In Lee Maracle’s lecture about the connection between violence against the Earth and violence against women, she argues that when we lose our connection to the earth, we also lose our connection with humanity, creating violence (as well as disease).

Maracle describes driving along the coast of Vancouver Island on the Highway of Tears, a region that gets two-hundred inches of rainfall every year but that experienced draught and describes that she was “broken with grief” at the sight of the vast deforestation that has taken place.  This region is not only damaged by deforestation, but also has the highest rate of suicides and violence against women, which Maracle argues is due to the loss of connection with the earth.  Lee Maracle discusses the loss of landscape that she and her people have experienced and extends this idea, to immigrants arriving in Canada as well as other regions which have experienced a change in landscape as a result of deforestation and development.

Maracle describes herself as a converted environmentalist and passionately discusses how important it is to keep our connection to the earth and also to care for it.  She maintains that if we think of our earth as our mother, this increases our commitment to the planet and to keep it well-kept and in good condition.  Lee Maracle describes our connection to the earth, to other humans, to the animals, and waters and focuses on the importance of our connection to these elements.  She also emphasizes the idea that as members of our greater human society, we are all connected to each other as siblings.  Here, she draws a similar parallel of that between humans and the earth, arguing that if we think of all humans as being related to us, this makes violence against them that much harder.

Although her main focus is on the connection between the violence against the earth and the violence against women, Maracle also discusses the importance of the use of language, an issue discussed in this section of our course.  She describes being told as a young mother that her handsome son would be a “lady killer” and “heart breaker” and how problematic this language is.  Having raised her son to love women and respect them, she was troubled by the fact that her son was hearing and eating up these words as a young child.  This highlights the importance of discourse and how impactful this is not only in society, but particularly to youth.  She also discusses the importance of stories, and talks about the importance of stories within her culture and the importance of the lessons to be learned from these stories.

Intersectionality is a key component of this discussion, relating power, discourse, settlement, the environment, social norms, differences in social class and ethnicity to violence.