I find it one of the great ironies that within our society, whether its Canada or the United States, live people who are among the lowest on the social totem pole yet have the greatest lessons to give us. And I'm talking about the first nations, the people who were here before the arrival 500 years ago of the Europeans. The fact is, that even in the most impoverished, disfunctional communities that you find among Indians, you will still find a sense of connectedness to the earth that is fundamentally different that ours. What I feel is that the dominant culture of North America today came to this continent and saw opportunity, and saw resources, they looked at trees and fish as commodities that were the key to their wealth. When you talk to First Nation aboriginal, indigenous people all over the world, there's a fundamentally different sense of connectedness with their surrounding community of creatures.
Most societies regard other species as their relatives.
And you don't treat your relatives as commodities. You treat them with respect. Most people have a commitment to a place. This is where they came from. This is where they've always been and this is where they expect all of their future generations to be.