Tokitae Totem Pole Journey
In the winter and spring of 2018, Master Carver Jewell Praying Wolf James and the Lummi House of Tears Carvers, carved a Totem Pole to tell the story of Tokitae and of a family who have become the iconic image of the Salish Sea. On May 9, 2018, the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship was privileged to host a blessing ceremony for the Tokitae Totem Pole and sent it on its journey, a journey that would see blessing events in cities across the country through to Miami, Florida as part of its Salish Sea Campaign. The Totem Pole is carved in the representation of a female killer whale and her two children.
The hope has been, to raise awareness of Tokitae’s story and her plight, as well as that of the remaining Southern Resident Orcas. The Journey has been about the trauma and resilience of Tokitae and about the importance of her return home to waters of the Salish Sea. It is about the critical nature of restoring, protecting and preserving the Salish Sea. It’s about Tokitae’s healing and being reunited with her mother and family for whom she still calls out nightly and whose songs she still remembers.
Tokitae represents a strengthening and healing in body and spirit for her, for all of us, and for the sacred and endangered waters of the Salish Sea. Her rescue, rehabilitation, and reunion represents, to share the Lummi language, our shared Xa xalh Xechnging (“our sacred obligation”) to honor qw’e lh’ol mèchen (“killer whale”), to rescue and rehabilitate the Salish Sea, reunite us with a healthy and vibrant Xwullmy (“Salish Sea”), and demonstrates the difference uniting diverse communities, groups and organizations can make against even the most formidable opponents.
The Story of Tokitae and the Southern Resident Orcas can be followed at “Our Sacred Sea: For A Living Salish Sea” website by Lummi Nation.
Also, to trace where the Journey has been and where it will be going next, follow it on its Facebook page “Our Shared Responsibility: A Totem Pole Journey.”
Additional resources for information on bringing Tokitae home:
A Native American tribe demands the return of its spiritual relative — an orca
2nd Call for Support: Bring Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut Home!
Netse Mot: Support Lummi Nation and Xw’ullemy (the Salish Sea)
2nd Call for Support: Bring Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut Home!
Have you?
Netse Mot: Bringing Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut Home!
Netse Mot 2021-Call to bring Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut Home
2021 will focus on the return of Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut (Tokitae/Lolita) to the Pacific Northwest from Miami Seaquarim in Florida. In the 1970s Southern Resident Orca youth were forcibly and violently taken from their pods and shipped out to aquariums and parks all over the world. Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut (Tokitae/Lolita) was taken to Miami Seaquarium where she is the last surviving Orca youth taken. Lummi Nation has been trying for decades now to have her returned but Miami Seaquarim is refusing to release her. In 2019, two Lummi women, Squil-le-he-le and Mah Tahs working with Earth Law Center, invoked the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and announced their intent to sue Miami Seaquarium if the Seaquarium. To date (April 2021), Miami Seaquarim is still refusing to release Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut. Squil-le-he-le and Mah Tahs are calling upon us to respond as well.- For individuals, they are asking that we sign the petition established by Earth Law Center that is collecting signatures to go to Miami Seaquarim and its parent and affiliates—Palace Entertainment and Parques Reunidos Servicios Centrales SA.
- For groups and organizations, they are asking that we sign a request to Governor's Inslee (WA) and Brown (OR) and BC Premier John Horgan to sign a proclamation to support the efforts to bring her home. Please sign by 24 May 2021. We'd like to present it to the Governors in June during Orca Action Month.
- We are also being asked to reach out to other Indigenous connections we may have and invite them to sign the Indigenous Statement of Solidarity. The request also includes a video of ceremonies in solidarity. If you have connections with an Indigenous group, please ask them to contact Julie at info@sacredsea.org.
Bring Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut Home!
Special Alert!
Bring Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut Home!
A sacred request from
Squil-le-he-le (Raynell Morris) and
Tah-Mahs (Ellie Kinley)
"Our Lhaq'temish [Lummi] people have had a special relationship with our killer whales since time immemorial. We know them as qwe’lhol’mechen, which means “people under the water.” Our stories tell of intermarriage and kinship between our Lhaq'temish people and a local qwe’lhol’mechen clan we know as Sk’aliCh’elh.
Fifty years ago, as our own children were being stolen and sent to boarding schools, one of the Sk’aliCh’elh children was stolen and sold to the Miami Seaquarium. We call this orca whale “Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut,” which means daughter of Sk’aliCh’elh. She is our Lhaq'temish daughter, too. She has been held in a small concrete tank and forced to perform for her food since 1970.
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People recognizes and uphold our rights to our culture, our spirituality, our families. In order for our Lhaq'temish culture, spirituality, and family to be whole, we must bring Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut home. We are working with the world’s top scientists and experts on how to do this responsibly. We have a plan, but we do not yet have Miami Seaquarium’s agreement to release her into our care.
We are asking all individuals to sign our Petition, as put forth by our partners at the Earth Law Center."
Hy’shqe,
Squil-le-he-le (Raynell Morris)
Tah-Mahs (Ellie Kinley)
Enrolled members of Lummi Nation
Please pass this onto family, friends, allies and partners. Ask them to sign the petition. It is believed that an overwhelming show of support, Miami Seaquarium’s parent companies might do the right thing and allow the Lhaq'temish people to bring their relation home to the Salish Sea, where they and her orca family await her.
For more information, check the links below:
Links:
- Ceremonies for Ska’liCh’elh-tenaut Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Ceremonies-for-Skalichelh-tenaut-111624844000057
- SacredSea.org Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut page: https://sacredsea.org/skalichelhtenaut/
- Petition link: https://www.change.org/p/miami-seaquarium-free-endangered-orca-held-captive-at-miami-seaquarium-for-50-years
- SacredSea YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0qWShmGWtn3HPU-cpWj81Q
Seaquarim's Shame: Episode 1 - Tokitae
Something is wrong at Miami Seaquarium.. They have been keeping an orca who doesn’t belong to them for over 50 years. A produce salesman turned vegan activist fights for over a decade on the street corner in front of Miami Seaquarium, turning away thousands of cars. A new legal fight launches in 2020 headed by The Lummi Nation of the Pacific North West. Still: 19,785 days later Lolita the whale remains alone in the smallest tank in the world. Episode 1: Tokitae
Listen here.
Tribe returns to Seaquarium for annual quest to bring whale home
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. – Many believe that Lolita, the whale that the Lummi Nation knows as Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, is finally getting a much-needed break as the Miami Seaquarium has been closed to visitors since March because of COVID-19.
This is the longest she’s gone without performing and Thursday marked 50 years to the day that a baby 4-year-old orca was bought to the Seaquarium after being forcibly taken from her family and sold here.
Tribal elders from the Lummi Nation, the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest, were here in South Florida outside the seaquarium in a peaceful protest to continue their quest to liberate Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut. They came in prayer to mark, what is for them, a somber anniversary.
Read more here.