Nationhood Interrupted
Sylvia McAdam (Saysewahum)
Traditionally, nhiyaw (Cree) laws are shared and passed down through oral customs stories, songs, ceremonies, using lands, waters, animals, land markings and other sacred rites. However, the loss of the languages, customs and traditions of Indigenous peoples as a direct result of colonization has necessitated this departure from the oral tradition to record the physical laws of the nhiyaw. McAdam, a co-founder of the international movement Idle No More, shares nhiyaw laws so that future generations, both nhiyaw and non-Indigenous people, may understand and live by them to revitalize Indigenous nationhood. (From Purich Publishing)