In-person panel event t In Montréal, Canada.
(A recording will be made available and shared after the event)
(in Spanish & English)
Venue: Hôtel ZERO 1, 1 René-Lévesque Est, Montréal, QC H2X 3Z5
Time: 10:00 - 11:30 (Local time Montréal)
Host: Stop Ecocidio
The Earth calls and invites us to open our ears and our hearts to listen to the voices that emerge from the beings that belong to it, from the depths of the jungles and forests, the mountains, rivers and seas. These voices come to us through the ancestral guardians of these territories, busting with biodiversity, who, from their experiences and struggles, will share with us what they are living through and what the sacred custody of the territory they inhabit really means.
In this panel we will join these voices to discuss a legal tool that we consider necessary for the protection and care of Nature, ancestral territories and biodiversity: the inclusion of the crime of ecocide in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, so that those who cause the most serious damage to ecosystems are placed at the same ethical and legal level as those who commit the worst crimes worldwide.
Speakers:
Rainbow Eyes
Rainbow Eyes is a member of the Da'naxda'xw/Awaetlala First Nation with traditional Territory of Knight Inlet (British Columbia, Canada). A trained Land Guardian who worked for 4 years in Knight Inlet. After hearing the call of the forest She went to the Fairy Creek blockade where her life was forever changed by the forest and community. Through Fairy Creek Elders she met the Interm Leader of the Green Party Amita Kuttner and was asked to be Deputy Leader/Ooh-mah Ah-nise of the Federal Green Party. Following the path of Spirit to bring the energy of the Forest and the voice of her people into the colonial Canandian government system.
Shawna Knight of the Secwepemc Nation
Her ancestors come from Secwepemc territory, Little Shuswap Lake on her Mothers side and her father's family is Norwegian. It is with a deep understanding of her responsibility to protect the land that leads her to COP15. Sustainability based on respect and reciprocity and the relationships we hold with all beings is traditional Indigenous land stewardship. These practices will provide great insight into conservation efforts. She is also concerned with how the 30 by 2030 proposal further displaces Indigenous people and would love to be a part of those solutions. She has education in Indigenous Land Stewardship through Native Education College.
She also has direct action experience on the front lines of Fairy Creek and Wet’suwet’en Blockades, the largest act of civil disobedience in Canada's history.
Douglas Krenak
Douglas spent part of his childhood with his parents, developing, like his ancestors, a great respect for ancestral traditions. As a young man, he became a highly respected leader of the Krenak people. He graduated from Vale do Rio Doce University with a degree in journalism. While negotiating in defense of the rights of his people, he was sued and attacked by large multinational companies. Currently, he is coordinator of the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Minas Gerais and defends the national indigenous movement and the protection of indigenous rights. He also lectures at schools, universities and other organizations interested in indigenous struggles.
Rusell Peba
Russell Pebá Ocampo is a member of the Muuch' Xíinbal, the Assembly of Maya territorial defenders.
The Muuch' Xíinbal Assembly are Mayan communities of the Yucatán peninsula who are working together to defend their territory against the dispossession of their land by companies and the Mexican state. They are organized to defend the lives and future of their sons and daughters. The Mayan Assembly Muuch' Xíinbal does not work with any political party or religion, they are mostly men and women farmers and ejidatarios who fight and defend their community life, according to the way their grandfathers and grandmothers taught them.
Maite Mompó
Spanish Director, Stop Ecocidio
Director of Stop Ecocidio, with a degree in Law, specialising in Ecological Ethics, Sustainability and Environmental Education. Maite has spent many years giving talks and lectures and developing environmental awareness projects and has a long history working in human rights, peace and environment, in direct collaboration with several International NGOs.
Harol Rincón Ipuchima
Harol Rincon Ipuchima is an Indigenous leader of the Maguta people of the Grulla clan in the Amazon. He has concentrated his political work on the fight against colonialism, co-optation, assimilation, and other forms of domination. Harol has accompanied environmental and territorial management processes with organizations and Indigenous Peoples of the territories of the lower Putumayo River, middle and lower Caquetá River, Yaigoje Apaporis and Miriti Paraná. He was General Secretary of AATI Asoaintam (Association of Traditional Indigenous Authorities of Tarapacá) and serves since 2015 as General Secretary of OPIAC (Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon), currently in the position of Climate Change and Biodiversity Coordinator at COICA (the Coordination of Indigenous Organisations of the Amazon Basin)
Alexis co-directs the Bioneers Indigeneity Program. She has served as a manager, media-maker, consultant and applied researcher for Indigenous, social and environmental programming for over 15 years. Alexis’ areas of expertise include Indigenous economic development, organizational decolonization, and cross-cultural communications. After receiving a BA in Art History at Dartmouth College (Hanover), Alexis returned to Alaska, where she worked at the Sealaska Heritage Institute, and the Alaska Native Heritage Center in cultural programming. Subsequently, Alexis earned a PhD in Cultural Anthropology at UCLA. She has taught at UCLA, and Humboldt State University, completed Postdoctoral fellowships at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, and served as an invited scholar in residence at University of Victoria Auckland, and the Sorbonne University, Paris. Alexis has received nominations and awards from the US National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Bristol Bay Native Corporation, and the Native American Film and Television Awards, among many others. In addition to publishing widely about Indigenous and environmental issues in academic and mainstream media outlets, Alexis’ 2015 book, “So, how long have you been Native? Life as an Alaska Native Tour Guide” won the Alaska Library Association Award for its originality, and depth. The follow up anthology, “Indigenous Tourism Movements,” was published by the University of Toronto Press in 2018. Alexis lives in Monterey, California with her husband, daughter, 4 dogs and a cat.
Anngaangaq, known fondly as Uncle is a shaman, traditional healer, storyteller and carrier of the Qilaut (winddrum), whose family belongs to the traditional healers of the Far North from Kalaallit Nunaat, Greenland. His name means ‘The Man Who Looks Like His Uncle’. Since he was a child he was trained by his family- especially by his Grandmother Aanakasaa – for becoming a shaman. The spiritual task given by his mother is: “Melting the Ice in the Heart of Man”. Angaangaq bridges the boundaries of cultures and faiths in people young and old. His work has taken him to over 70 countries around the world. He conducts circles, seminars and Aalaartiviit – traditional sweat lodges. His teachings are deeply rooted in the wisdom of the oral healing traditions of his people, which enabled people over thousands of years to survive in one of the harshest places on Earth. Angaangaq is a Keynote-Speaker at international conferences about climate change, environment, spiritual and indigenous issues. Since a ceremony in Greenland 2009 where the “sacred fire” has been brought back to Greenland, he is carrying the title “Angakkorsuaq” – “Great Shaman”.
Moderator:
Verónica Sacta
Veronica Sacta, Ecuadorian-Mexican activist, is currently Stop Ecocide Americas Coordinator. Co-founder of the international movement Rights of Mother Earth-Nature and of the Latin American Sustainable Settlements Council. Ambassador of the Global Ecovillage Network and awarded with the Peace Prize Mexico-2021. Expert of the Harmony with Nature Program of the UN.