A Conversation With Elder Albert Marshall

After spending some time with Elder Dr. Albert Marshall (Albert) I felt it important to share some of our conversation. Albert is part of a local group formed 6 years ago called the Climate Change Task Force; a group of people from different walks of life and backgrounds coming together around their concern for our environment and the dire threat of climate change. This is how I got to know Elder Albert.  I want to share some of what I have learned through my conversations with Albert and how he has got me thinking.   

 I believe we need Albert’s leadership. We need to see from two eyes if we are to have a liveable world for our children and generations to come.  Elder Albert and his wife Murdena articulated the Two Eyed Seeing Approach and now it is becoming known and shared world-wide. It is about human collaboration, recognizing that nature has rights and we have responsibilities. She is us. When we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves.  

Much of this (two-eyed seeing) is new to me. I am a non-indigenous person from a Scottish English heritage who grew up in small town Cape Breton in the 60’s and 70’s.  My ancestors were settlers who came here on boats, many after being persecuted and driven out of their “home” countries and most were given parcels of land to begin their lives here in the “New World”… given land that was stolen from the Mik’maq. It is a hard truth to swallow.   

I am learning so much and initially I felt some resistance to hearing terms that referred to me as a colonizer or a settler. It was rubbing me the wrong way. But I knew in my heart, and taking a cue from truth and reconciliation, that it was time to listen and truly hear.  To hear about what happened to my neighbors, to the Mikmaq, and basically to all other indigenous peoples throughout the world.  

Albert has a kind of simple direct love that he brings along with him. He is open minded, accepting, non judgemental, a listener, astute, and, I would say, a visionary.  I would put him with the likes of Stephen Lewis (recently passed) and David Suzuki, among others. Something these visionaries have in common with Albert is that as accepting as Albert is, he is uncompromising when it comes to what he knows is the wrong path….. and, we are on it. He makes no excuses for this and will not “water down” or “pad” the truth to make anyone feel more comfortable. And yet he is hopeful. He is a spiritual man who both sees and feels that we have what it takes. That together we have true power and will do what is right... that we can and we will take a good path. That we can use our intelligence - the best of what science and technology has to give, joined in collaboration with indigenous knowledge and approaches that have been passed through generations and generations.  It seems to me that it is in the approach, and it is in the process that we will find a path to save us; the means are as important as the ends.  

When it comes to climate catastrophes, humans of any color, race, religion, or economic status are all in the same boat together. The starving climate refugees escaping drought in Sub-Saharan Africa are sitting beside the oil executives and the billionaires. Granted the billionaires will have bigger and better boats, giving them a little more time, but ultimately, we will all go down.  

How do we come together and use an approach that will help us save ourselves and all other living beings and things on the planet?  We know we have the technology and the science, and we have the ability and the capacity to stop the ongoing damage to our environment that is growing exponentially. We can change course. But what will it take?  

We live in a democracy (which is an approach) and like peace, which cannot be described as simply the absence of war; democracy is a living thing that needs to be active, participatory, worked with, refined. It needs to evolve. Democracy is complicated, of course. But at its core, the democratic approach has the potential to be the conduit we need to make good decisions – decisions that will lead us down a good path. One of the concerns of Elder Albert at this very time is to witness the increasing fragility of our democracy right here in Nova Scotia, possibly bolstered by the extreme actions of Donald Trump and the madness.  What’s a little move against ours and nature’s rights here and there in Nova Scotia when Trump (the supposed leader of the “free” world) is trampling all over human rights everywhere and is a climate change denier to boot!   

Elder Albert describes our current Premier Houston and the conservative government as “Anti-Environment and Anti- Native”. I know he doesn’t say this lightly, and it is very unfortunate that at this time in our history, when we so need courageous leadership, when we need to use two eyes, that we have a government eager to dismantle and limit our voices rather than use the democratic approach to lead the way to an ecologically sustainable future.  

Albert is very realistic; “We need livelihoods, we need an economy that works for all of us. And we need a process that ensures that anything proposed will not compromise the integrity of the environment. And if it might… why go any further?? If a development poses a threat, then we use the precautionary principle and we move on to generate economic alternatives that will be ecologically sustainable. On this we can no longer compromise”.  

It needs to start with you and me and the conversations we are willing to have. Democracy is participatory - not a spectator sport and if our leadership is denying our right to participate, we have a choice to make. We have voices. And, together we can do it. If not for yourself then for your kids, your grandkids, your loved ones.  

Thank you Albert. Wela’lin. 

Janet Bickerton RN 

(Janet is a nurse and community activist who is part of the Climate Change Task Force coordinating committee