27/11/2025
Today, I honour the Native Americans of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and Siletz Indians..of Oregon.
The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians are the most diverse confederation of Tribes and Bands on a single reservation in the United States. Their ancestors spoke 10 different languages, each of which had multiple dialects.
Their ancestors brought with them deep connections to more than 20 million acres of ancestral territory combined, including all of Western Oregon from the summit of the Cascade mountains to the Pacific and extending into what’s now SW Washington State and northern California.
The Confeserated Tribes of Grand Ronde are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. They consist of at least 27 Native American tribes with long historical ties to present-day western Oregon between the western boundary of the Oregon Coast and the eastern boundary of the Cascade Range, and the northern boundary of southwestern Washington and the southern boundary of northern California. They spoke many different languages, but refined a creole language that became known as Chinook Wawa; and language being revived today
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I was privileged to provide health care services to members of these tribes a few years ago during the CoVid mania; and every day that I went to the reservation was a true honour and blessing. Their sacred land, and the sacred people are kind, beautiful, respectful people; who deserve so much from us. If you read their true history; would learn of their suffering, their land being stolen, their tribes members being killed; and the false promises made and stolen by the American government.
Today is not a day for giving thanks to a false pilgrim story. Today is a day to honour the truth; to mourn, to remember, and to offer our prayers in honour of the true Native Americans🙏🏼