Sacred Sea Land Conservancy
“We had no idea we were doing Rights of Nature all along.” Lummi Tribal member Raynell Morris believes it’s easier for non-Indigenous people to grasp the Western concept of Rights of Nature as a new concept.“
“For the Lhaq’temish people, the Lummi people of the Lummi Nation, it’s known as our Xa Xalh Xechnging, our Sacred Obligation (in Xwlemi Chosen), to protect sacred sites, to care for our lands, the air, waters, and all living things on Earth, the trees, the salmon, the winged and two legged” It’s how we are raised in our families, it’s our way of life.” She says that after being introduced to the global concept of Rights of Nature, she realized it was a natural fit for the work she’s already doing. Morris is one of several Indigenous leaders who attended Na’ah Illahee Fund’s Rights of Nature cohort, to learn about advancing the process of developing Rights of Nature legal frameworks for their Indigenous territories.
Rights of Nature is a growing worldwide movement calling for a shift toward recognizing the Rights of Nature – recognizing the rights of ecosystems to “exist, thrive and evolve in natural cycles.
From the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature: Rights of Nature is often led by Indigenous people whose cosmology is rooted in the idea of reciprocity with the Earth and living in balance with the Earth’s offerings. Until we embrace the fundamental rights of Tribal Nations to set legal frameworks that sustain all life, governments and major corporations will continue to harm ecosystems and erode tribal sovereignty. Rights of Nature efforts in part seek to end “sacrifice zones”, the areas given over to the most hazardous activities nearly always situated where low-income, communities of color and Indigenous people live. https://www.garn.org/universal-declaration-for-the-rights-of-mother-earth/
Morris now knows the necessity of working with local and county governments, Tribal councils and sister tribes to develop proclamations and resolutions in support of Rights of Nature, which is the first stage in the process, thanks to Na’ah Illahee’s cohort training. She sees a need to advance the movement by to Indigenizing and institutionalizing the Rights of Nature into tribal governments and says that collaborations and partnerships are already in place with her relatives across the border in different parts of the Salish Sea who share salmon with Lummi, such as Tsleil-Waututh and Homalco sister tribes. Morris is grateful for the cohort experience and the aha! moments when she saw how her traditional teachings and the Western concept of Rights of Nature are aligned– and can bring us together.
As part of that sacred obligation, Morris has long advocated for the rights of the Salish Sea. As Lummi’s Sovereign and Treaty Protection Office director she worked with others to defeat the proposed coal port at Cherry Point. Today Raynell Morris, Squil-le-he-le (her traditional name), a member of the Lummi Nation, runs two nonprofits. As vice president of the Sacred Lands Conservancy (known as Sacred Sea) https://sacredsea.org/ she focuses on saving and protecting the Salish Sea.
After a directive from the tribe’s late Chief Tsilixw Bill James, Morris spent years pushing for Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut’s return after a directive from the tribe’s late Chief Tsilixw Bill James to bring her back to her family and the Salish Sea. Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut was stolen from her family as a child in 1970 to perform at Seaqarium under the name of Lolita.“When they stole her in 1970, it broke a strand in the web of life,” Tsilixw has said. “When it was broken, the only way to heal her family and to heal our people is to bring her home and start the healing, mend that broken strand.”
Shortly after announcing that she would be returned home, with unmeasurable sadness, the Lummi Nation, and Morris learned their relative, Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, had passed on before she could be returned.
In a statement Lummi Nation Chairperson Hillaire said there’s another side to Tokitae/Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut’s story. “Although it’s very sad and tragic, we’re thankful for Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut for bringing us all together,” Hillaire said. “What a great leader she was to bring the whole world together and give us this opportunity to look at ourselves — as individuals, as governments, as groups and agencies and policy makers: ‘What can we do better?’ ‘How can we be better?’ The main thing is we want to make sure this doesn’t happen again — for our whale relatives, for our children, for our loved ones and all of our family. We could not be at this place of change without her.”IWe are grateful that Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut (Tokitae / Lolita) seemed happy, healthy, and active up until two days before she swam on. We believe she knew that she was loved and cared for, and that she would be coming home soon.
Morris released a statement through SacredSea.org, “We are grateful that her work in our human world taught us so much. Native nations, politicians, philanthropists, scientists, corporations, and individuals around the world all worked together for common cause. Science and ceremony complemented one another. We worked together for healing and wholeness. Her story resonated, her story inspired. She made us better humans.
We are grateful that Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut (Tokitae / Lolita) seemed happy, healthy, and active up until two days before she swam on. We believe she knew that she was loved and cared for, and that she would be coming home soon.
We are grateful that her work in our human world taught us so much. Native nations, politicians, philanthropists, scientists, corporations, and individuals around the world all worked together for common cause. Science and ceremony complemented one another. We worked together for healing and wholeness. Her story resonated, her story inspired. She made us better humans.”
Na’ah Illahee’s staff, board and community is heartbroken to hear of Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut’s passing on, yet we are honored to have been a part of her story that lives on through advocates like Raynell Morris and those protecting our relatives, all living beings, that depend on the health and wellness of the Salish Sea.