On January 11, 2017, the world lost one of its fiercest warriors against colonialism when Art Manuel passed away. This article, published last year in the First Nations Strategic Bulletin, is characteristic of his clarity, honesty and vision. It is reprinted here with permission.

2017 marks the fact that we have been officially colonized by Canada for 150 years. This is an important milestone and it is time for us to decide if we want to continue to be colonized peoples or if we want to seek self-determination.

When government biologists in Canada want to learn where caribou are, they put radio-tracking collars on some animals and monitor their movements. This gives them a rough idea of where herds are and where they travel, but it doesn’t tell them much about a caribou population's history -- travel routes before their habitat was degraded or historical feeding, breeding and calving spots.