What is the meaning of Land to the Indigenous population?
We are the land. There is really no separation. When you look at the lot of the places where the bases are — that’s where some of our most secret sacred sites are too. There is no separation. Our elders, our ancestors are buried in that land which gives us guidance to do the things that we need to do. A lot of it has been damaged and destroyed. At the same time we have a very strong movement to rebuild things that have been damaged by reclaiming our ancient fish ponds. The two biggest challenges are the developers and the military. We have a strong will and a lot of people are committed to the land and do the work that is needed in our communities. The Guardian: Has this been a long struggle? Before the 1900s, the land Commissioners mostly came from missionary families. Land commissioners held a very important position and were in charge of all the land titles. So there was much arguing with the titles and the deeds and the land commission awards for each lot of the land. Missionaries
