"Today"

Today looks at the state of the current state of people and environment in the community, and issues they are facing right now (at the time of the research). All indigenous communities are faced with a range of issues and pressures today, from demographic changes to climate change.  This chapter includes sections on People and the Environment, and then takes up three issues that members of the community point to as most critical.

As with the Native Place, Footprints and Memories chapters, the individual issues in this chapter will vary depending on what events are deemed most important by the community guides.

People considers population changes. In these times of greater mobility, many communities are affected both by in-migration and out-migration, both of which have impacts on the society and the land. Who is there now?  What is the make-up of the community, and what sort of dynamics does this bring about? What forces are at work to bring the community together, or to pull it apart? This page might also look at groups forming to address particular issues, or to preserve particular traditions.

Environment focuses on the state of the natural world, and the issues and challenges faced in terms of environmental management and the preservation of cultural uses—or not. Climate change, introduced species and other modern factors can have important impacts on the environment.

Issues 1-3: here we tease out the three top issues that come up in our conversations with the community members. These are on top of any issues brought up on the People and Environment pages, but can be more specifically focused on topics raised on those pages.

It is important to bear in mind that the perspectives on these issues are personal. Other people in the community may have different perspectives on them. As always, these stories should be considered starting points, not ending points, of discussion.

From here, we move to the present and the future in the final chapter, Onwards.