Earth Law Center joins the fight to free Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut
By: Michelle Bender
Earth Law Center (ELC) recently announced our partnership with two tribal members of the Lummi Nation, Squil-le-he-le (Raynell Morris) and Tah-Mahs (Ellie Kinley) to bring Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut (also known as Tokitae or her stage name, Lolita) home to the Salish Sea. This campaign is about more than a single Orcas story and release. It is a story of kinship, family, culture, Indigenous rights, morals and ethics and the rights of all species.
Orcas are family, not property
The Lhaq'temish people of the Lummi Nation are Indigenous peoples on the coast of northern Washington and southern British Columbia. The Lummi Nation has a strong connection with the Salish Sea, and has for thousands of years, and this includes the Sea’s inhabitants. Last year, Lummi Nation gave Tokitae the Lummi name “Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut,” which means that she is a member of Sk’aliCh’elh, the resident family of Orcas who call the Salish Sea home. The Lummi term for “Orca” is “qwe’lhol’mechen,” which means “our relatives under the water.”
Orcas are their family, and there is one family member missing.
Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut was captured violently, and without prior consent of her family (her mother Ocean Sun is still alive in the Salish Sea), 50 years ago, and has lived in a tank at the Miami Seaquarium ever since. She has been on display in a small 80 ft. long, 20 ft. deep tank in hot sunny Florida, catering to the guests of the aquarium and performing two shows a day (outside the pandemic). Her well-being has taken a backseat to profit, being forced to perform even if she just had a procedure and could barely keep her eyes open. Many attempts have been made throughout the years to have discussions and come to a resolution with the owners of Miami Seaquarium, but they stand firm in the belief that she is well taken care of and happy. But Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut has been screaming for help since her capture. [More on the history of Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut’s life (her capture and life in captivity) will be in our next blog, so stay tuned.]
Photo by: https://sacredsea.org/resources/
Squil-le-he-le and Tah-Mahs answered the call to bring Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut back to her home to the Salish Sea, and believe this is the year. Indigenous peoples acknowledge a sacred obligation to “ensure all relations are treated in a dignified manner that reflects tribal cultural values.” The Lummi Nation, therefore, believes they have a sacred duty to take care of the Southern Resident Orcas (also known as Southern Resident Killer Whale), and protect the lands, waters and communities of the Salish Sea. Teachings indicate not only a deep cultural affinity and a spiritual connection between qwe’lhol’mechen and Lummi people but also deep kinship bonds. As Tah-mahs believes, “What happens to qwe ‘lhol ‘mechen happens to us. When they’re whole, we’re whole. She needs her family and her family needs her.” This echoes what Governor Inslee said after signing an Executive Order to produce more actions to recover the endangered population of Southern Resident Orcas: “Orcas are part of our identity as Washingtonians and we’ve gotten one step closer in protecting them, their homes and our own survival as we enter an unknown era of climate change. Our economic and climate change efforts need to aid their survival. For as the Orca go, so go we.”
An opportunity to bring Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut home
As a result, in July 2019, Squil-le-he-le and Tah-Mahs announced an intent to sue the Seaquarium for a violation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), in order to elicit Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut’s release.
Previous lawsuits have tried to release her but to date have been unsuccessful. These lawsuits largely fall under the purview of the Endangered Species Act and the Animal Welfare Act. NAGPRA could be the missing link. Under this federal law, enrolled tribal members of federally recognized tribes may request the respectful return of remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony held by an institution. As the National Park Service states: “By enacting NAGPRA, Congress recognized that human remains of any ancestry must at all times be treated with dignity and respect. Congress also acknowledged that human remains and other cultural items removed from Federal or tribal lands belong, in the first instance, to lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations.”
Therefore, NAGPRA has the ability to incorporate the culture and traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples, and in particular honor their rights, which has been underutilized in previous attempts to bring her home. Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut is not only family, but the embodiment of spiritual and cultural power and tradition. The relationship that exists between both Ellie and Raynell is one that contains both tangible and intangible cultural and spiritual properties. As Dr. Kurt Russo said, “NAGPRA is about cultural patrimony. This is not just about a single killer whale and two people, it’s about an essential sense of belonging that cannot be adequately expressed in legal language.” In 2018, the Affiliated Tribes Of Northwest Indians passed Resolution #18 -32 in support of the Lummi elders beliefs, recognizing that Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut’s “capture and captivity are all one interconnected and continuous crime against nature and a violation of our ancestral cultural values such that it is our sacred obligation to reunite her with her family where she can assume her rightly place in the natural order, live out the remaining decades of her life in accordance with natural law, and help bring healing to the past trauma of L-pod.”
Earth Law Center works to transform our relationship with Nature
ELC believes that it is long past due to return Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut to her native habitat and ancestral waters. ELC works to advance ecocentric law, aligning human rights with Indigneous worldviews. Indigenous people worldwide are at the forefront of standing up for and defending the Earth. In the traditions of many Indigenous peoples, everything is rooted in their original instructions, or cosmovision; everything is connected and we are all related. It is our responsibility as humans to live in harmony with Mother Earth, because She is the reason for our being. She is our air, our water, our food and our shelter. Every component of the Earth, whether living or nonliving (abiotic or biotic) plays an essential role in maintaining life, and the critical cycles and relationships on the planet. We do not yet know what impacts our development will have on future generations. We have an obligation to leave the Earth no worse, and better, than what we received.
It is also our moral and ethical responsibility to honor the culture and values of our Indigenous peoples. Western law and society has largely lost sight of natural law, and Indigenous sovereignty (collective Indigenous rights); our laws fail to acknowledge that humans are a part of Nature and that the Earth’s systems have limits. The graphic below illustrates this well; current law is human-centered and places us, and the economic system on a higher level than Nature, when in fact humans belong as an equal part of Nature.
ELC, therefore, seeks to fix the inherent flaws in our legal systems, and shed light on the growing awareness that Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut and Orcas as a species, are living beings, with family relations, culture and knowledge of their own. We are committed to protecting the worldview and culture of our Lummi partners, and respecting and honoring the larger ecosystem of which we’re all a part.
It’s quite simple really; our current legal system thinks of species and ecosystems as “objects” “property” or “natural resources.” This same system views Orcas as animals to be used for profit, rather than kin. What if we were to liken Orcas to family relations as the Lummi do? Orcas are sentient and intelligent beings, they feel emotion, grieve, form deep bonds, work and travel together, and have a sense of culture within their pods-- all traits shared with the human race. As kin to us, qwe’lhol’mechen and Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut have rights, just like humans have inherent rights just for being. When our children are born they may not know what rights they have, or be able to speak up for such rights themselves, but their parents or guardians can speak on their behalf. Just as most would not let their child knowingly starve, be taken from them or be subjected to cruel treatment, Squil-le-he-le and Tah-Mahs are doing the same for Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut.
“Our belief is that not only the salmon and qwe ‘lhol mechen [Orca], but all the air, the land, the water, the creatures, they all have inherent rights,” says Dr. Kurt Russo, Lummi Nation. Thomas Berry defines rights as the freedom for all beings to fulfill their duties and responsibilities in the Earth community. In particular, there are three rights for every member: the right to be, the right to habitat and the right to fulfill its role in the ever- renewing processes of the Earth community. As a family member, Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut has the right to be with her family, free from captivity and home in the Salish Sea. We can certainly seek new laws and policies that reflect this recognition, such as many laws now emerging worldwide under the ‘Rights of Nature’ movement, but ultimately, our values must change. We must redefine and transform our relationship with Nature and the Earth; we must recognize that we are a part of and dependent on a larger community; and we must recognize that we cannot continue on the path of destruction and dominion without consequences.
Join us in supporting Squil-le-he-le and Tah-Mahs’s quest to bring home Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut. We hope you will continue to follow along in the coming weeks, as we delve deeper into the story of Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, Indigenous cultures and rights, the movement towards legal rights for animals, and our advocacy and actions to encourage her return back home to her family.
If you want to support: please sign and share our change.org petition.
There is also a broadcast on Indian Country Today with Squil-le-he-le and Executive Director Grant Wilson.
Robert Pittman- NOAA