It’s was a working vacation of sorts for the Chief of the Tsilhqot’in National Government.
While in Hawaii Joe Alphonse was asked to be the keynote speaker at a Maui People’s Climate Change Assembly.
“Our experience from the 2017 fires my community said no to evacuation orders, we stayed behind and fought. In our experiences after the fact it’s really important to look after ourselves in an Indigenous way that’s really what I was speaking specifically about.”
In August 2023, the Hawaiian community of Lahaina suffered the worst fire tragedy in modern U-S history where 102 people lost their lives and 22-hundred buildings were lost.
The TNG’s experience from the 2017 wildfires was seen as important to share with Hawaiian and U-S government senior officials as they look not only to rebuild Lahania but also prevent such tragedies from happening again.
Alphonse also held two sessions as part of the Maui Mayor’s Speakers Series on Sustainability.
“For the Hawaiian people there thinking about self government and self identifying as Indigenous people and then bringing that back to the larger circle to ensure that our voices are being heard was quite an experience even from my perspective learning from the Hawaiian’s as well.”
He also took time to learn about a social program that has been successful in supporting at risk youth and young men through reinforcing Hawaiian culture.
He was honored with a song by the young men and the hope there could be future exchanges to learn from one another.
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