CHIEF SISK’S CITATIONS HAVE BEEN DISMISSED
The Winnemem Wintu Tribe received confirmation that the U.S. Attorney has
dismissed the citations Chief Caleen Sisk received for holding our Coming of Age
ceremony.
Hee chala baskin! Thank you for your support!
In a bizarre situation the United States Forest Department (USFD) has issued charges against Chief Caleen Sisk of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, for the use of a boat in a closed area of MacLeod River in Northern California, USA.
The boat was used the as part of the coming of age ceremony for the tribe’s young women on the banks of the river so that the elders could cross and participate. Ironically the closed area was established by the USFS itself to provide a measure of peace and dignity for carrying out the ceremony, as the tribes people are usually the subject of harassment by other river users, watch the film clip here:
It appears a vital provision that would allow the tribe legitimate use of the boat in the area seems to have been omitted. To issue citations for the use of the boat in this context therefore seems barely credible for an organization such as the US Forest Service.
The US Government signed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) on 16th December 2010. Article 12.1 of the Declaration states;
“Indigenous peoples have the right to manifest, practise, develop and teach their spiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies; the right to maintain, protect, and have access in privacy to their religious and cultural sites; the right to the use and control of their ceremonial objects; ….”
When President Obama announced the signing of the declaration he said;
“The aspirations [the Declaration] affirms — including the respect for the institutions and rich cultures of Native peoples — are one we must always seek to fulfill…But I want to be clear: What matters far more than words — what matters far more than any resolution or declaration -– are actions to match those words.”
Chief Calleen Sisk on stage at the World Conservation Congress in Jeju Korea, 2012. Along side film maker Christopher (Toby) Mcleod, Chief Caleeen Sisk speaks to the film segments of a forthcoming documentary series that shows the current threats to the sacred natural sites of the Winnemen Wintu. Photo: Marie Fischborn.
It appears that USFS is out of step both with the spirit and letter of the UNDRIP, the exhortations of President Obama and with the global conservation movement in taking these punitive actions against Chief Sisk. To the contrary, supporting the legitimate access, activities and management of indigenous people and local communities of their own cultural spaces and places of worship, as evidenced by the establishment in the first place of the closed zone by USFS, is more in line with national and international thinking, and more fitting of the forest service.
The court case is happening this week Tuesday 16th October. Please sign the petition in support of their case. The tribe is also fighting the US government’s plan to raise the level of the Shasta Dam and drown the tribes lands and sacred sites for a second time. To read more of this and the tribes efforts to return salmon the the McLeod River follow this link.
