Written by: Anaan’arar Sophie Irene Swope
W
hat is your relationship to the land? How has that taken precedence in your life? What is your culture worth to the outside world?
To the multimillionaires, it might not matter. But to you, me and our ancestors, this natural life source is our connection to the world; the spiritual passage between earth, mind and body; a symbiotic way of living, delicately pieced together by the migration of animals and the seasons of plant life.
The Yupiat belief system of Ellam Yua, the spirit or creator of the universe, brings value to our human experience by driving connection to our ancestors and the responsible use and gratitude of the resources provided. It is a Yup’ik custom to bury food in the tundra for our ancestors, feeding their spirit and allowing their continual remembrance in our lives. We also celebrate yuraq, dancing to the beat of a drum that represents the beating heart of our ancestors and of the spirit. A celebration that is connected to all that we are and ever have been.
While harvesting animals, we have learned to give thanks to the universe and to the animals spirit for providing themselves as food. Out of respect, we do not waste any portion of the animal, making all that they provide an active part of our spiritual and material lives.
Ellam Yua also guided responsible harvesting of resources, shown in the ways our mothers and grandmothers knew just how many fish we need to survive winter without overfishing our salmon stock. The understanding of this universal energy allows us to balance what we give and what we receive in the world.
Today, we face westernized practices that were forced on our communities. In place of land claims, for-profit Native corporations that are driven by capitalism, valuing our lands under the prospect of money driven assets instead of our Yupiat ecological worldview.
Calista Corporation represents over 33,000 shareholders with ties to the Yukon-Kuskokwim region. Within these Calista lands is the Kuskokwim River. It’s the second largest river in Alaska that is fed by mountain water through snowmelt that moves through various creeks.
These creeks are the spawning grounds to an abundance of salmon and other fish that migrate back and forth from the ocean each year. It’s a valued ecosystem that provides food security to our people — the shareholders of Calista, the Yup’ik and Cup’ik who have been for thousands of years.
Yearly salmon runs are deeply rooted to the people of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and it’s all at risk. These salmon spawning creeks are being valued for the gold underneath by our corporation and not the life they foster.
In pursuit of money, Calista invited Donlin Gold for a project that will disrupt these spawning grounds by permanently altering over 13 miles of streams, and require a 2,240 acre waste rock facility and a 2,351 acre tailings storage facility that will have to be treated through perpetuity. Altogether, this will be the largest pure gold, open-pit mine in the world.
Donlin Gold is jointly owned by Barrick Gold and Novagold. These outside developers don’t value our culture, our relationship to the salmon or our land and waters.
Barrick Gold has had a devastating impact on Indigenous people around the world.
After Barrick Gold security forces allegedly killed miners, riots broke out in Porgera, Papua New Guinea.
In Papua New Guinea, the company and their governments told Aboriginal people a gold mine was a good change for their lifestyle. It was a false validation that completely stripped their rights to land, took away their food security and made their lives miserable.
Barrick promised the Indigenous people “good communication.” But when there was a cyanide spill in September 2015, this promise was unfulfilled and the people are now living in panic because they don’t know the quality of their water. People are saying their children now have heavy metals in their blood.
Barrick mine guards are known to resort to violence in multiple mining sites. There are stories of “intruders” being shot, wives gang-raped —some later diagnosed with HIV — and husbands killed. Barrick left the livelihood of these indigenous peoples in a state of chaos. Barrick stands with profit, not pro-human ethics.
For NovaGold, the Donlin project is the core of its prosperity. With no successful mining projects, NovaGold looks to Barrick as a well-knowledged uncle.
There is a social license and sustainable development article within NovaGold governance that states, “NovaGold is committed to the principles of sustainable development, including: Conservation and preservation of natural resources and of the environment. And enhancement of the well-being of people.” And yet, the Donlin Mine will not enhance the wellbeing of our people or preserve our environment.
We are in a head-to-head battle with our own Native corporation that claims to abide by traditional values, but acts otherwise. 50 years of the Clean Water Act is coming near, and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Yupiat are soon to be facing the biggest threat to their watersheds.
Our own community of Tuluksak has already seen the impacts from the Nyac mine and are in a state of emergency when their water treatment facility is down. The water in their river is full of toxins and empty salmon runs — with no hope for subsistence revival. The Donlin Mine will do the same to the other 55 villages in our region that rely on salmon as a primary food source and connection to our culture.
I personally heard the chair of the board for Calista dismiss the testimony of a Tuluksak shareholder during the corporation’s annual meeting this year. The shareholder testified against Donlin Gold, comparing it to the Nyac mine. She shared how her father died of cancer due to the toxins from the mine many miles away.
This death broke her home and her connection to culture. And all the chair could say in response was, “We have a problem with suicide in our region.”
This broke my heart. For a company that is directed to function for the benefit of the shareholders, I don’t see suicide as an argument to dismiss what could have been prevented. It actually magnifies the issue.
The never-released health impact assessment for Donlin Mine actually considers the forecasted mental health impacts from the project. “Increase in morbidity and mortality related to psychosocial distress such as depression, anxiety, suicide, substance abuse, and changes to family structure” is listed as a negative impact of the mine with a likelihood of 66-90%.
I’m left to wonder, how can we allow this to happen? How can our own Native corporation know the impacts and use them to dismiss our concerns? Especially when they are leading a project that will make mental health issues worse in our communities.
Calista is bringing in companies who are renowned for their mistreatment of Indigenous people. This is not a value to our people or our livelihood.
We need our Tribal Nations to speak up. We need them to take a stance on what was rightfully ours but placed into the hands of the wealthy few Indigenous descendants who have lost connection to our Yupiat ways of life.
In an effort to preserve and protect our natural resources against Donlin Gold, the YK-Delta now has the Mother Kuskokwim Tribal Coalition. This coalition is seeking to elevate Tribal voices and allow a space for our Nations to be heard.
Tribal identity is deeply tied to our traditional values and our long standing ecological world view. Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge needs to be used in contribution to the scientific, technical, social and economic advancements of the United States. We have a lot to say, a lot that has been passed down in the genetic codes that lie within us.
Preserving our livelihood is the forefront of everyone’s agenda – even the ones coming to destroy it. So let’s prove that we understand what they think we don’t.
Let’s act, let’s push to uplift our beautiful connection to our lands. Let’s be the sovereign Nations we are and say no to destroying our food security. Say no to Donlin Gold. It won’t benefit anyone but the few who already have millions. Our culture is not worth anyone’s stock market value.
Anaan’arar Sophie Irene Swope is director for the Mother Kuskokwim Tribal Coalition and a Kuskokwim community organizer at Native Movement. Born, raised and currently residing in Mamteriller, known as Bethel, she believes we must maintain a healthy relationship with the Earth ensuring the future generations of all life are able to enjoy the same livelihood.
“We must listen to Ellam Yua, the spirit of the universe, that feeds the intuition of our people, they show us what we need to know just like Ellam Yua did for our ancestors.”
-Anaan’arar, Sophie Irene Swope
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