The Save the Confluence Families gave a report about Grand Canyon Escalade to the Navajo Nation Council’s Naa’bik’iyati’ (one who discusses issues) Committee Friday, June 13, 2014. Here is an excerpt from a presentation by Delores Aguirre.
“We are here today to ask you as our leaders to give this decision back to the people of Southern Bodaway. Give the people a chance to determine what they want on the land instead of developers, strangers we do not know.
I am asking you to speak for the people, make a difference here. Put a stop to this nonsense Shi Naat’aanii, my leaders. We ask you to reject the Grand Canyon Escalade because it tore Bodaway/Gap relatives apart.
We respectfully ask you to return the major decision, whether to develop or not develop, back to the stakeholders. We ask you to Save the Confluence and its people, who have been trying to make a home there since they were exiled. Help them rebuild their homes.
Bring all stakeholders back who oppose and see what they want. Everyone knows who lives there, it’s not just thirty people, it’s more than two generations. The elders are leaving but the children and grandchildren are still here. It’s been a long hard journey and we have suffered enough.”
We want justice, we want to be heard and we want protection for sacred sites. Ahe’heeh, thank you.”
Watch the video of Aguirre’s presentation: