“Our traditional ways will always be there and it's what helps us carry our people through year to year. I don't see it ever stopping”
Tim Nuvangyaoma (tim new-vahn-yah-mah), chair Hopi tribe
“What do I need to do to be a good ancestor for those next generations to come?”
Cynthia Naha (sin-thee-yah nah-hah), climate activist
“There's this term in Hopi where your hearts become one and when this happens in a ceremony, that's when us people have that strength…that's when the spirits know and they bring us the rain.”
Beatrice Norton (bee-ah-triss nor-tun), chair Hopi Foundation Board of Directors
“We today live under one life philosophy which is principled upon compassion, reciprocity, stewardship and really about humility.”
Leigh Kuwanwisima (lee koo-wahn-we-see-mah), culture preservationist
“In a matrilineal society on Hopi, we are expected to fulfill certain roles in the village to ensure the land is cared for.”
Maree Mahkewa (mah-ree mah-kew-ah), youth ambassador for land conservation
“The land actually owns us when you think about it. We don’t own land. We don’t own water. It owns us. Because without it, we can’t survive.”
Howard Dennis (how-ward den-niss), silversmith, flute chief of Mishognonvi
“We must teach our children their mother tongue & our philosophies which go back beyond the memory of man. We must keep the embers burning so we may gather around (our ancestral fires) again.”
John Amagoalik (jahn ah-mah-gwah-leek), negotiator, policy advisor
“Sovereignty begins at home. When you have permanent people living in communities which have been their homes for thousands of years, there will never be any question of them belonging there.”
Mary Simon (may-ree seye-mun), chair National Committee on Inuit Education
“Respect for our Elders stems from the understanding that their lived experience and survival is something that we have to admire and replicate if we are to keep our culture strong.”
Robert Comeau (rah-bert koo-moo), law student, Inuit advocate, qajaq-er
“Nation-states pretend...that they can just destroy cultures and languages, while the rest of us indigenous people have little voice, so we just have to be very, very loud in the way we can be.”
Aaju Peter (eye-you pee-terr), lawyer, activist and sealskin clothes designer
“Our language contains the memory of four thousand years of human survival through the conservation and good managing of our Arctic wealth.”
Eben Hopson (eh-behn hop-sen), founder Inuit Circumpolar Council
“If you know the land it's not a wilderness. The only place I would call wilderness is a place I don't know.”
John Arnatsiaq (jahn ah-naht-see-yak), hunter
“Recall the early vision of our Inuit ancestors to found and maintain a strong Inuit community, looking further back at the deepest roots of our Inuit culture to guide our actions.”
Kitty Gordon (kit-tee gawr-dun), Nunavik Nutrition and Health Committee
“Our entire culture and identity are based on free movement on land, sea ice and the Arctic Ocean.”
Okalik Eegeesiak (oo-kah-lik ee-yee-see-yak), Chair Inuit Circumpolar Council
“We are a people who resist fascism in all its forms; whose creative spirit is born from a multitude of voices, not just one; who were once in need of shelter so now offer it to others.”
Julian Zabalbeascoa (joo-lee-yan sah-bahl-bay-ahz-koh-ah), teacher, novelist
“The mere fact of our speaking Basque in public was an act of defiance…As children, it was instilled in us that we were the keepers of Euskara, and that to keep it, to protect it, was to speak it.”
Amaia Gabantxo (ah-my-yah gah-bahn-choh), writer, a flamenco singer, translator
“Maybe Basque language will not be saved with a state, but without a state for sure it will be lost.”
José Luis Alvarez Enparantza (hoe-say loo-ees ahl-vah-ress en-pahr-ahnt-zah), linguist, politician, writer
“With strength materialized in this place, with passion and heartbeats of joy, let us continue building this country from and with the Basque language.”
Maialen Lujanbio (my-ell-len loo-hahn-bee-yoh), oral poet
