​In the Anishinaabe world it was from Creator’s Dream that all was created. During the First Order of Creation the four sacred elements of Water, Rock, Wind, and Fire were brought into existence; during the Second Order of Creation the plant nations were brought into existence; during the Third Order of Creation the animal nations were brought into existence. Once all else was here on our Mother Earth, doing all the things they do, and once everything was beautiful and in its place, Creator began to lower humans to the Earth. At this time, during the Fourth Order, humans were gifted with free will and the intelligence of the mind.

​Within the Anishinaabe tradition it is valued that all the beings before humans are more intelligent. We value that Water, a member of the First Order, was born knowing what to do; and trees, although a little bit further from Creator and born in the Second Order, also hold a lot of Creator’s knowledge and wisdom, thus they know how to stand straight with integrity. We also value that although the Animal beings are born in the Third Order, who hold less knowledge than the tree nation yet more of Creator’s knowledge than humans do, are our teachers in the way they carefully and lovingly teach their young. And we value that humans born in the Fourth Order, despite the gift of our minds, require even more teachings than all the other beings. We value that we are only human and not as intelligent as all that came before. Within this understanding I know I am only a woman.
 
As many people know one of the main differences between Indigenous people and our knowledge philosophy and most, if not all, settler Canadians, is that Indigenous people value the Original Dream and Creator’s Laws. Another way to understand this difference is to value that Indigenous assumptions, beliefs, teachings, and rituals are intentionally and consciously designed around natural features on the Earth and the knowledge inherent. This serves to keep us rooted within Creator’s Law and the naturalistic tradition, also known as the naturalistic paradigm. The short story is that the naturalistic paradigm places natural law at its core whereas humans are placed after, but at the same time within, the broader context of all the other beings such as the four sacred elements.

​The humanistic paradigm is different from the naturalistic paradigm. The humanistic paradigm places humans above the natural world and above all the other beings versus after all else and within it. This includes all human creations such as our governance and economic traditions and this includes brick and mortar structures. These entities are all situated above the natural world. They are not designed to work with Creation and natural law; rather they are designed to control and monopolize the natural world. While humans are smart and able to create amazing things with the gift of our minds; our egos, greed, selfishness, and arrogance are the barriers to respecting the importance of the natural world and all that came before our arrival. This unexamined default way of being is what is meant by the Anishinaabe saying, “humans are pitiful”.
 
As we are all beginning to learn the humanistic paradigm and all the inventions that emerge from it, is devastating our collective land and waterscapes, so much so that our water is polluted with multiple layers of different kinds of pollution: debris such as plastic and other forms of garbage; organic and inorganic chemical compounds such as dioxins, heavy metals, and pharmaceuticals; biological and sewage waste; and radioactive particles. Again, this is the result of human beings placing their needs and desires over and above all the beings within the natural world, which is a particular kind of arrogance over Creator’s Law. Creator, I think, must be sad to have gifted humans with a mind that so quickly defaults to all that is inherent in the Wendigo: Ego, greed, selfishness, and arrogance. I know I am and so are many of my friends.
 
The problem in coming to value our own complicity in the destruction of the natural world is that most people are suffering from “cognitive paradigm paralysis”. What I mean by this is that many humans are unable to think conceptually about the paradigm they live within, and thus unable to think critically about the limitations of that very paradigm ‒ again the humanistic paradigm ‒ and value that there is a better and more intelligent option waiting for them to shift into. The culprit is human cognition. The mind is not as smart as we think it is.

A telling example of people’s inability to understand that they are stuck within the limiting and irrational humanistic paradigm is the fact that when a brick and mortar Church, Mosque, or Synagogue is vandalized, people are disgusted and outraged and they quickly refer to it as a “hate crime”; yet when a natural sacred place that has a 5,000 year old history, such as Akikpautik and Akikodjiwan, located within the natural world of the land and waterscape of the Ottawa River is further desecrated, these same people are unable to shift conceptually and thus value that this too is indeed a hate crime. This inability to shift conceptually into the naturalistic paradigm and truly value Creation and all that came before humans, continues to harm all beings not just Indigenous nations and peoples.
 
Akikpautik and Akikodjiwan are the very land and waterscapes where Creator placed the First Sacred Pipe, the ultimate ritual and ceremony of reconciliation. The Spirit of the West Wind gifted his son Nanaboozo with the Sacred Pipe for fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, and citizens of all nations to assist in reconciliation. Sadly, Akikpautik and Akikodjiwan are now slated for further desecration through the construction of Windmill’s Zibi condominium and retail complex, a so-called One Planet Community (now under Theia Partners and Dream Unlimited Corporation). What is particularly bizarre is that this desecration is happening just upstream from Canada’s Parliament.
 
While I understand that I am only a woman brought to this Earth after all else and thus I am less intelligent, many know I have been on a long learning journey piecing together what Canada has done, and continues to do, to Indigenous nations and peoples. What I now know for sure is the most effective way to destroy a people is to destroy their sacred beliefs, stories, and places. It is a complete abomination that the further desecration of this sacred place of reconciliation is happening during the time of the Liberal government’s reconciliation and feminist platform.
 
Here are a few resources if you wish to learn more about the sacredness of Akikpautik and Akikodjiwan: 

• https://watershedsentinel.ca/articles/akikodjiwan/
• http://anishinabeknews.ca/2015/05/26/opinion-lambert-on-free-the-chaudiere-falls-and-save-the-islands/
• http://albertdumont.com/dreamkeepers-politicians-chaudiere-falls/
• http://muskratmagazine.com/celebrating-canadas-150th-featuring-the-desecration-of-an-indigenous-sacred-place/

• http://albertdumont.com/asinabka-impossible-to-buy/
• http://asinabka.com/​ 

​© Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

I decided to take the time and write this Algonquin Anishinaabe land acknowledgement.  Go ahead and print it out and use it when you are opening an event in Algonquin territory.

​Currently we are on Algonquin Anishinaabeg traditional territory. The Algonquin were one of the first Indigenous Nations that Champlain recorded as he travelled up the Kichesippi, now called the Ottawa River.

Algonquin territory consists of 48 million acres inclusive of rivers, lakes, boreal forests, rock, trees, four legged, winged, and finned. Through the creation of Upper and Lower Canada, now Ontario and Quebec, and through the French surrendering and ceding land that they did not own, the Algonquin Anishinaabeg have been divided along the very river that once united us. Through the overlay of Canada the nation state and the imposition of a provincial federal order, the Algonquin are divided by language, law, and religion. While 39 million acres is in Quebec, 9 million is in Ontario.

Through processes of genocide inherent in processes of colonization, which continues today, the Algonquin have been relegated to small plots of land. There are ten federally recognized communities made up of registered status members: one in Ontario and nine in Quebec. As suggested these communities reside on only small fractions of the larger Algonquin Anishinaabeg traditional territory. Pikwàkanagàn First Nation’s land base consists of a mere 1,561 acres; Barriere Lake only 59; while Wolf Lake has been denied a land base altogether. There are also many communities in Ontario, made up of mostly non-status members, that have been more formally organized to accommodate the federal government’s need to define Indigenous rights in narrow terms and they all lack their own collective land bases known as reserve lands.
 
The Kichesippi has been subject to the logging, hydroelectric, nuclear power, and the fishing and sport hunting industries. These industries have clogged the Great River, flooded important landscapes, and are currently dumping radio-active particles in the river. What is more, the nuclear industry is also warming the river using the water to cool down nuclear reactors.
 
Although the Algonquin Anishinaabeg were emissaries during the 1764 Treaty at Niagara, and many of the men fought on the side of the British during the 1776 American revolution, and during WW1 and WW2, Algonquin were and are continually denied the jurisdiction to their land and resources.
 
Indigenous knowledge philosophy is a life way that situates humans within a broader context of the natural world versus a religion selectively practiced. Within this philosophy, the Four Sacred Elements ‒ Water, Rock, Wind, and Fire ‒ are valued as more intelligent. As such, places where they intersect are sacred. In addition, while many people think Indigenous people of Turtle Island lack a tradition of symbolic literacy, in actuality the Anishinaabeg inscribed stories, knowledge, and important messages within the land and waterscapes of their territory. Akikpautik is where Creator placed the First Sacred Pipe, the ultimate expression of Reconciliation between Nations, Humans, and the Natural World.
 
Today there are more non-status than status Algonquin and many of us reside outside of our traditional territory.

​​​​​​​​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

​Check out this speakers' panel in Ottawa on Oct 27 on the need to respect an Indigenous sacred place located just walking distance from Canada's parliament.

​Only 100 tickets will be sold on a first come first serve basis. 

Facebook event page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/2098947666814368/
​
Eventbrite page:
​
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reconciliation-re-membering-creators-first-sacred-pipe-tickets-49213541026

​​​​​​​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

Many of the descendants of settlers – aka Canadians – are perturbed or in an uproar about the process whereby statues of the prominent early colonial and genocidal men are being taken down and relegated to storage rooms. We all know the names of the men because they have become icons of what is Canada. Icons, though, when you add power are more about propaganda than knowledge and truth.

In the work I do I have been exposed to far too many settler thoughts that these statues need to remain erected in public settings if only as a measure so Canadians do not forget what happened and further as a way to ensure the genocide does not happen again.

To this I have a few things to say:

First, the descendants of settler people do not get to have a say here. Rather, it is Indigenous people who have the most important knowledge on this topic. This is a good time for the descendants of settler people to listen versus talk. After all, this is the reasonable and moral thing to do: to value that as the people who have benefited more from colonization, your thoughts and opinions are not important and should not be made audible.

Second, descendants of settler people need to value that while the statues are coming down, Canada does indeed continue today with its colonial genocidal laws, policies, and practices such as the land claims process. The long-time presence of the statues has not changed Canada’s genocidal policies, not at all. As an example, the Algonquin in Ontario continue to be denied access to their land and resource rights. As a matter of fact we are only offered 1.3% of our territory and a $300 million one-time buy-out in our current land claim, yet we all know a nation is not a nation without the land and resources needed to govern its citizenry.

Third, while Indigenous people may be relieved to see the icons taken down, the Liberal government will be the real winner because they will receive accolades, and votes, for removing them. In this way the practice by the Prime Minister and his cabinet is about nothing more than about manipulating the masses through optics and circumventing what is really needed: the end of the genocide in Canada.

If you do not like what I say here, this is due to the cognitive dissonance inherent in iconoclasm. Keep in mind through that the best and most important knowledge is emotional. Hang on to your heart and listen to the voices that matter most: Indigenous people. And then be in an uproar about the reality that Canada’s genocide continues despite the presence or removal of the deceptive icons that Canada calls its leaders.

The human spirit moves through the heart. Morals take the same pathway. Cognitive dissonance is more about ego versus morality.

​​​​​​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

​I wanted to make sure I took some time and said “Miigwetch” to you for organizing the Snap Up Kinder Morgan protest last week in Peterborough Ontario and just outside of MP Maryam Monsef’s office. I was happy to see both younger and older settler people from Peterborough standing up against the pipeline that will lead to more climate change and devastation of the Land and our Water systems.
 
Of course there is the issue of Canada’s ongoing assault of Indigenous rights. Indigenous consent was not given to build the pipeline. Regardless, the Liberal government continues to spew rhetoric and lie when it comes to the matter of “reconciliation” and respecting the “nation to nation relationship”. It does not take much reasoning to know that reconciliation will not occur without Canada’s respect for Indigenous jurisdiction of Land and resources. I say this despite the very recent media non-sense that covered LEAP Peterborough’s so called reconciliation party where reconciliation was reduced to “building something new” versus the reality of it being rooted in respecting Indigenous jurisdiction. More Indigenist inclined thinkers know that ultimately reconciliation is about Land. The media really needs to stop with the practice of “elderism” where it is assumed, or manipulatively thought and practiced, that older Indigenous people are the holders of all the important knowledge. Indigenous communities also had and continue to have intellectuals and philophers. What I mean by this is Indigenous knowledge is collectively held versus essentialized within Elders and language carriers.
 
That said, I do want to say something else important about the Snap Up protest. While it warmed my heart that Peterborough settler people were doing something, I found the method of singing of different renditions of O’ Canada to be most unfortunate. The practice of singing different renditions of O’ Canada emerges from the practice of old white feminism which has been refuted a long time ago. While some people may think I am negatively criticizing, in fact my thoughts on this emerge from a valid critical theory framework. What I am getting at is what humans really need is an entire paradigm shift that displaces humans from the centre where the natural world should be. The ritual and performance of singing of O’ Canada emerges from the very same destructive humanistic paradigm that places humans and their institutions, such as state nationalism, at the core. Again, what humans really need is to shift to the naturalistic paradigm that places the natural world at the core; the quality of our collective land and water is at stake.
 
We are all Indigenous to the Earth and we all exist within natural law.
 
The issues humans and the Earth face are so much more than about the divisions between settlers (refugees included) and Indigenous people. We need to think deeply about this because when we sing these different renditions of O’ Canada we in fact remain within the trap of state nationalism built by humans where we merely celebrate our oppression.
 
What we all need to do is become the Indigenist people all of our ancestors taught us to be, and care better for the Earth and the gift of water. We need to be singing the water song.

​​​​​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

It is often said that one of the culprits of Western culture and the process of colonization is the way it converted larger communities and families into nuclear homes with individualistic and/or egotistical values.  Historically and traditionally here on Turtle Island we lived within communities where we were all related to one another and where we all had a role in teaching children values and morals.  For the most part these values and morals were embodied through teachings, songs, and rituals.  Once these values and morals were embodied, during times when our bodies and minds failed us, family and community members would remind one another of their collective obligations.  In this way family and community members were an important element of Indigenous governance tradition.

Oftentimes some people will actually excuse a family member’s lack of good moral judgement through statements such as, “I am not responsible for her actions” or “she is doing her job and she really is a nice person”.  This line of reasoning, though, is rooted in an oppressive governance structure that relies on individualistic and/or egotistical values, and must be reconsidered; this is especially so if one claims to be leftist.  Said another way, family and community members who remain silent as they stand beside violators of human rights are themselves complicit in the violation.  And further, through their silence they remain stuck within an oppressive governance system; an oppressive system that is comparable to the system that has forced many families to find refuge in Canada.
​
The contradiction of a young family finding refuge in Canada, yet that same family then denies Indigenous women and children their land and treaty rights, exists in plain sight for all to see.

​​​​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

Men, have you encountered so called liberated women who told you that you cannot be a feminist? If so, no longer fret.  Go back and tell them the theoretical framework of old white feminism is not working anyway because it remains within the humanistic paradigm versus the naturalistic paradigm. Then tell them you are now Indigenist, which represents a genuine paradigm shift that we all need, a paradigm shift where men are situated, where the natural world that includes water and trees sits at the core not just women.

Afterall we are all Indigenous to the Earth and we all have Indigenous knowledge. Stand up for the water versus old white feminism that won't embrace you. The Indigenous paradigm will.

​​​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

On April 18th, 2018, I, along with several people who live in Ottawa, took the time to visit the National Gallery of Canada for a private showing of the art of Chaudière Falls and the Islands. In the Anishinaabeg tradition we ascribe stories to our landscapes. I was fortunate to learn from the late Elder William Commanda, a language speaker, Pipe carrier, wampum bundle carrier, and story-teller about the specialness of Chaudière Falls. William told me this was the place where Creator placed the first Sacred Pipe.

Our visit to the gallery was such a special afternoon. The visit began with a discussion of how it is that the Four Sacred Elements of Water, Rock, Wind, and Fire are inherent in the pipe ceremony, and further how the Four Orders of Creation are also inherent: Rock, Water, Wind, and Fire; the Tree Nation, The Animal Nation, and finally Human Beings.

As we collectively viewed the art we respected the need for us all to take the time and enjoy each piece before we began with the interfering ritual of the click, click, clicking of our cameras. We ended with a wonderful feast where we talked about our lives and we shared our dreams for a time when the sacred is honoured.

The inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge into the event made it a more joyful time for me. I encourage everyone interested to organize a private viewing of the art of  Chaudière Falls and the Islands.  Here is the object list of the items:
​
6287                    1791 Davies, Thomas‒watercolour
18504.1-2            1821 Forrest, Charles Ramus‒watercolour
42324.81             1821 Woolford, John Elliott‒watercolour
42324.82A           1821 Woolford, John Elliott‒watercolour
42324.82B           1821 Woolford, John Elliott‒watercolour
42324.84              1821 Woolford, John Elliott‒watercolour
23440                   1821 Woolford, John Elliott-watercolour  
29214.13              1825 Young, John Crawford‒drawing with brown wash
29214.39              1825 Young, John Crawford‒drawing with brown wash
29214.40              1825 Young, John Crawford‒drawing with brown wash
42323.38              1828 Cockburn, James Pattison‒drawing with brown wash
42323.39              1828 Cockburn, James Pattison‒drawing with brown wash
42323.40              1828 Cockburn, James Pattison‒drawing with brown wash
42323.41              1828 Cockburn, James Pattison‒drawing with brown wash
28026                   1833 Pooley, Henry‒watercolour
15017                   1840 Bartlett, W.H.‒pencil
34856                   1857 unknown artist‒stereo view
2037                     1858 Krieghoff, Cornelius‒oil painting
32401                   1860 Notman, William‒stereo view
33380                   1873 Topley, William James‒stereo view
33383                   1875 Topley, William James‒photograph

Learn more about Chaudière Falls and the Islands and their further desecration despite the rhetoric and nation to nation and reconciliation at this link: https://watershedsentinel.ca/articles/akikodjiwan/

Below is a slideshow of the works.

​​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

All too often settler people say to me, “The Algonquin have to get it together and stop being so divided”.
 
Although I am Algonquin Anishinaabe, a person does not have to be Algonquin to carry a critical thinking lens or framework in understanding that the issue with the denial of Algonquin rights, the destruction of our land, the pollution of the Ottawa River, and the destruction of our sacred places is in fact a settler issue and a settler government issue.  It is not an Algonquin issue; not at all.
 
It is not too difficult to reason that here in what has become the nation state called Canada, settlers have benefited from colonization in enormous and lucrative ways; in more ways than the Algonquin have.  Through the construction of Canada settler people have had greater access to Indigenous land and settlers have benefited more from the resources mined and pilfered from the land.
 
There are more settlers on Indigenous lands, and it is their settler government that continues to spend millions and millions of dollars to ensure the Algonquin remain in hardship, in poverty, and divided.  Let’s face it, as long as the Algonquin remain divided Canada can, and will, blame us for the very divide Canada has manufactured ‒ again through the resources pilfered from Indigenous land.
 
Through the settler court system, from the 1973 Calder decision through to the 2017 Tsilhoqot’in decision, Indigenous people have won the recognition for our rights yet Canada continues to deny these rights to us.
 
Indigenous people have also placed their bodies on the land over and over and over again.
 
It is about time settler people stop with the practice of blaming Algonquin people for the ongoing desecration and pollution of the land and water that we all need; trees and animals included. Said another way, the time is ripe for settlers to stop blaming Algonquin ancestors and fellow Algonquin who walk the earth today for what their ancestors did and their current settler government continues to do to the Four Orders of Creation.
 
Too many so called friends and acquaintances continually say ignorant things to me over and over again about the Algonquin.  They blame us.  This has to stop. Settlers, you own this situation.  It is time for you to put your bodies on the land and on the line.  Mortgage your homes; sell you summer homes too; then there is the content of those homes, it can all go too. Really serve the cause.  You can do this.  Whatever steps you take to generate the change you seek and the change we all need, stop with the excuse of blaming on the Algonquin for the continued pilfering of the land that you mostly benefit from.
 
Settlers stop externalizing your responsibility.  Settlers, you own this; not the Algonquin Anishinaabeg.

​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com

Miigwetch Senator Marilou McPhedran and all the wonderful helpers and sponsors for such a wonderful day! April 18, 2018.

​​​Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit.  You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com