Lemdro.id

But with rare exception, the response from the mainstream media’s pundit class has been largely muted, with the vast bulk of the coverage coming in the form of he said/she said, down-the-middle reporting. This is in stark contrast with how elite opinion-shapers responded with uniform outrage in the days after Trump’s also dubious raid on John Bolton, his former national security adviser and a neoconservative commentator, in August 2025. Both are part of a consistent pattern of Trump weaponizing the Department of Justice to attack his perceived enemies, yet only the latter solicited widespread media condemnation.

… The reasons for this glaring discrepancy are likely many: Omar is Black and Muslim, Bolton is white and not. Omar is a woman, Bolton is a man. Omar is considered “far left,” Bolton is squarely in the center-right of elite Washington consensus. Omar is a harsh critic of Israel, and Bolton is among its most overtly and bloodthirsty champions. The reality is it’s almost certainly a combination of all these factors. Writ large, Bolton is a member of The Club, and Omar isn’t.

At least three of the protesters wore shirts that said “Rowling Money Kills” and one activist used a bullhorn to read a statement, sometimes unintelligible through the noise and shouting of the moment, to those present.

“She would rather police women’s space than support her trans sisters when they are under attack,” that person can be heard saying.

The cabin in the ancestral village of Nusq’lst. Submitted photo

Nestled in the lush coastal temperate rainforest of the Bella Coola Valley sits the ancestral village of Nusq’lst.

The last time someone lived at the historic Nuxalk townsite was in 1862, as people’s forced removal from their homelands and the devastating smallpox epidemic emptied many traditional villages.

Now, 164 years later, three generations of a family are calling Nusq’lst home again.

Kmalsuuncw (Orden Mack) and his mother Nuskmata turned what was originally planned as a hand-built hunting cabin into a permanent family home when Kmalsuuncw became a new father.

Building the cabin quickly became a family project, with Kmalsuuncw receiving advice on its construction from cousins, uncles and other supporters.

“We’ve received a lot of community support, and honestly, that’s been a really driving feature as to why we kept on going for as long as we did,” he said in an interview with IndigiNews.

Kmalsuuncw notes the site holds much of his family’s origin story. The village site’s name Nusq’lst was his grandfather — Nuskmata’s late father’s — name.

In 2020, construction originally began with the intention of becoming a hunting cabin — but that goal soon changed as Kmalsuuncw found out he was going to be a father. He felt called to provide for his growing family with the food, safety and shelter found in and around their ancestral home.

“Right when I found out that my wife Jessica was pregnant,” he recalled, “we had to turn it from a cabin to more of a home.”

They call their cabin “Qiqti’s House” (baby’s house), a reminder that they’re the first in generations to raise children there.

“We’re not building this place for us,” he said. “We’re building it for them.”

A sustainable home during a housing crisis

Kmalsuuncw — a member of the Xats̓úll First Natiion who also has ties to Nuxalk and Tŝilhqot’in communities — has made Q’umk’uts (Bella Coola) his home for the past seven years.

He traces the cabin’s impromptu beginnings to a family gathering in Nusq’lst around 2019.

In the midst of a local housing crisis, with few housing options available to community members, building a sustainable home on the Nusq’lst village site became increasingly important to Kmalsuuncw — which he began to see as his “responsibility” to build on Nuxalk territories.

Kmalsuuncw’s mother Nuskmata told Coastal First Nations that some of the last ancestors to live at Nusq’lst were her great grandmother Mary Sampson and her sister, and “so it’s really about returning home and reclaiming that place.”

While building the cabin his mom handled the logistics while he did the construction and carpentry. Without carpentry training, he learned quickly as he was “thrown in” to the experience throughout the process.

“That was something I kind of had to learn along the way,” he said.

He credits a family friend, Dean Mecham, as the one who taught him about the process of logging and using the wood for the cabin build process.

Kmalsuuncw noted how around 85 per cent of work on the house was done by hand, with help from an Alaskan mill — an attachment for chainsaws that helps cut logs into long boards from trees they felled for the cabin’s foundation.

Out of care for the land, Kmalsuuncw said they only cut the trees needed for the cabin site, leaving it surrounded by the forest.

“I feel so connected to this place,” he said, “because of the way that we made sure to leave it.”

Nusq’lst memorial pole. Photo by Dionne Phillips

Nusq’lst memorial pole. Photo by Dionne Phillips

A communal effort to build

The mother-and-son team didn’t build their home alone, however.

More than 200 community members helped out on the project, becoming a sort of communal event, Kmalsuuncw said proudly.

Even at the beginning of the seven year process he was surprised at the support that quickly emerged from the hereditary leadership.

“Once they heard what we were doing after community events, we had full … unanimous support,” he said.

He also commented on the openness his family has had with the community on their plans which has created support for the cabin’s construction.

“Everybody knows what we’re doing,” he said, “and they’ve all been really supportive.”

Even a trip to the store would turn into a community update session, as many locals have been interested in the progress from the start.

The cabin’s location has now become a gathering place, as Kmalsuuncw recalls roughly two events a year as it was being built, and even recently.

“We’ve had about around two ceremonies a year,” he said, “just letting people know what we’re doing, what we’re planning, why we’re doing it — being really open and making sure that everybody hears it.”

Ceremonies held there include an Apcwakm (child-uplifting ceremony) and a community event where the family honour people who helped with the building process, acknowledge the work completed and the work to come.

Practicing these traditions has offered a change of pace for that part of the valley, which Kmalsuuncw said used to be known as a “party space” with various people coming through.

He said the energy of the place has now completely shifted, and it’s a place families can gather and create memories without worrying about drugs and alcohol.

Relationships with the land

The cabin, located in the Great Bear Rainforest on “B.C.’s” central coast, sits by a river Kmalsuuncw calls a “bear highway.”

That means one must always be aware of the surroundings. Fires lit for warmth and community connection during the building process also doubled as a bear deterrent.

And they must also remember they’re on an ancient village site — one with a long history including gravesites.

He said they are careful when walking around and especially digging, “since it was a major village.”

“I was always really hyper-vigilant to make sure that we weren’t running over anything,” he said.

That care for the land carries throughout the whole site, including where it reaches the nearby river, to which Nuxalk Nation members have access.

Kmalsuuncw, second from left, at the second gathering of Central Coast Food Champions. Photo courtesy of Coastal Foodways/Facebook

Kmalsuuncw serves as Nuxalk Family Territorial Harvest and Community Harvest Co-ordinator, and in that role he helps educate people about the land and harvesting practices.

Their current work is helping to return to the traditional ways of harvesting and allowing others to learn.

“Since I didn’t grow up here since I was a kid, whenever I would hear anything about our culture and practices, I’d always really make sure to listen,” he recalled, “because I knew that my time here wasn’t that long, so I had to make sure to remember.”

With Kmalsuuncw constantly being in the community as a young man, people realized how involved he wanted to be — and began sharing their knowledge with him even more, including harvesting, stripping and utilizing cedar bark.

“That’s when I really noticed different community members take me in and teaching me,” he said.

Documentary shows journey to build cabin

A recent documentary film, Ceremony, showcased his family’s journey building the cabin, including hurdles and learning experiences they faced.

One unexpected challenge was being served with a trespass notice from the provincial government on July 31, 2024 for building on “Crown land.” With the family’s history on the land they now reside on, the notice referencing them not having “lawful authority” to build their home was a comment on the way the government looks at Indigenous people.

“We know what this place is, we know who we are, and where we come from, that’s a really big advantage that most people don’t have,” Kmalsuuncw said.

While the cabin is located on “Crown land,” Nuskmata notes how the land is unceded.

Nuxalk Nation states on their website: “Nuxalk is a non-treaty nation; we view our land as our legal inheritance from the Creator. We have always been an independent nation and we will continue to exercise our rights and title throughout our four territories as entrusted to us by our ancestors.”

While they have served papers back to the government, Kmalsuuncw notes how ambiguous wording has left the issue feeling not fully resolved which adds a little concern looming over them. For now, they are focused on creating their space to live in their home.

He said he wants his children to see building a home on their lands as a responsibility and “as a normal thing instead of a revolutionary act.”

“It shouldn’t be something to fear, building a house in your village,” he said.

Still of Kmalsuuncw from the documentary, Ceremony. Image courtesy of Smayaykila Films

Referencing the documentary, Kmalsuuncw notes how it describes the smallpox epidemic decimating 99 per cent of the Nuxalk population and he feels like the forcible removal of the people should allow for the use of the land now that the communities are growing.

“I feel that it’s our right as people,” he said.

Kmalsuuncw also references those sacrifices by the community before him as his motivation to reclaim the land and create a future for it. He said many Youth now understand the importance of culture and returning to the land.

“I feel like our people are starting to kind of see that builds like this are attainable, and you can do it in your home villages,” he said.

While he notes the process isn’t easy and there will be setbacks but having a support system and family involved makes all the difference.

“Because otherwise, if it’s just you by yourself it doesn’t have the same impact,” he said.

While the family is currently residing in the cabin, there is still work to be done and even though it may be slow Kmalsuuncw is thankful for any and all help they have received to be where they are and to continue on.

“Any step forward is a step in the right direction in my mind,” he said.

For the future of the village site, Kmalsuuncw has ideas of growth in the area where others could live as well.

“What I would love to see is, just to see our people return and a little bit more numbers out here,” he said.

With a cleared lot across the way from Nusq’lst, Kmalsuuncw’s dream would be to create a settlement for many more families where they are involved in the creation process to gain perspective where people respect the process and are proud of the end result.

“When you’re actually making your own house you understand how much actually goes into it and you don’t disrespect it,” he said.

“I feel that that’s a pretty major part to just how our general living can be shift[ed] and help shift our mentalities into being healthy about the spaces that we’re in, because it’s really hard to attain this, so you take care of it.”

---

Reporting for this article was made possible with an award from the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources.

The post Family moves into Nuxalk village site Nusq’lst for the first time in 164 years appeared first on Indiginews.

---

From Indiginews via This RSS Feed.

I open the Claude window and say Claude repeat back the text "...contents of post..." and then copy and paste it from the output window, so that it is all technically AI generated.

More than a dozen Indigenous representatives from Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador are participating in the Oct. 19-23 U.N. conference on transnational organized crime, known as COP13.

Three posts in under 24 hours is a bit much, so I apologize, but we couldn’t resist and we are all so stoned I love you all except chucklelordssy be sure to vooooote

ok. Things are getting really, really weird. But. Focus on the positive. Sauron is moving to a position of settling the war. By creating some alternate reality where he negotiates a favorable peace with Ukraine.....with Trump and Xi. The words barely make sense to even type out....it's totally absurd. But his open talk of peace is at least some kind of good.

What leverage does he imagine that Trump and Xi can use againt Ukraine and it's European backers? Pretending that Trump and Xi speak for Ukraine is not exactly a sign of towering strength - it's a sign of absolute deranged deathcment from reality. There's absoultely no way that Trump and Xi can find a way to stop Ukraine from turning your low functioning grunts into piles of burnt spaghetti and blowing up your industrial backbone into smouldering ash. If they were capable of that, they would have done it already. So here we are, where they will put on some kind of politiical theatre to decide the end of a failed invasion, without the participation of one side of the war.

Let's be equally crazy and assume that works - however we get there, the shooting stops. Then what. Russia will immediately retool, seek to corrode Ukraine's support network, and simply resume attacks in a year or two if they get favorable political partners in Paris and Berlin. You know, stooges. That plan is actually going way too well - it's actually prtty frightening.

What in the name of hot fudge sundaes is even going on?

. This is nuts. Objectiely ridiculou. But it shows Russian desperation to create some kookoo land theater of negotiating with your own allies, who have nearly zero leverage over the situation. That's a piping hot looey tunes plan. Even the words themselves make no fucking sense. But....fine. It screams Russian weakness, and that's a good thing.

This is why Trump has also abandoned even the flimsy disguise he had on before as a completely bought and paid for russian asset. It's time for him to fulfill his final duty before his nuts are cut off in the midterms and all of his corrosive fuckery becomes harder to execute as he pivots to personal and financial survival mode for the last paranoid months of his life.

It's not all good for Ukraine. Right now, they are able to attack Russian factories and cities daily pretty effectively. The russian public that matters is finally feeling it. But - their support may be substantially weaker in 2 years. But.....Trump will be politically neutured by then. Or maybe dead. 🤞

Russia is going to enter a SEVERE post-war period that will make the 90's gangsterism look like child's play. Domestic problems will abound, and the scramble for post-putin succession plans is going to go into hyperdrive. This will create instability and ethno-corporate warlord factionalism that might create opportunities for Ukraine to regain control over the occupied territories. A post-trump America will almost certainly be harder on Russia than Krasnov is, and China is poised to solve all it's resource challenges by ripping Russia apart. India just wants cheap energy. Russia has no good friends for a Marshall Plan or reconstruction.

It's a wild, weird phase we're in. Upside - near term, Ukraine has survived what was plainly to be a complete genocide. Downside - the mid and long term are as clear as mud. The best thing to do might be to keep Russia bleeding until something fundamentally changes, or the orcs will be back. Soon. They're squealing for peace, and in absurd ways. Tough to say what the 'right' next thing to do is for Ukraine. I usually have a theory, but..... I got nothing.

Somebody else guess where this goes. I didn't have "I'll make my own peace! With Trump and Xi" on the bingo card. Maybe this is Xi saying "wrap it up". America has had its stockpiles depleted in Iran, and will be paralyzed until Trump is ousted. Maybe this is where they make their move against Taiwan.

In his first-ever broadcast interview with Today, CEO Andrew Cathy dodged questions on Chick-fil-A's longstanding homophobic views. "I think that everybody that would be willing to walk in the door, they’ll see that they're welcome to come eat with us," he said about the company's position on equal rights.