RIVYAYR PIMICÎWAN: We Are Always Somewhere
On October 11, 1869, nineteen unarmed Métis stopped a Canadian survey crew by standing on its chain, refusing to let a square grid be laid over our river lots. On the Whanganui River, declared a legal person in 2017 after 140 years of Māori struggle; Te Urewera, which owns itself; the Atrato, the Magpie, the Klamath, and wild rice suing the state of Minnesota. On Two-Spirit, a word that arrived in a dream in Winnipeg in 1990, Balboa's dogs, We'wha shaking the president's hand, and a province named for the sound water makes. Liquid has no shape of its own, and bodies can refuse the container. On Shoal Lake 40, acknowledgement, and rewilding ourselves. Both us, in whole, and our land must be sovereign.