Engaging technology for Tribal support and innovation

As a kid, the impact of the internet was becoming increasingly apparent. During my time in high school, internet video gaming was booming, and the power and availability of “smartphones” was taking off. In 2022, the amount of technological achievements are amazing and vast, ranging from: Artificial Intelligence (AI) work, affordable sequencing of human genomes, foldable phones, and live-streaming of high-definition recordings. Unfortunately, the Lac du Flambeau community, along with other “rural” Native nations are left behind in receiving these technologies, benefiting from them, or are directly harmed by these technologies.

We need to prioritize the integration of newer technologies into our everyday lives and at Tribal workplaces. Technologies that allow all of our Tribal members and descendants access to high-speed internet, user-friendly devices for elders and disabled, and formal and informal training access to learn about and use these technologies. The world is moving at high speeds and if our members can’t search or download the needed information for their education (e.g., journal articles, books), attend a virtual meeting or classroom to learn or network, or operate their online business, we run the risk of our members being forced to move from our homelands to accomplish their personal and career goals. 

As a part-time student at Lac Courte Oreilles University, I’ve greatly benefited from being able to take my courses online via Zoom. Combining the school’s devotion to having hybrid courses and having access to a working computer with a camera, I can seamlessly hop into class and learn Ojibwemowin and meet fellow Anishinaabe. How will our Tribal members who want to stay closer to home get trained if their only option is to be in-person and move far away for an unknown amount of time? Will our current and future Tribal elders be left behind as some older technologies become less common and supported, like cable TV?

Another problem we run into is the number of jobs in Lac du Flambeau are finite and limited in scope. Tribal members on the reservation are capped in what level and type of work online they can do on and near the reservation. For example, Native artists in the area have to rely on locals, who are limited in their  numbers, and tourists, who are around seasonally. Native artists throughout the continent are benefiting from high-speed internet and website building access through their online shops or social media pages. At the same time, Native content creators are building careers from home by streaming content such as beading circles, interviews, video game playthroughs, podcast productions, or tutorials. And we have Natives who can work in technology, project management, writing, and teaching from our Lands!

By increasing the training opportunities, and access to high-speed internet and shared tools (e.g., computer programs like Microsoft Word), we will increase the possibilities for Tribal members to (1) build careers that can be done remotely on the reservation, (2) increase technology competency so our Tribal membership can learn about new technologies and teach each other about them, (3) understand and critique new technologies so we can make informed decisions about their use, and (4) be a leader in technology for other Tribal nations to follow. We must move beyond past expectations of moving far away to accomplish all of our goals, and that all technology will benefit us equally.

Key Issue: Anti-colonial and Indigenous Centered Research

Too often have Native folks been the subjects of research, and not given the space and resources for being the researchers themselves. At the same time, Natives are taught research methods in education systems based in Western values that clash with Indigenous ways of thinking, knowing and practices. For us, they have clashed with or pushed out Ojibwe practices of gathering knowledge.

I aim to focus on and build the research capacity of the Tribe itself. Not just research in Western institutions but research that takes place everyday for our Tribal citizens who hunt, fish, and gather on the Land. At the same time, we need to stop researchers from coming into our community without our permission and with our permission but no expectations of how we benefit. When Western researchers do come in, they take our resources, our knowledge, our time and give nothing we find important to us! It is a one-sided relationship where we get the bare minimum.

In the immediate future, we need to be the ones who define what research questions are important to us, we need to be the ones spearheading the research, and we need to benefit more than Western researchers do in this relationship (equitable not just equal). We must be compensated, given authorship and resources, and given the resources and training so we can do the work ourselves.

The information, relationships, groups, and junior Ojibwe scientists in the community exist for us to start Ojibwe-led research initiatives. We as a Tribe need to take the major steps to do so!

My learning in this area of anti-colonial research from my Indigenous peers comes from Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Max Liboiron, Jessica Hernandez, Kim TallBear and many others!

Tribal Council Candidacy Announcement

*The original announcement of Ray’s candidacy was on July 27, 2022 on Facebook and this was the following content

I’m ecstatic to announce my running for one of the four council member seats in the 2022 Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indian’s Tribal election!

Running for council has been on my mind since I was in gradeschool. It is one of the most visible, praised, and critiqued ways fellow tribal members can give back to the Tribe. It’s a job that requires continual engagement with the community, a large breadth of knowledge ranging from treaties all the way to the newest technologies, and public accountability at the Tribal and nation-to-nation level.

With the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in Standing Rock and many other protests to protect Native Land throughout the world, recent Supreme Court decisions taking away abortion rights and limiting Tribal sovereignty, the human-caused climate change and its affects on animal and plant relatives, the full brunt of a global pandemic harming Indigenous folks, and the continued theft of our Indigenous children, ways of knowing, and cultural practices, I can no longer offer support from the side.

“Making kin, not capital” is the phrase I will use to define what I aim to accomplish as a tribal council member. I am interested in representing anti-colonial and decolonial issues and practices, and in strengthening and building new relationships to Lac du Flambeau tribal members so we can continue to resist settler-colonial practices and center our Ojibwe ways of knowing. I am NOT interested in building social and physical capital, especially at the expense of my relatives, both human and non-human.

I hope to be transparent about this process. Though I am an expert in certain Western academic fields, I know that my fellow Tribal citizens have many more experiences and knowledges that can only be learned by spending their time interacting with and living on our Lands. I aim to respect and center peoples’ respective expertise, mentor our LdF youth, and pass on the knowledge of this process to future generations of engaged tribal citizens.

If you would like to know more about my history and key issues I hope to address, please check out my campaign website page. This blog page will be the main area for topics and points I want to address as a Tribal Council candidate. Stay tuned for more posts!