ABOUT SWIL KANIM
Swil Kanim, US Army Veteran, classically trained violinist, native storyteller and actor, is a member of the Lummi Nation.
Because of his unique ability to inspire audiences to express themselves honorably, Swil Kanim is a sought-after keynote speaker for conferences, workshops, school assemblies, and rehabilitation centers.
He travels extensively throughout the United States, enchanting audiences with his original composition music and native storytelling. His workshops, The Elements of Honor, are attended by people from all walks of life.
Swil Kanim considers himself and his music to be the product of a well supported public school music program. Music and the performance of music helped him to process the traumas associated with his early placement into the foster care system.
Swil Kanim’s compositions incorporate classical influences as well as musical interpretations of his journey from depression and despair to spiritual and emotional freedom. The music and stories that emerge from his experiences have been transforming people’s lives for decades. https://www.swilkanim.com/
Swil Kanim, US Army Veteran, classically trained violinist, native storyteller and actor, is a member of the Lummi Nation.
Because of his unique ability to inspire audiences to express themselves honorably, Swil Kanim is a sought-after keynote speaker for conferences, workshops, school assemblies, and rehabilitation centers.
He travels extensively throughout the United States, enchanting audiences with his original composition music and native storytelling. His workshops, The Elements of Honor, are attended by people from all walks of life.
Swil Kanim considers himself and his music to be the product of a well supported public school music program. Music and the performance of music helped him to process the traumas associated with his early placement into the foster care system.
Swil Kanim’s compositions incorporate classical influences as well as musical interpretations of his journey from depression and despair to spiritual and emotional freedom. The music and stories that emerge from his experiences have been transforming people’s lives for decades.
We are honored and pleased to announce the second Totem Pole Journey, which will be taking place this August. The Journey will connect communities all along the rail line from the Bakken oil fields and Powder River Basin coal mines, through the Salish Sea and up into Canada’s tar sands.
Our Shared Responsibility—A Journey against Coal and Oil! In the testimony of Master Carver Jewell James, the totem itself is not sacred — it is only when it is touched and shared by many communities standing together that the totem becomes a lasting part of our memories and a symbol of our resistance.
So please join us in this unique, indigenous event and let the Lummi community know that we stand with them in the fight against fossil fuels and we share the responsibility to protect the land, the waters, and the peoples of the Northwest. The Lummi Nation’s annual Totem Pole Journey is taking a stand against coal and oil export in our region. Stand with them at events in Billings, Spokane, Olympia and Seattle.
Coal and oil extraction and export threaten the lands, waters, resources and human health of all of us, but none more so than the indigenous people who sit right in the path of destruction.
The coal terminal proposed for Cherry Point, WA would sit right on the ancestral lands of the Lummi. The mining of that coal would destroy Northern Cheyenne lands in Montana, and transport by rail would harm the fishing and treaty rights of Native Americans all along the way.
In protest against dirty and dangerous coal export and oil transport, Lummi carvers have created a new totem pole, which representatives from different tribes are taking on a journey from the Lummi ancestral home at Cherry Point to where the pole will be erected in the tar sands of Alberta. Along the way, tribal elders and community leaders will bless the totem pole.
If you can, please take part in this important journey by attending one of these stops along the way: • Billings: August 24, 5-7pm at Riverfront Park. 7334 South Billings Blvd (Info and RSVP) • Spokane: August 26th, 11-12:30pm at The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist 127 E 12th Ave (Info and RSVP) • Olympia: Wednesday, August 27th, 1pm at Medicine Creek, Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. To RSVP for the event or for information on carpools from south of Olympia email beth@climatesolutions.org • Seattle: Friday, August 29th, 11:00 am—12:30 pm at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, 1245 10th Ave East (Info and RSVP)
The journey to bring attention to the adverse effects on Native and non-Native communities in the path of the coal, Bakken oil, and tarsands oil. The 18-food totem pole, carved by Jewell James, will begin its journey on the west coast in mid-August and culminate in early September when it will be raised at Peace River, in the heart of the tarsands territory in Alberta. Please show support in any way you can.
Reclaiming the Sacred and Protecting Xwe’chi’eXen from Coal
The House of Tears carvers of the Lummi community has created a tradition of carving and delivering totem poles to areas struck by disaster or otherwise in need of hope and healing. Now it is Lummi Nation’s own sacred landscape, Xwe’chi’eXen, that needs hope, healing and protection. The most imminent threat to this sacred landscape and to treaty rights associated with Xwe’chi’eXen comes from a proposal to build North America’s largest coal port: the Gateway Pacific Terminal.
THE JOURNEY
The Kwel hoy’ Totem Pole journey, September 15-29, 2013, will start in the Powder River Basin and follow the coal train route through Indian Country, up to Xwe’chi’eXen. The journey will conclude in British Columbia, where the totem pole will be placed in the homeland of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, demonstrating unity with the Canadian First Nations’ position opposing the transport of Tar Sands by pipelines across their territories. There, the totem pole will be met by Tribes and First Nations that have travelled from all direction. The Totem Pole will be placed as a means of reinforcing the message: Kwel hoy.’
The House of Tears Carvers and a team of support people and witnesses will accompany the Totem Pole on its 1,200 mile long journey. At each event, Tribal members, non-Tribal local citizens, elected officials, and the press will be invited to attend.
CONNECTING THE PEOPLES OF THE WEST
One primary goal of the journey is to connect tribal nations along the coal corridor. Tribal Nations innately understand and honor the need to protect sacred landscapes and treaty rights. Uniting the Tribal Nations is important for this particular issue and for Tribal communities that would be affected by coal transport and export.
The proposed coal rail line and port brings very different cultural communities together in a common cause. The proposal has unique ramifications not only for Tribal Nations, but also for communities all along the rail lines and shipping lanes that would be affected by coal export. Communities, commerce, livelihoods, public health, tourism, agriculture, fisheries, air and water safety, natural resources, quality of life would all be adversely impacted. In asking for blessings and strength from communities along the coal transportation corridor, the Kwel hoy’ Totem Pole brings together the Peoples of the West. People of many faiths can stand united in protecting the sacred, and people of many traditions can support honoring treaty rights and the traditional livelihoods they ensure. People from all affected communities can stand against this project.
BACKGROUND
by Jewell James (House of Tears Carvers)
Xwe’chi’eXen (Cherry Point) has deep spiritual and cultural significance to our people. It is a sacred landscape that includes ancient reef-net sites and a 3,500 year-old village site. Our Hereditary Chief of the Lummi Nation tsilixw (Bill James) describes it as the “home of the Ancient Ones.” It was the first site in Washington State to be listed on the Washington Heritage Register and is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
If built, the Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point (Xwe’chi’eXen) in Washington State would be the largest coal export facility in North America. The mines are connected to the proposed port site by rail lines that run from Wyoming and Montana through Idaho, eastern Washington, along the Columbia River Gorge, and then up the coast of Puget Sound. Bulk cargo carriers would ship the coal through the Salish Sea to Asia.
The project will result in significant, unavoidable, and unacceptable interference with treaty rights and irreversible and irretrievable damage to Lummi spiritual values. As a result, the Lummi Nation in 2012 adopted a formal position to oppose the proposed project. As Lummi Councilman Jay Julius, in opposing the proposed coal port, has said, Kwel hoy’: “We draw the line.” This position was also adopted in 2013 by the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.
DOCUMENTATION/WITNESSES
Witnesses will document and publish (via this blog) photos, writings, sketches, and videos of both the journey and preparation for the journey when culturally appropriate. The blog will feature entries from Lummi Nation members and by people along the journey. Journalists, photographers and a documentary film crew will be invited along for the journey. http://totempolejourney.com
Jewell James is Coordinator for the Lummi Treaty Protection Task Force and Chairman of the Board of the Kluckhohn Research Center. We will be visiting about Tar Sands, No Coal Trains, Water and Treaty Rights.
contact Jewell James at email at jewellj@treatyprotection.org.
Image with caption: “Standing from right to left: National Chief Shawn-A-in-chut Atleo, Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr. of the Ihanktonwan Dakota and Chickasaw Nations, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, and Deborah Parker, Vice Chair Woman of the Tulalip Tribes. Sitting in front right to left: Chief Maureen Thomas of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Jewell James of the Lummi Tribe.
Justin Finkbonner (Lummi Nation)Program Coordinator …
Justin,Enrolled Lummi Tribal Member,community activist for the Lummi Reservation.Justin pursued his higher education at Northwest Indian College and later Huxley College of Environmental Science at Western Washington University . Justin has received Fellowships from NASA, Udall Foundation in DC 104th Congressional Session under Senator Max Baucus, EPA, AIHEC Member, AISES, and Student Congress.
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Prior to joining Potlatch Fund in August of 2005, Just…in held a variety of positions: Janitor at Youth Rec. at Lummi Nation (1yr), NWIC Accounting Dept. (1yr), Boys and Girls Club Coordinator – Lummi Nation (1yr), Project Coordinator Semiahmah Project (burial desecration) Lummi Nation (1yr), Office Administrator at 29 Palm Band of Mission Indians- California (1yr) and Director of the Funding, Statistics and Research Dept. at Lummi (5 yrs).
Sunday, December 5 · 5:00pm – 6:00pm Tune in with Raven and his guest Swil Kanim. Swil Kanim is a violinist and member of the Lummi Nation, located in Washington state. Learn more about his music, and hear some of his stories that transformed people and their lives for decades.
Swil Kanim has been featured on KIRO TV NEWS, National Public Radio’s Earth on the Air, Northwest Public Radio, NW Cable News Network and the Canadian Chum Network’s New Canoe.
In addition t…o working in 24 episodes of CBS’s Northern Exposure, his music and acting ability were highlighted by starring in Sherman Alexie’s critically acclaimed The Business of FancyDancing.
He was selected to perform as part of the Bellingham’s Sister City Program in Teteyama, Japan where he continued on to Seoul, Korea for a memorial/reunion concert for orphans of the Korean Conflict.
The Indigo Girls asked Swil Kanim to be their opening act in Seattle to kick off the Honor the Earth Concert tour of North America.
Swil Kanim also performed for five years with the Growth and Prevention Theater Company (GAP Theater), based out of Seattle. The GAP Theater Company presented professional plays about racism and varying forms of bigotry for institutions across the Great Northwest.
He has done school assemblies for elementary and secondary education in Washington State, British Columbia, Canada, and in Sitka Alaska.
He has performed for the staff and participants of Re-habilitation Centers across the state of Washington.
At the American Indian Film Awards in San Francisco, Swil Kanim has been a featured performer since 2003 , he was featured on the soundtrack of a documentary about Indian Boarding Schools, which won the Best Documentary award.
Swil Kanim has received the Certificate of Virtuosity from the Whatcom Chapter
of the Washington State Music Teachers Association, the Bellingham Municipal Arts Award for Promoting Self-Expression in Community, and Woodring College of Education Professional Excellence Award.
In 2004, 2007 and 2008 he performed with Classical Guitarist Andre Feriante and Cellist Paulo Cesar at Benaroya Recital Hall in Seattle, WA
Swil Kanim has collaborated with Pianist David Lanz and Flutist Gary Stroutsos on two CD’s; Spirit Romance and Heart of the Bitterroot.
In April, 2008 Swil Kanim performed at the West Coast American Indian Music Awards where he was presented with both the Classic Award and Traditional Instrument Award. Also in April of 2008, Swil Kanim was invited to perform for the Dalai Lama at Key Arena in Seattle for The Seeds of Compassion event.
November 2008 Swil Kanim performed four “sold out” shows at the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC..
Welcome! It is an honor to contribute and give another voice to the “The First Peoples” of our world.
Make No Bones About It. * KAOS 89.3 FM
Sundays 4pm to 6 pm with your Host, Raven Redbone.Visit KAOS 89.3 FM @ www.kaosradio.org!
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World Peace and Prayer Day 2013
Encouraging Words from our Elders
"I appreciate your work in giving voice to our peoples. Blessings to you." Grandmother Mona Polacca
Quote of the Month
Yes, our life energy must be a gift for our future. Your life, my life, everybody’s life must follow your given path. So pray or meditate. Follow your inner path and learn just how powerful you are and learn that you are a leader for your people, your family, your children, and the Mother Earth.
-Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Lakota
Make No Bones About It 