireland continuous cover forestry practices that are more developed across some areas of Europe. Fitzgerald’s ongoing Hollywood Forest Story is recognized and summarized as an innovative case study in Creative Carbon Scotland’s Library of Creative Sustainability.

The diary form of Fitzgerald’s blog (now with an archive of her creative activities) has helped her reflect over several years on the emergent story of more ecological permanent forestry worldwide. She frames this work as a shift to a more life-promoting Symbiocene era, where ecosystems flourishing are prioritized, rather than clear-fell monoculture plantation forestry that is emblematic of the entrenched life-limiting mono-extractive mindset of the Anthropocene, also aptly described by Harroway and other scholars as the Plantationocene. Through her other work to provide ecological learning -ecoliteracy- to creative professionals (at Haumea Ecoversity.ie), she also connects ecological art practices to the fore of the global cultural shift to sustainability education (ESD) and broader integrated intrinsic values needed (best expressed in the peoples and twice UNESCO-endorsed Earth Charter 2000), to guide people think and act holistically for a more just, equitable and sustainable world.

Fitzgerald’s Hollywood Forest Story, follows other pioneering ecological artists’ work, like the late Helen and Newton Harrison’s important early 1990s 'Serpentine Lattice' work, that on a larger scale, looked at the devastation of monoculture clearfell forestry in the Pacific Northwest of the USA. Fitzgerald similarly promotes creative storytelling to foster a shift in conversations for new permanent forestry practices for other landowners, and ideas for a more ecologically-sustainable national forestry policy.

This presentation also allowed New Zealand-born Fitzgerald to process the recent heartache - the solastalgia - of how climate-fuelled extreme weather from Cyclone Gabrielle (February 2023) caused monoculture clear-fell forest site waste to devastate regions and communities in NZ. In doing so, she underlines why her and others’ efforts working in NGOs are important to foster wiser forest policy and government programmes. In other words, the soliphilia -the positivity, interconnectedness and empowerment needed to advance permanent, continuous cover, more beautiful bird-song-filled forests in Ireland and elsewhere.

'Hollywood Forest Story' in Creative Carbon Scotland's Library of Creative Sustainability https://www.creativecarbonscotland.com/library/the-hollywood-forest-story/

See blog

Cathy's ecoliteracy courses 

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A Message from the National Turtle Lodge Elders’ and Knowledge Keepers’ Council A CALL FOR A NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER Sunday, June 6, 2021 10 AM PST - 11 AM MST - 11 AM CST (Regina) - 12 PM CDT

A Message from the National Turtle Lodge Elders’ and Knowledge Keepers’ Council A CALL FOR A NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER Sunday, June 6, 2021 10 AM PST - 11 AM MST - 11 AM CST (Regina) - 12 PM CDT (Winnipeg) – 1 PM EDT - 2 PM ADT - 2:30 PM NDT Elder Dr. David Courchene, Jr. (Anishinaabe Nation) Grandmother Jane Meader (Mi’kmaw Nation) Hereditary Chief Stephen Augustine (Mi’kmaw Nation) Elder Ed Sackaney (Cree Nation) Elder Harry Bone, LL.D., C.M. (Anishinaabe Nation) Elder Allan White (Anishinaabe Nation) Elder Gerald Courchene (Anishinaabe Nation) Grandmother Florence Paynter (Anishinaabe Nation) Grandmother Katherine Whitecloud (Dakota Nation) Grandmother Mary Maytwayashing (Anishinaabe Nation) Knowledge Keeper Robert Maytwayashing (Anishinaabe Nation) Elder A.J. Felix (Cree Nation) Grandmother Patricia Felix (Cree Nation) Elder Morris Little Wolf (Piikani Nation) Grandmother Betty Ann Little Wolf (Piikani Nation) Chief Darrell Bob (St’at’imc Nation) Elder Dr. Barney Williams (Tia-o-qui-aht Nation) Knowledge Keeper Stephen Kakfwi (Dene Nation) Knowledge Keeper Antaurko (Inka Nation) The National Turtle Lodge Council of Elders and Knowledge Keepers recently came together virtually, from across the Nations, in light of the tragic news coming out of British Columbia. We are calling for a National Day of Prayer this Sunday, June 6, to offer a collective prayer, and intentions, in the unique spiritual traditions that exist across the country, on behalf of the 215 Children found at the site of a residential school in Kamloops, BC, for all Children who have been hurt, the Survivors, their Families and Communities who continue to live with the impacts of the residential school system today. This effort is in response to many calls from the People, who have been turning to the Knowledge Keepers from across the country for direction and spiritual guidance, in light of the recent news. Speaking in unity as one voice, the Knowledge Keepers will be offering leadership by lifting the Sacred Pipes collectively, lighting the Sacred Fires, and praying together in one spirit, in our Original Languages that are used to make a connection to the Creator. Following in the footsteps of our ancestors, our actions always begin with the power of the Pipe. We will receive further instructions on how we can move forward in the spirit of unity, as we begin in this way. The Elders and Knowledge Keepers wish to acknowledge the little Children, who through the recent discovery of their graves, have opened a doorway for healing for all Peoples in this country – for all the Residential School Survivors, their Families and Communities, as well as for the Canadian and larger world community, through the uncovering of the dark truth that took place in recent years. It is their hope and prayer that this will allow for greater healing and a New Relationship to be formed, based on love and kindness. The Elders have emphasized that it is our Ancestral way of life, our Ceremonies, our Pipes, Drums and Rattles, our Sacred Lodges and the comfort offered by Mother Earth herself, that hold the key to healing and moving forward. These Children would have been our future leaders, our Knowledge Keepers, Grandmothers, Grandfathers, our teachers. To honour these children, we need to focus on our Children today who have been left behind, many of whom are lost and need to come home. We need to bring them back to our ceremonies and our way of life, to provide opportunities and support so they can find their identity and become the future leaders in our homeland. Anishinaabe Elder Allan White from Naotkamegwanning (Whitefish Bay) First Nation has called for a Special National Gathering of Elders and Knowledge Keepers at the Turtle Lodge in July, to hold a special ceremony to honour the children and to seek further spiritual guidance and direction to help guide us in moving forward as a country. The Elders and Knowledge Keepers work in the spirit of establishing a New Relationship, by creating a peaceful, non-confrontational non-political environment and approach, focusing on taking a moral and spiritual approach, based on the spirit of love, kindness, and unity. Further details about this ceremonial gathering will be shared once the Elders receive the guidance and direction to hold this gathering. Until the time comes when we can meet in our Sacred Lodges again, we ask that you join us this Sunday, June 6, as we lift our Pipes, light our Sacred Fires, sing our traditional Songs, smudge, offer our Sacred Tobacco, and offer prayers in our own traditions in a collective way. In the spirit of love, healing, truth and a New Way forward.

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