Uncategorized
Sixteen-year-old First Nations advocate Autumn Peltier speaks up for clean water
In 2003, Josephine Mandamin walked around Lake Superior carrying a pail of water. It was the first of many walks the Anishinaabe grandmother took to call for more action to protect clean water.
Autumn Peltier is Mandamin’s great niece and a member of the Wiikwemkoong First Nation.
“When we’re born as Anishinaabe people, we’re automatically given that role to protect the water and the land,” she says.
Sixteen-year-old Peltier has followed in her aunt’s footsteps as a water protector and climate activist.
“My auntie Josephine is one of my biggest role models and mentors,” she says.
Like her aunt, Peltier participates in water walks and speaks at events.
At 12 years old, she confronted Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about his support for oil pipelines that she said threatened clean water. And at 14, she was named chief water commissioner for the Anishinabek Nation.
“As a chief water commissioner, I was given the role for advocating for First Nations communities around the Great Lakes,” Peltier says.
Peltier’s aunt previously held the position until she died in 2019.
“When she passed away, she told me to not stop doing the work that I was doing and not to give up,” Peltier says.
So she continues to protect the land and water of her people.
-
Crime & Safety1 week agoMan who was seen repeatedIy hitting a 3-year-old with a cIosed fist before asking if he was going to stop pIaying, then cIaimed he wanted to discipIine the chiId because he would not work on his aIphabet, is charged
-
Crime & Safety5 days agoWoman threw boiIing Iiquid on 2-year-old and another chiId after entering their room, causing severe injuries throughout their bodies after becoming angry at the chiIdren for an unknown reason: police
-
Crime & Safety1 week agoWoman who told poIice that she tried to kiII a 1-year-old by sitting on the baby while without cIothes under her waist, because she hoped that kiIIing the chiId would prompt an aduIt present in the home to kiII her, is charged
-
Eugene1 week agoMan arrested for DUII and reckless driving after incident on Harlow Road
-
Crime & Safety5 days agoMan cIaims he was high when he kiIIed the man Iiving with him right after teIIing the victim that ‘he was going to hurt some peopIe if a femaIe person they both knew was not aIright’, then pIaced the firearm in the victim’s hand in an attempt to make the death appear self-infIicted: DA
-
Eugene3 days agoArmed man dies after shooting himself in St. Vincent de Paul parking lot
-
Crime & Safety1 day agoDad who told poIice that he had not dropped or shaken his 3-month-old, or done anything to hurt the baby besides bouncing her in his Iap, after the chiId died with four broken ribs and bIeeding and sweIIing in the brain, is charged
-
Eugene1 week agoFire crews rescue man trapped along Willamette River diversion
