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Ta’Kaiya Cheghajemixw

@takaiyablaney

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tla’amin qaymixw northern salish
χapǰiš təms giǰɛ 🪶🇵🇸
free the land, free the people \O/
📍sli city

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Colonialism caused climate change.
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On the closing day of COP26 I gave a statement at the peoples plenary explicitly naming the canadian government, RCMP, Enbridge, and CN Rail as the architects of climate change. COP26 was a performance to salvage global extractive economies rooted in Indigenous genocide. COP26 was capitalism desperately trying to avoid the consequence of what it has done to our lands. COP26 was a negotiation of trade agreements between nation states so that they can continue business as usual by buying and selling carbon “offsets” - literally commodifying the air. Attending COP26, I had no illusions of fixing the agenda. I attended so that there would be international transparency that canada is not a climate leader - canada criminalizes Indigenous people who fight climate change.
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In the moment I decided to name CN Rail as responsible for fires in my jehjeh @jadeblade_ homelands, Nlaka’pamux territory. I want to acknowledge her words that I am simply echoing here. At COP26 I witnessed many canadian environmental organizations and politicians discuss these fires without telling the full story. Justin Trudeau mentioned Lytton in his speech. Climate change is not a blameless phenomenon. There are names, corporations, and governments responsible for devastating land through colonial misuse as well as creating and exacerbating climate change itself. CN, CP, Enbridge, Kinder Morgan, CGL, Teck, Suncor, Shell, Western Forest Products, Teal Jones, Timber West, BC Treaty Commission, BC, and Canada are guilty. Now CN and CP are criminalizing Indigenous land defenders across canada that are occupying tracks. RCMP act as private police for CN/CP and other corporations. They protect profit and they protect climate change.
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Chechehathech to @auntie.katigeorgejim @wombinrising @temaaia for standing with me and to everyone back home, Xatlnanape by @takaiyablaney

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5 years ago

frog moon to flower moon video diary
tagəms kʷ walθ ʔakʷ tagəms kʷ tatᶿtatᶿoθɛnəm in no linear order. ems gijeh and a quick trip to ahousaht🫀 witnessing ƛičos (the spring) and the force of life returning to the land alongside the escalation of so much destruction, locally and globally. Colonialism prophesizes its own destruction and indoctrinates us all into the belief that the loss of life, language, and sacred places is inevitable. It sells us the idea that nothing we do has any power anymore. This logic of death is at odds with the reality of ems gijeh, our dirt relative who reminds us of that life is inevitable and that everything transforms and comes back. Sometimes all we can or need to do is just keep coming back. Survival is a memory. Witnessing the destruction of places that were significant to my journey of coming back home has made me reflect on the role of witnessing when you want to look away. Something cool I learned recently is that in our language, čiyɛʔanə, to listen, isn’t an action but a state of being. Time of the susu, stinging nettle, time of the clams ❤️‍🔥 by @takaiyablaney

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4 months ago

qʷɛtəm hɛga θičəm
from the shoreline to the mountains 🍓🫀
📹namos kʷ kʷi ƛaqaǰɛ buds emerging nɛ tɛms giǰɛ
čiyɛθčxʷ ⋆ ˚𓆝 ˖ ⋆ 𓈒 𓆟 ˖ ⋆˚𓆞 ｡ sound on by @takaiyablaney

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6 months ago

🌍✨ Mother Earth Day Rally ✨🌍

📅 April 22 ⏰ Noon - 3 PM
📍 Bay St., Bellingham, WA

🎶 Live Music | 🎤 Inspiring Speakers | 🍽️ Food Trucks | 🌱 Environmental Networking

It’s time to WAKE UP. SHOW UP. STAND UP. SPEAK OUT.
Our planet needs us—let’s take action together!

💚 Be there. Be heard. Be the change. 💚

#Earthday #MotherEarthDay #Bellingham #EarthDay2025 #EarthDayEveryDay #RestoreOurEarth #ActForEarth #ProtectOurPlanet #ClimateJustice #ActOnClimate #SaveOurPlanet #SustainableFuture #EcoAwareness #ThinkGlobalActLocal #CommunityAction #EnvironmentalJustice #BellinghamWA #PNWEnvironmentalists #ProtectNature #WildlifeConservation #CleanAirCleanWater #NoPlanetB #ReduceReuseRecycle taken in Downtown Sounds by @takaiyablaney

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2 years ago

I spent 2024 living in a little cabin at Toqneč, the skinny inlet where my ancestor/namesake lived in his longhouse and my great grandmother smoked fish. I pushed myself to go out on my land alone to harvest. I centred my grief and allowed myself to slow down enough to sohothot, release. Capitalism denies us the time to heal or harvest following the cycles of ems Gijeh so I celebrate the time I spent learning through practice. Ems Gijeh is alive, so is a Qaymixw future ❣️ Poem/prayer by my Kookpa, Cheghajemixw (written old school because FN keyboard dont work on me phone)

Ath xatl te’e gijeh
I love this land

Ookwyashtot hatlox te’e gijeh
We all love this land

Xwachemas ee chexwstamsht
We will never give it away

Hetltin gijeh tums tlahajimixwutl
Hega tums hehewutl
This land is our elders and our ancestors

Tayes xwoxwotlmot
From a long time ago

Tayes ots tly’ayenotl te gije
From the beginning of the land by @takaiyablaney

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2 years ago

As the new year has come so quickly, I’m incredibly grateful to have connections along the coast. In Musqueam and Tla’amin however, I struggle with being in both places at once. This summer, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend more time in my hometown where I grew up. It was a heartwarming experience to reconnect with relatives I hadn’t seen since I was little. I was fortunate enough to see where my grandmother was born. Seeing it for the first time was magical. I could only imagine what it looked like pre-colonialism. Being back home was really emotional. Time goes by quick in the city. Home really slows things down and puts things in perspective. It was a long canoe pull for sure. Living in the city is a constant struggle. It was a good reminder of where I come from. I deeply miss you, cheechia. I bet you’re lookin up above laughing that I was in the very spot you were born. Think of you everyday. Huge your loved ones y’all by @takaiyablaney

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2 years ago

kuuuxxxxwww, smokefish! This year I did smokefish with my Dad, Uncle, Kookpa and Chichia. And I only have a shaky timelapse photo from the boom to show for it, but my favourite night was seeing northern lights over my grandparents smokehouse every time I got up to check on the fire.

As Qayumixw, the salmon make us who we are. Our protocols around the smokehouse have been described to me by my elders as our ‘contract with the fish.’ Dreaming of the day our people have smokehouses along every salmon bearing river on ems Gijeh when the dams come down and our rivers run free ❤️‍🔥

1. E’th mun hega kuxw
2. Tihos
3. Kuxwtawtxw
4. Kwawa hehe
5. Hoysem elhten
6. Qawum
7. Emans kw lesos* hega mos jenxw
8. Asq kuxwtawtxw
9. Thikit qaykw
10. Nanatmen

*Kookpa’s word by @takaiyablaney

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2 years ago

postcards from the huckleberry apocalypse 🔴 by @takaiyablaney

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2 years ago

lhukw qaykw lhukw

Two eagles dance screen I designed and painted for Kyle’s memorial nohom - representing my late cousins Kyle Francis and Jeannine Francis

I painted this screen together with my jehahjeh, my Chichia, Kookpa, aunties, uncles, and cousins. It was a very special process.

This project was a first for me in many ways, especially in its scale. I’m grateful to my family for their hard work in helping complete it in a weekend.

tiwšimč, I am learning. by @takaiyablaney

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2 years ago

gijeh hega jehajeh
land + family

toqneč hega te tataqt,
my home + our mountains

chechehathech @otiaterongotoa for capturing by @takaiyablaney

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2 years ago

Me + Toqneč, where my great great grandfather Cheghajemixw’s longhouse stood and my great granny smoked fish with my Kookpa. Photos in Toqneč are from last week and when my hair was first cut.

This year marks my mom’s 5 year anniversary in the spirit world. Next week I’ll be pulling to our northern territory with my family to honour the life of my cousin and the transformation of our family’s grief.

Just a lil bit of these past few months. Spending lots of time on ems gijeh, honouring the memories. by @takaiyablaney

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2 years ago

JEH-JEE-UM! The forest gives us what we need. Spending time in the mountains this season has me reflecting on our ancient relationship to ems gijeh, our first relative, and what it demands of us. As Tla’amin Qayumixw, we continue to be one of the most exploited Indigenous territories within so-called British Columbia for logging. We have become desensitized witnessing the extraction of our lands every day for generations. Industrial forestry is what made the colonial invasion of Tla’amin territories profitable. The settlement of Powell River started as nothing more than a man camp for logging. When our people go to our forest, we are contending with industries that interrupt our food systems and ways of life. We are restricted from accessing places that have fed our families since time immemorial. Our ancient trails have been turned into logging roads. Our land has been designated as a sacrifice zone, a tree farm, to meet the needs of an industry that has made trillions off our stolen resources. When I see the logging trucks hauling out our jehahjeh, I think of how many homes could be built for our people who are underhoused and overcrowded on our own lands.

Just last week I went to strip cedar in the depths of our territory where some of the last old growth stands. There I noticed cutblocks all the way up the side of the mountain from heli-logging. It feels like I blinked and suddenly the scale of development and extraction on our lands increased tenfold and shows no signs of slowing down. Our future generations are relying on us to resist against desensitization and complacency to colonialism, capitalism, and its land-destroying industries. Our Gijeh needs us back, to protect and defend and imagine and enact futures of real sovereignty. by @takaiyablaney

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2 years ago