Introduction - Governing Transboundary Waters: Canada, the United States, and Indigenous Communities - page 19

boundaries in my daily practice, borders that also had distinct socio-economic and
environmental ties.
Although my role as teacher and student (and later, mother) was at times
exhausting, it provided me with a tremendous vantage point to keep my work
grounded; it allowed me to bear witness to the ongoing legacies of colonial oppres-
sion, land disposition, cultural oppression, and the abuses and travesties that
continue to haunt generation after generation of Indigenous people. Northwest
Indian College is an inspirational place. It is a place where students of all ages (my
youngest student was 15, my oldest student was 87) come to better themselves
and their community.
Through researching and writing my dissertation and working at the tribal
college, my questions of transborder water governance became increasingly linked
to issues of environmental and social justice and decolonization. The concepts of
environmental degradation, extraterritorial pollution, and externally created rules,
regulations and standards were present in the stories of my students (many of whom
are fisherpeople). Meanwhile, my studies at the University of British Columbia
gave me the conceptual and analytical tools to link these issues to wider academic
conversations.
My tenure at Northwest Indian College also exposed me to signs of hope, self-
determination, and improved governance. I saw the hard work and dedication of
Indigenous leaders and scholars such as Tom Sampson, Billy Frank Jr., Cheryl
Crazybull, Greg Cajete, LeRoy LittleBear, David Wilkins, and Winona Laduke,
who successfully walk between worlds and provide inspiration to link the work
of decolonization with self-determination and environmental protection.
I was also exposed to the work of groups such as the Yukon River Inter-
Tribal Watershed Council and the Coast Salish Gathering whose work linked
efforts of environmental protection with wider goals of decolonization and self-
determination. I became aware of the ongoing fight to harvest shellfish for the
Semiahmoo community north of the international boundary.
The stories of my students, my colleagues, and my mentors, together with my
exposure to a department full of inspiring critical scholars, imprinted on me this
journey that unfolds in the pages that follow. It also prepared me for a brief interlude,
which took my family and I away from the Salish Sea to gain perspective in a
different region - the Freshwater Nation/Ojibwa Territory of the Great Lakes.
As a faculty member at Michigan Technological University, working with the new
Great Lakes Research Center and the Environmental and Energy Policy Program,
I saw similar trends in the Great Lakes. The issues facing the Great Lakes mirror
many of the issues facing the coastal Pacific. The stories of pollutants, boundaries,
and self-determination, governance and justice fill the pages that follow. However,
as I write this, my family and I have returned to the Salish Sea Basin - a place that
has become our true home.
Considering the personal nature of these issues, I felt it important to situate
myself within the pages of this text. Together with the stories that I present to
you, I wanted to share with you my parable of discovery.