It's now a new year. We have to take stock. What is happening to us. Are we ahead? We are so far behind that we have been lapped twice. We are so far behind we think we are winning. Most of us do not speak our language anymore. We only speak English. What that tells us is that our culture will soon be replaced by "Canadian". Its apparently spelled CND and when you spell it out loud you say C eh, N eh, D eh.

We still hate our fellow Indians. We hate them because they are members of a certain family or as we like to say in Carrier country... that bunch. We hate them because their family always elects the chief. We hate that other guy because he makes too much money. If we don't hate, then we distrust and that may be even worse. We distrust everyone, and I suspect, including ourselves. We certainly have no respect for ourselves. Why do you think it is that the Band office is protected with alarms? Our people have no respect for anything that belongs to the band and if allowed will destroy it. That is one of the reasons why I say we are becoming Canadian. Destruction of property for no reason known as vandalism is a "Canadian" value. Vandalism was unknown in Indian Country. I have seen abandoned log cabins sit without being disturbed for years until they fell down through weathering. That is not true anymore, our youth are becoming vandals.

There are signs of our people struggling against what seems to be our ultimate destiny, our assimilation into Canada. I have a friend who practices his own First Nation religion and prefers to call himself a pagan. Christians get really disturbed when he tells then he is a pagan. I have another friend who has never even gotten a driver license because he does not accept the authority of the province. He drives and when he is stopped the courts don't know what to do with him. The police have hounded him for years. Both of these guys are St'atlimx. When the rest of us have faded into the Western world there will still be the St'atlimx.

I have no solution except to say we have to take stock. Take a little time off and just talk to each other about where we are Indian-wise. The answer is how we deal with each other. If we don't even talk with each other how will we begin to solve what is wrong with us.

Our forefathers knew where it was at. They found peace in the outdoors, and in the broad expanse of the sea. They believed in the Supreme Being. They took the time to listen to the words of their neighbours without interrupting and without thinking of their response before the words are even out of the neighbour's mouth. They started all activities with an invocation and a moment of silence. Finally, the leader led. My request to all of us can be summed up in 4L's... lets let leaders lead.