[peter12]

The sustainable care-taking of our planet is a worldview we so desperately need. The 7 generations principle (based on the stewardship of mother earth) that First Nations peoples have adhered to, is not just some airy fairy spiritual mumbo jumbo. It was a necessity of life.

Show me proof. Which First Nations adhered to this principle? Where? This is just another myth like Squanto or Adario that people like to tell themselves now.

Traditional ecological knowledge had evolved over thousands of years of lived experience. That knowledge is invaluable and should be honoured and studied much much further.They have a ton of knowledge about natural phenomena, ecosystems, plants, animals, fisheries and on and on, that our environmental scientists and anthropologists are learning as we speak.

As someone who deals directly with TEK, I can say from experience this is entirely false. Oral traditions are adaptive, they do not have the same critical knowledge base as a written tradition.

Not to mention these guys were (some still are) adapted to their local environment on a level that your average so called "woodsman" roughing it up north can't even conceive of. Go try hanging with a Dene or Inuit living a traditional lifestyle. Tell me those guys are lazy or dumb. You wouldn't make it half a day, no exaggeration.

Just lived in the bush with a Dene gentleman for 21 days. They do have a high degree of land use knowledge that is completely dependent on cultural superstitions and taboo that while, effective for survival, do not approach anything scientific. Also, the guy had a high-powered rifle, a truck, and ate pepperoni from the gas station.

Indigenous people's have been saying that we are connected to the web of nature since time immemorial, far before Darwin came along. Lucky guess, perhaps?

How would you have proof of this without a written tradition? Romantic nonsense.

It's a testament to the resiliency of the people that they refused to be assimilated despite 100 plus years of government effort (some, including myself would argue this process is still ongoing. Finally in the past couple of generations we are now seeing more and more First Nations (and Metis) who are medical doctors, lawyers, academics with PHD's, scientists, engineers, teachers, social workers, tradespeople, etc.

As it happens, I do see the irreplaceable dignity of each one of these humans, while still being able to firmly say this is untrue. Most natives, if you spend the time with them that I do, will openly admit to wanting a type of assimilation.