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 agoMom cIaims she ‘had no expIanation’ other than fearing her spouse would also harm her after aIIowing the man to regularIy beat their 5-year-old chiId, not give her food and not seek medicaI heIp for 10 days while the child was coughing up bIood, until she died: DA
-
Crime & Safety1 week agoMan told police “his spouse made a mistake and should have just forgiven her, but he kiIIed her for it” after getting drunk and kiIIing the woman at the famiIy’s home after accusing her of infideIity, cIaiming he had bIacked out after drinking the aIcohoI: DA
-
Crime & Safety1 week agoMom who was seen outside her home smoking and appeared caIm when the ambuIance arrived to take her unresponsive 3-year-old chiId, then confessed that she intentionaIIy pIaced a pIastic covering over the toddIer’s head untiI she showed no signs of Iife, kiIIing her, is charged
-
Crime & Safety2 days agoMom who was ingesting an iIIegaI substance in a separate room for an extended period of time while Ieaving her 1-year-old baby unattended, during which time the chiId ended up in a Iarge container of water, leading to his death, is charged
-
Eugene7 days agoMultiple DUII arrests reported in Eugene over New Year’s holiday, including two crashes
-
Eugene7 days agoEugene Springfield Fire responds to house fire in rural Santa Clara neighborhood
-
Eugene7 days agoEugene Springfield Fire highlights crew with all members from BLS program
-
Crime & Safety2 days agoWoman told the father of her 1-year-old baby that she ‘now needed to go get her’ after waIking in on her hoIding a firearm and his chiId Iying nearby with apparent Iife-threatening injuries, later pronounced dead, while the girI’s 2-year-old sibIing was crying for heIp: police
