Deusdedit Ruhangariyo
Special to ICT
Around the world: Malaysian activists fight back against the Samling company, Western Australia police fail to appear at a government hearing on Indigenous issues, an Ontario hospital hires a new “navigator” to help Indigenous patients, and a Māori-led architecture firm wins big in design awards.
MALAYSIA: Activists take wins rounds against timber company
Indigenous activists in Malaysia have achieved two significant wins against timber giant Samling in their longstanding efforts to protect forests and territories in Sarawak, Mongabay reported on Oct. 4.
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Samling reached a settlement with SAVE Rivers, a local non-governmental organization that had publicized the company’s treatment of people living on or near two areas under the company’s management, Mongabay reported.
Samling also lost certification for its Ravenscourt Forest Management Unit, one of the areas of concern in its lawsuit against SAVE Rivers, Mongabay reported.
“The withdrawal of this lawsuit by Samling shows that people power reigns and corporations should think twice before filing any vexatious lawsuits against environmental defenders,” said Meenakshi Raman, president of Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia), in a statement.
“The aim should not be to silence critics but to work towards ensuring that people and the environment are always above profits,” Raman said.
Samling, established in 1976, has become the largest among the so-called “Big Six” timber companies, exerting control over nearly 75 percent of Sarawak’s forest concessions, which overlap with numerous Indigenous villages, Mongabay reported.
The lawsuit against SAVE Rivers revolved around seven articles published on the organization’s website between June 2020 and March 2021. Samling claimed that SAVE Rivers had made false statements about the company.
With the trial set approaching, however, Samling approached the organization with a settlement offer, requesting the removal of the disputed articles from the NGO’s website, according to Peter Kallang, chair of SAVE Rivers.
Samling eventually agreed to allow the articles to remain online if the final settlement letter was also published, Mongabay reported.
The settlement was announced on Sept. 18, the day the trial was set to begin. Neither side paid the other, and both agreed that “the welfare of the local community remains their priority,” according to Mongabay.
Samling also recently lost certification for its Ravenscourt Forest Management Unit, one of the areas at issue in the articles that prompted the company to sue SAVE Rivers. The government concluded that the company had failed to fix issues found in regular audits.
AUSTRALIA: Police skip hearing about Indigenous issues
Western Australian police refused to attend a Senate inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children, National Indigenous Times reported on Oct. 4.
The decision drew sharp words from Senators Paul Scarr and Dorinda Cox, who said the absence of police for the Oct. 4 hearing in Perth was disrespectful to the families who had shared their stories of missing and murdered Indigenous women and children.
The public hearing included testimony, however, from lawyer George Newhouse of the National Justice Project. His clients include a Yamatji woman arrested by police after she being brutally beaten by a former partner; the man then killed her baby boy while she was hospitalized under police custody.
The police response to this tragic incident was criticized in a Corruption and Crime Commission review, though it concluded that there was no serious misconduct and did not proceed with a full investigation, National Indigenous Times reported.
“Government institutions in Western Australia are culturally unsafe and systemically racist,” Mr Newhouse told Australia Associated Press. “If the WA government is serious about addressing this issue, they need to establish a First Nations-led organization that has oversight of complaints regarding the WA state coroner, the Corruption and Crime Commission, the WA police and other organizations that work with the families of missing and murdered women and children.”
Jacqueline McGowan-Jones, the state’s youth commissioner, said that racism has played a significant role in the recent surge of violent incidents targeting Aboriginal children in Western Australia.
CANADA: Hospital appoints Indigenous ‘patient navigator’
A longtime registered nurse who has worked for the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne’s Department of Health has been named the new Indigenous “patient navigator” at a hospital in Cornwall, Ontario, CBC News reported on Oct. 4.
April White, who also previously worked at Cornwall and Ottawa general hospitals, has been appointed to provide support to Indigenous patients through a collaboration between the Cornwall Community Hospital and the Mohawk Council’s Department of Health.
“Hospitals are stressful,” said White, who is from Akwesasne, a Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) community south of Cornwall near the border with New York, according to CBC News.
“When you’re not familiar and you don’t understand the process [or] if you’re scared to ask any questions, it just compounds an individual’s stress level.”
White will serve as a cultural bridge between patients and healthcare providers, helping them find resources, sharing knowledge of Indigenous health practices and traditions, and stressing the significance of culture in healthcare delivery.
Most of the Indigenous patients seeking care at the Cornwall hospital originate from Akwesasne.
Jeanette Despatie, the President and Chief Executive Officer, anticipates that White’s presence at the hospital will greatly benefit both the institution and Indigenous patients.
“Our hope is that it leads to improved health care outcomes, but I also want to ensure that our entire patient population is respected,” said Jeanette Despatie, the hospital’s president and chief executive officer, according to CBC News.
“We really just want our Indigenous patients and their families to feel welcome and respected.”
NEW ZEALAND: Māori center wins more design awards
TOA Architects, a Māori-led firm tasked with designing a Point Chevalier marae center, received top honors in the Designers Institute of New Zealand’s Best Design Awards, following a previous architecture award in June, Te Ao Māori News reported on Oct. 7.
Nicholas Dalton, the founder of TOA Architects, served as the creative director for the Te Mahurehure’s Taumata o Kupe education center in Auckland, which is focused on Māori navigation and exploration traditions, Te Ao Māori News reported. The center opened in November 2022.
TOA received a supreme purple pin award for elevating New Zealand design standards and a gold pin in the Toitanga category for celebrating Māori storytelling and artistic excellence.
“We were blown away by the caliber of entries,” said Cathy Veninga, the Designers Institute chief executive, according to Te Ao Māori News. “The winning projects told important, engaging stories and dealt with confronting themes, offered innovative solutions to real problems, and pushed the boundaries of what design can do, whilst showing exceptional technical craft.”
In June, TOA Architects received a public architecture accolade at the New Zealand Institute of Architects awards for their work on Taumata o Kupe.
The original concept for Taumata o Kupe was conceived by Christine Panapa, the chair of Te Mahurehure, along with marae leaders Rereata Makiha, the late Tā Patu Hohepa, and Julian Wilcox.
“The long overdue recognition that mātauranga Māori is valid in the scientific and Western realms and is encapsulated and proven in this whare,” the awards website description said, according to Te Ao Māori News.
My final thoughts
My final thoughts are in Malaysia where Indigenous activists stood their ground and won against timber giant Samling in their long-standing struggle to safeguard their forests and territories in Sarawak.
These victories carry immense importance not only for the local Indigenous communities but also serve as a compelling call to action for the protection of the rights of Indigenous peoples worldwide.
Sarawak’s Indigenous communities, like most Indigenous communities the world over, have a rich cultural heritage deeply intertwined with their ancestral lands and forests. By protecting their forests, these Indigenous activists in Malaysia are safeguarding their cultural identity and heritage for future generations.
The achievements of the activists are significant not only for the local communities in Sarawak, they also resonate on a global scale. They highlight the urgent need for the protection of Indigenous rights, the preservation of cultural heritage, and the fight against deforestation and climate change.
These victories should serve as a catalyst for replicating similar efforts in safeguarding the rights and territories of Indigenous peoples worldwide.
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