Peepeekisis resident honoured with King Charles III Coronation

PEEPEEKISIS CREE NATION — Indigenous land-educator, artist and conservation advisor, Philip Brass, is being recognized with the King Charles III Coronation Medal for his work with the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

Adding to a growing list of honours for his work in environmental and cultural advocacy, Brass, who last year received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal, has played a key role in shaping conversations around land, reconciliation and Indigenous rights in Saskatchewan.

"It's an honour," said Brass in an interview with SaskToday.ca

According to a release from the NCC, "Brass is a sought-after voice, who’s knowledge and influence have led or contributed to numerous conservation and Reconciliation initiatives, such as the Treaty Land Sharing Network and the Buffalo Treaty. Brass is also a valued contributor who continues to serve as an Indigenous consultant and advisor for NCC.

Brass joined the NCC as an Indigenous Advisor in 2018 alongside Jennifer McKillop, working closely with the organization to address the conservation community’s role in reconciliation. His approach has highlighted the long-lasting impacts of residential schools—particularly the systemic separation of Indigenous peoples from their land.

"We look at the impacts of residential schools, but the purpose of residential schools ultimately was separation and dispossession from land of Indigenous peoples—which I think is the longer lasting and tragic legacy of residential school beyond the individual suffering of the children who attended those schools," said Brass.

"We still have a systemic imbalance of land ownership and access to land and Indigenous peoples who were shut out of any sort of equation around how land is utilized—especially here in Saskatchewan," added Brass.

Brass has spoken out about land use inequalities affecting Indigenous communities in Saskatchewan, including the auctioning of public Crown lands, which limits access for traditional practices such as hunting and medicine gathering.

"We see an increasing amount of public lands—crown lands—being auctioned off, Indigenous peoples here in southern Saskatchewan losing their ability to access places for hunting and gathering medicines, things like that," said Brass.

With NCC managing over 160 million acres of land across Canada, Brass sees opportunities for Indigenous peoples to reconnect with the intact ecosystems their cultures emerged from.

"Most of that land is intact ecosystems. For Indigenous peoples, that is the land that really matters. That's the land that our cultures and language emerged from. In this time of reconciliation and this time of Indigenous peoples re-connecting with culture and language it's imperative that Indigenous peoples have access to these places," said Brass.

Brass noted that historically, organizations like NCC have operated without meaningful relationships with Indigenous communities. Through his work with the NCC he has urged conservationists to step out of their comfort zones and engage directly with Indigenous culture, protocols and institutions.

"My point to them was ... you need to step out of your comfort zone. You need to learn how to navigate the culture, the protocols and the institutions of Indigenous communities in order to build true allyship, friendship and trust," said Brass.

"That's what we started to do. We started to have staff learn about these things. Participate in ceremonies with myself and others. Learning tobacco protocols when engaging with elders," said Brass.

"It took a lot of cultural re-training to get non-Indigenous peoples understanding of how to engage in a respectful manner that will allow them to build long-lasting relationships and friendships," said Brass.

Brass played a key role in assembling Indigenous advisory groups, bringing together elders, youth and individuals with regional knowledge of botany and traditional medicines. Among the most profound discussions were those surrounding buffalo—their historical significance and the impact of their near-extinction on Indigenous identity.

"I helped facilitate those talks along with Jennifer McKillop. We had some interesting discussions," said Brass, adding, "we raised a very important question to the advisory group ... 'what does the loss of the buffalo mean to you personally?'"

"It was very interesting to see because I'd never seen anybody ask that question of Indigenous people and to see Indigenous people's attempt to answer that question ... it was a really powerful experience," added Brass.

In these discussions, Brass said the group explored how the intentional extermination of the buffalo had affected Indigenous peoples.

"What we discovered is that there is still an ecological grief that Indigenous peoples are born with—that we carry—because of just how central the buffalo was to the entirety of our culture and existence," said Brass.

In some conversations, the question arose:

"Without re-establishing that relationship are we really able to save language? Are we able to address the identity crisis and suicide crisis among our youth?"

Brass said the advisory board recognized that buffalo are the "linchpin to Indigenous culture and language."

"That's where we started to have conversations around how the NCC would manage their bison herd. What responsibility do they have to not just the land at that property but also our responsibility to that animal. How that animal is viewed, how it's treated, how it's handled and also how do we build relationships with communities through buffalo and how to support other communities to build their own herds," said Brass.

"That's something we've been doing now for six years," added Brass.

Beyond conservation work, Brass has dedicated himself to land-based education and youth wellness initiatives, including gang prevention efforts for Indigenous youth. He has facilitated hunting and fishing excursions, seeing them as opportunities for young people to reconnect with the land amid challenges such as poverty and absent father figures.

"So many of these youth are being raised in abject poverty," said Brass, adding, "the common denominator with the boys that I was working with was no present father or healthy father or healthy male role model. Giving them that opportunity was really powerful for a lot of them."

Brass said he is also what's referred to as a "knowledge carrier," and emphasized the place-based nature of Indigenous wisdom.

"Indigenous culture and knowledge is place-based. My knowledge and my credibility is not transferable," said Brass.

"I can't go to British Columbia and be considered an Indigenous knowledge carrier—I know nothing of British Columbia. I know nothing of that land. I have no relationship with it. That's the thing that's fundamentally different about Indigenous culture versus Western culture ... it's place-based." said Brass.

"I'm native to the prairie."