Revitalising
Indigenous
Virtues for
Earth's
Regeneration
RIVER is an inter-Nation-al 1 circle of people collaborating from different leverage points to revitalise and strengthen Indigenous approaches for regenerative development of land, water and all life.
Our collective is both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. We span generations and hold wide-ranging experience in the areas of law and governance, sustainable enterprise, cultural restoration, biodiversity conservation, Earth’s living systems, engineering, artistry, education, and design.
In this time, when interconnected ecological, climate, and health crises threaten our collective survival, the world is increasingly looking to Indigenous peoples for solutions. The diversity amongst Indigenous peoples’ and knowledge systems cannot be overstated - the multitude of Indigenous identities is incredibly wide-ranging. Despite this expansive diversity, a commonality that many share is an understanding of connection to life on Earth as kin relatives, which means that our starting place to meet global crises is relational and intersectional. A kin-centric approach shifts how we relate to the Earth and to each-other: instead of being land-owner with rights of resource extraction, we are child to Mother with responsibilities of care. In the same breath, it is important to step away from romanticised realities of Indigenous approaches and state clearly: we too, are colonised peoples. Much has been lost and the impact of our colonisation is felt in the disconnection, addiction, poor health, education and criminal realities of our day.
We as RIVER are drawn together by a shared calling for healing reconnection—to ourselves, to our languages and heritage, to our responsibilities, and most of all to our common Mother: Earth. From many leverage points, we are creating space to evolve societal systems and grow international solidarity between peoples pushing for change in our various communities.
Our relationships underpin all that we do together. As we nurture our connections, we nurture the work we create, individually and as a collective. We are mindful of the interconnectedness of everything, the veins that connect us with Papatuanuku (Mother Earth) and thereby with each other. As an inter-Nation-al collective of diverse worldviews, we manaaki (embrace) each other and the communities of which we are a part. We learn and share understandings of how we connect as people and Nations, how we connect with our beyond-human counterparts, how we welcome others to join us, and how we represent ourselves.
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At this incredible time in our shared global history, we work to regain our sense of connection to and responsibility for our common Mother and our beyond-human relatives (plants, animals, water, soil, air, [...]). We are disrupting the false notion of human superiority over the natural world of which we are part. We work to see Indigenous communities empowered to fulfill ancestral stewardship responsibilities to their territories, in line with their own knowledge, practices and legal systems. At the same time, RIVER works to support all of humanity in our journey of reconnection with our more-than-human relations.
This means restoring a living and reciprocal relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world.
As an emergent organisation founded on relationships, RIVER's Collective springs from three Anglo-settler nations with some significant historical and political similarities: nations colonially known as Canada, the United States, and New Zealand. Although much is shifting, these three countries as well as Australia (where we are working towards building relationships) were the four initial non-signatories to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
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As it becomes more widely known that traditional Indigenous territories encompass up to 22 percent of the world’s land surface yet coincide with areas that hold 80 percent of the planet’s biodiversity 13, the world is increasingly looking to Indigenous peoples’ regenerative approaches to illuminate a path forward.
However, many Indigenous peoples face common challenges in fulfilling ancestral stewardship responsibilities to our territories. We find ourselves working within governance, legal, and economic systems rooted in colonial worldviews.
As RIVER member Gillian Staveley explains, “An understanding of coloniality of power allows us to recognise how the “colonised were subjected not simply to a rapacious exploitation of all their resources but also to a hegemony of euro-centric knowledge systems.” Walter Mignolo identifies the effect of such euro-centric epistemologies on identity and sense of place, as being “among its most damaging, far-reaching, and least understood” 7
Belief systems rooted in a perception of humans as separate from and elevated above the rest of nature with dominion over the natural world, have far-reaching influence. Many of our Nation states’ legal, governance and economic frameworks are premised on these colonial values, philosophies, and ways of relating.
In short, colonial governance and economic frameworks don’t account for plants, animals, lands, and waters. They don’t account for the millions of other species alongside whom we walk this planet. The systems that have been created continue to result in biodiversity loss, pollution and climate change, with catastrophic physical, emotional and spiritual impacts for humans and non-humans alike.
“The traditional separation of our species from the rest of the universe has been a figment of our imaginations [...] That we construct a legal system that views nature apart from its physical reality as elements of property testifies to the degree of alienation we have achieved. Our understanding of reality is incorporated in our legal concepts, and, as we have seen, these are already in the process of transformation, escaping from the sterility of the past to a more comprehensive understanding in the future.”
—Vine Deloria Jr, Sioux author, in The Metaphysics of Modern Existence 9
In this time of interconnected crises, the existential necessity of living in harmony with Earth’s living systems is becoming increasingly apparent. Many organisations are turning to the holistic, place-based approaches of Indigenous cultures for guidance. It can be challenging, however, to achieve reciprocal understanding and meaningful partnerships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous organisations and people. For example, efforts to cultivate collaborative environmental governance frameworks and climate strategies can reveal fundamentally different – and seemingly incompatible – worldviews.
How can encounters between such radically different worldviews be constructively navigated? A frequent response is to call on Indigenous participants to explain their perspectives and educate others about their life-ways. It is hoped that exposure to the rituals, practices, and beliefs of Indigenous cultures will reconcile different ways of knowing. However, such one-way sharing leaves the burden for educating on Indigenous peoples. Additionally, this one-way sharing rarely results in the depth of dialogue and understanding needed to forge deep relationships and spur lasting transformation. In our experience, it is also necessary to explore the foundations of the dominant Western paradigm. This anthropocentric worldview, or "the water that we're swimming in" as we call it, is rarely examined, particularly by those who have been raised within it. Many of us have little understanding of the ongoing consequences of colonisation on contemporary worldviews and socioeconomic systems. For instance, the global economy has inherited the view of Earth’s creatures and ecosystems as a collection of “resources” to be enclosed. But where did these ideas and assumptions come from? How can we collaboratively examine their history and acknowledge the need for transformation? Our challenge and opportunity is to create an invitation for people to explore these critical topics in ways that enable true healing and transformation.
The Illuminating Worldviews offering creates a more reciprocal approach to collaboration beyond one-sided exchanges and the undue burden often placed on Indigenous collaborators. Developed by RIVER and the Northern Council for Global Cooperation, it explores how different paradigms and practices shape ways of knowing, doing and being in the world. We create space and provide support for participants to reflect on their core beliefs and virtues, about the role of humans, how we relate to our places and each other, and the tacit beliefs underlying dominant economic, legal and governance systems. Participants are invited to examine how ways of relating shape their lived realities, as well as the opportunities and difficulties of weaving ways of knowing, being, and doing. By exploring and reflecting on the differences and commonalities of our histories, beliefs, and aspirations, participants develop new capacities to create collaborative pathways towards potential futures.
The IW journey is being developed to be facilitated as a theoretical journey down a river with curated videos, media and conversations as stopover sites to explore new terrain and different tributaries that feed the river. The inspiration for the river journey as a model for IW came from Dune Lankard: "Here in Alaska, when we take people down the Copper River, they start off as one person, but when we arrive at the delta, they are a different person. They are changed.” Inevitably, people who embark on the Illuminating Worldviews learning journey together foster deeper relationships along the way, supporting each other through challenging introspection and outward dialogue.
River Stopovers (modules) are designed to be adapted to diverse contexts. We aim for specific places, projects and ways of knowing, doing and being to be honoured in each facilitated journey of Illuminating Worldviews through collaboration with each context’s local participants.
An IW Working Group is currently working on development of a series of foundational interactive media pieces to accompany IW journeys.
“[The worst thing that colonialist took away was our belief.] They took away our belief in our ability to make decisions for ourselves. They took away our belief that our language and culture was worth retaining. They took away our belief that our systems and ways of living were good enough.
Let’s keep believing in ourselves.”
— Moana Jackson
as written by Te Matahiapo Safari Hynes
We do not have to identify ourselves in relation to colonisation.
As we tell our own stories, we can remember that for millenia we belonged to the land.
And that the violence of colonisation is a severe disruption to our true selves.
So as we turn to the work ahead of us, we pivot from the urgent work of decolonisation – recognising that this work can be carried more by allies and accomplices to arrest the imposition of oppressive colonial systems.
And we centre the urgent work of restoration.
Restoration of our belief in ourselves.
Restoration of our values and virtues.
Restoration of our language and culture, our breath, our instinct and place in the world.
Restoration of our relationship with Earth and her living systems.
Restoration and strengthening therefore of our laws. Our ways of being and sharing.
Through the action of restoration, of healing and reconnection, we create the ability to feel abundance once more.
And through our abundance to share what is ours with all those who have arrived and call our ancestral lands home.
Here, we create space for Indigenous peoples to build relationship beyond transaction. To gather and reflect together, to learn from each other by sharing what we know and what we miss.
We support people in place, instead of adding projects to the work load, we find ways to energise the work already being undertaken. This way, the people and the work has time to extend roots and be grounded by the land and waters of their communities.
Our digital space gathers us and the tools, stories and resources as an interactive library – sharing insights and wonders we might otherwise never find alone.
We gather in each-others lands. And through ceremony and taste, touch, sight, smell and sound – we share ourselves with ourselves. Returning to the sacredness of introduction, sharing, and belonging.
As a house of learning, the Watershed finds opportunities for creativity and collaboration. The work finds common challenges and explores vast ideas for solution. We avoid pan-Indigenising, imposition and planning. Instead embracing a pluriverse of nature, multi-faceted stories and life unfolding.
This year our projects look to Evolving Governance – of RIVER, so that we may practice a restored way of being. And capturing our learnings through research on Indigenous Governance systems, modern issues arising with practice in a colonised reality – and the patterns of virtues, values and processes that may offer grounded responses and pathways forward.
RIVER is a collective of people drawn together in effort to uplift kin-centric, Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing. We gather inter-Nationally to share and collaborate, so we may each enhance transformation in our own homes and places of belonging.
The "ākau" in te reo Māori refers to the riverbanks, the solid presence along the length of the river that help to guide the water while also making way for her to receive new tributaries and release different rivulets.
RIVER Kaiākau provide this daily presence and support for our work, often leading or directly contributing to the offerings set out above.
Erin Matariki Carr is of Ngāi Tūhoe and Ngāti Awa descent, and currently lives in Tāneatua just north of Te Urewera rainforest. Matariki is a project lead for RIVER, supporting the Watershed and administrative sides to our work. Matariki is a lawyer, scholar and facilitator. She completed her studies at Victoria University of Wellington with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Spanish. Matariki’s work experience has been in the arena of Māori legal systems and organisation, including as a solicitor in Te Waka Ture team at Chapman Tripp and as a manager in the Ōnukurani team at Tūhoe Te Uru Taumatua. Matariki's main focus is on the kaupapa (topic) of constitutional transformation, inspired by Pā Moana Jackson's work, and the imaginative work required to bridge the legal and social worlds of te ao Māori and te ao Pākehā (the Māori and non-Māori worlds). Alongside her work for RIVER, Matariki also serves as a facilitator with Tūmanako Consultants, as a Research Fellow at the University of Auckland Faculty of Law and with Te Kuaka NZA.
Gillian Staveley is a Kaska Dena member, whose heritage lies in the Muncho Lake region of Dena Kēyeh in Northern British Columbia. Graduating from UBC in 2014 with a Masters in Anthropology, Gillian’s research explored the importance of multi-generational environmental knowledge and addressed issues of residential schooling, colonialism, and political ecology–all topics that are relevant to Indigenous Nations across the globe. Through the connection that Gillian has with her heritage and culture, she has actively promoted the conversation of what Indigenous Identity means in the 21st century. Gillian has worked predominantly in the resource development sector as a traditional land use practitioner, consultant, and archaeologist. Currently, in her work as a Regional Coordinator for the Kaska Dena, her goal is to ensure that through the Government to Government relationship that exists with her Nation and the Province, that the respect for Kaska Laws (Dene K’éh Gū́s’ān) and the commitment under the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples are upheld in all consultations and engagements with her Nation. Gillian also serves as a Director of the Dena Kēyeh Institute, a not-for-profit society created by the Kaska Nation to empower, preserve, and protect the Kaska Dena language, oral traditions, history, culture, and traditional knowledge. The primary work that Gillian has been a part of with DKI over the past year is to work with the Kaska communities on designing Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas within the Kaska Ancestral Territory. As a mother of two strong and energetic Kaska boys, her livelihood is encompassed around watching them grow, live, and experience the world around them.
Jodi Gustafson was born and raised in what is today known as the Yukon, Canada. That upbringing and later life experiences instilled a profound respect for and curiosity about the natural world, and how we relate to it. Jodi is a settler with ancestry from Scotland, Ireland, England, Sweden and Labrador. She has worked on environmental management projects with organizations including the International Whaling Commission, the Yukon Salmon Sub-Committee, and the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs. Aotearoa/ New Zealand has been her second home since 2007. In 2017, Jodi joined the inaugural cohort of the Edmund Hillary Fellowship. She gratefully lives between Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa and Whakatōhea lands in Aotearoa, and Southern Tutchone lands in the Yukon where she was born and raised. Jodi's role in her work revolves around supporting communities in efforts to fulfil ancestral stewardship responsibilities, and in this capacity she was humbled to support the Yukon First Nations Climate Action Fellowship with development of the Reconnection Vision from 2021-2023. Jodi continues collective work to evolve governance, education, conservation and economic models beyond colonial frameworks in her role coordinating the Illuminating Worldviews offering in partnership with the Northern Council for Global Cooperation. She has a Masters in Conservation Leadership from the University of Cambridge where she studied as a Gates Cambridge scholar.
Mark Wedge, or Aan Goosh oo, has long been actively involved in economic and social development, land claims negotiations, ceremonial leadership, and dispute resolution in his community and throughout Canada and the United States. He has served as Khà Shâde Héni (Chief) of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation, as Executive Director of the Council of Yukon Indians, as President and Chairman of Yukon Indian Development Corporation and däna Näye Ventures, an aboriginal capital corporation. For over 20 years Mark has held peacemaking circles in workplaces and public forums for sentencing for individual crimes, land claims disputes between First Nations and the Canadian government, and outstanding issues between victims of Mission School abuse and the Anglican Church. He is co-author of the book Peacemaking Circles: From Crime to Community, alongside Kay Pranis and former Chief Judge of the Yukon Territorial Court Barry Stuart. Mark has taught in communities throughout North America and abroad, and is working towards creating Circle-based forms of contemporary tribal governance in his First Nation Government. He advises several postgraduate students; most recently with Eleanor Hayman and Colleen James, he co-authored a chapter on a Tagish and Tlingit approach to water governance in the book, Global Water Ethics: Towards a global ethics charter. Mark currently sits on the Board of Directors of the First Nations Bank of Canada and on the Board of Governors of Yukon University. He is enjoying his new role as a grandpa.
Catherine Iorns Magallanes is a Professor in the School of Law at Victoria University of Wellington, in Aotearoa/ New Zealand. She has more than 25 years' experience on environmental law, Indigenous rights, international law and statutory interpretation, and has received several awards for her teaching and research on the intersection between environmental law and Indigenous rights. As well as serving as a Trustee of RIVER, Professor Iorns is the Academic Adviser to the NZ Council of Legal Education, a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, and New Zealand's nominee to the IUCN governing Council. She is also a member of the International Law Association Committee on the Implementation of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and a Board member of the New Zealand Centre for Global Studies. Prof. Iorns’ work on the power of water was recently profiled as a documentary in the ‘Water—Rapuhia, kimihia: Quest for knowledge’ documentary series and can be viewed here.
David McConville grew up in the Bible Belt of Turtle Island, raised under a strict religion inherited from his settler ancestors. Becoming disillusioned with their strange and dysfunctional beliefs from a young age, he embarked on a quest to understand the origins of their cosmology. This eventually led him to recognize the existential dangers of the anthropocentric, hierarchical paradigm that continues to dominate much of contemporary science, religion, and economics. Today, he explores the potential of art and media to illuminate this dominant worldview and to cultivate reciprocal relationships with the web of life. He is currently the resident cosmographer of Spherical, an integrative research and design studio curating and producing works about planetary regeneration. He also serves as senior researcher and board member for the Center of the Study of the Force Majeure, which brings together artists and scientists to design ecosystem regeneration projects in critical regions around the world. Previously, David co-founded The Elumenati, a design and engineering firm that creates custom display installations for clients from art festivals to space agencies. He was also co-founder and creative director of the Worldviews Network, a NOAA-funded collaboration of artists, scientists, Indigenous storytellers, and educators using immersive visualization environments to transcultural dialogues in communities across the United States. David has a PhD in Art and Media from the Planetary Collegium at the University of Plymouth.
Haimona Waititi is from Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Porou and Kai Tahu nations of Aotearoa New Zealand. With Te Reo Māori as his first language, Haimona grew up in the Eastern Bay of Plenty (Te Kaha) immersed in his culture and raised within a Māori worldview. He was awarded a Masters of Psychology with distinction from Victoria University and has held roles in research for Whānau Ora and Enviroschools, rangatahi development through the Tuia Trust and his Iwi, and stakeholder engagement at the University of Waikato. Haimona manages Tūmanako Consultants which provides cultural training, cultural reviews and cultural supervision to organisations and individuals wanting to build their understanding and better connect with Māori and help non-Māori connect with their Pākehatanga. He has previously led wānanga series which act as a unique leaning journey for youth, NGO's and commercial organisations. Haimona lives in his homelands of Te Whānau a Apanui in the remote East Coast with his partner and four young children.
Jocelyn Joe-Strack, Daqualama (Da-kal-a-ma), is a member of the Wolf Clan of northwestern Canada’s Champagne and Aishihik First Nation. Jocelyn is an Indigenous scientist, philosopher and entrepreneur who strives to evolve tomorrow’s policies by blending yesterday’s ancestral lessons with today’s systematic knowledge. She uses her experience as a trained microbiologist, hydrologist and policy analyst along with her cultural foundations to explore resilient approaches to challenges such as climate change, societal wellbeing and prosperity. Jocelyn is the newly appointed Research Chair in Environmental Monitoring and Knowledge Mobilization at Yukon University. Her research focuses on Youth Climate leadership, revitalizing traditional storytelling and fulfilling the Spirit and Intent of the Umbrella Final Agreement. She is currently serving as the Co-Lead for the Yukon First Nations Climate Action Fellowship. Daqualama was born and currently lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory with her husband and two young children.
Jenni Matchett is focused on conceptualizing and designing healing ways of existing to transform current eco/colonial realities. Energy transition, and the cultural possibilities that exist under a no-carbon energy regime has been her point of departure for several years. Her deep inquiry into structural change has been influenced by a critique of her own business school education (Vancouver) and her time spent designing products for the consumer solar revolution (Boston). As an advisor to the Assembly of First Nations Yukon Regional Chief, Jenni recently worked on a regional initiative to decolonize climate and environmental policy. She is currently honing her practice as a Critical Conservation student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she is experimenting with mediums and methods that further the project of what it means to live reciprocally, regeneratively - particularly in relation to the body, the economy and the energy source. Jenni is of Scottish and Irish descent on her Father’s side, and Polish and Russian descent on her Mother’s side. For a long time, she has lived a nomadic lifestyle between the Eastern United States and Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in territory in North Yukon (where she was raised and is currently placed).
Jewel Davies (Yekhunashîn/Khatuku) belongs to the Dakl’awedi (Eagle/Killer Whale) Clan of the Inland Tlingit people. She is a member of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation, was raised in Teslin, Yukon and currently lives in Whitehorse, Yukon. Jewel is a student in the Indigenous Governance Bachelor’s Degree Program at the Yukon University and a fellow on the Yukon First Nations Climate Action Fellowship. She is passionate about her culture and seeing it become a foundational basis within our systems. Working within the field of systems transformation, Jewel is currently mobilizing her passion for her ways of knowing and being with the Illuminating Worldviews initiative, being jointly developed by RIVER and the Northern Council for Global Cooperation. Jewel is also the Youth Climate Ambassador for the How We Walk with the Land and the Water initiative, which she has been involved with on behalf of her First Nation since 2021.
The term "kautawa" in te reo Māori refers to the tributaries that feed into a larger river network, bringing with it all the nourishment and energy from its own spring. Our Kautawa or Tributaries for RIVER are the people that have contributed to RIVER from their own spring. Whether they have influenced the headwaters stage of RIVER, or been part of certain meanders, they nourish her journey with their own vibrancy where it aligns with their own work and direction.
