This interview with Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun Lets’lo:tseltun was originally recorded in August of 2016. The conversation took place in the midst of Yuxwelptun Lets’lo:tseltun’s exhibition Unceded Territories, at the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia. Yuxwelptun Lets’lo:tseltun is of Coast Salish and Okanagan descent, and believes these, and all First Nations/North American Indigenous tribes and peoples should be, and already are, in many ways, independent of the countries the U.S.A. and Canada, which emerged from colonial activities and, in many rights, became colonial powers themselves. Looking back, we can see, based on the behaviors oligarchs like Zuckerburg, Trump, and especially Musk (with his recent salute), that even electric cars can be corrupted, but the energy Yuxwelptun Lets’lo:tseltun brought to the interview, opposed to colonial, extractive policies and behaviors, continues to be vital. He was so impassioned, in fact, that he passed on an introduction and skipped right into the meat of it. The introduction that would have been read is as follows:

In June of 2014 the Vancouver city council unanimously voted to acknowledge that the city is on unceded Aboriginal territory. The motion from the city said:

Underlying all other truths spoken during the Year of Reconciliation is the truth that the modern city of Vancouver was founded on the traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations and that these territories were never ceded through treaty, war or surrender…” The city said that it will work with representatives from the Aboriginal community to determine “appropriate protocols” for conducting city business.

https://globalnews.ca/news/1416321/city-of-vancouver-formally-declares-city-is-on-unceded-aborginal-territory/

Unceded Territories is the name of an exhibit at the University of British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology featuring the work of Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, an internationally-known artist of Coast Salish and Cowichan descent. A graduate of the Emily Carr College of Art and Design, Yuxweluptun, who says he was “trained as a politician and became an artist” has over 60 pieces in the exhibition that feature bright color, neo-surrealism, Coastal Salish tropes such as the ovoid used in a new way, and a political content that is fierce but also features a vibrant sense of play. Lawrence, welcome.