Nichole is a member of the Anishinaabek Caucus which acts to promote the interests and concerns of the Anishinaabek people. This June, she and other tribal members were invited to present at both the Senate and House Natural Resources Committee hearings, on Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
Working with legislators, Nichole and others were instrumental in the development of a 6-bill package introduced in late June, the ‘Michigan Indigenous Culture and Heritage Package’.
The caucus will hold a Lobby Day for the “MICH” package on Thursday, September 21, followed by a Pow-Wow at the State Capitol on September 22. Details about the event are here .
She also talked about the importance of younger people speaking out, including her 9 and 14 year old children, who often speak during public comment at monthly Natural Resources Committee hearings. Their voices are important, Nichole says, “because you’re not going to make a good decision if you are not thinking about everyone it’s going to effect. … I don’t tell them what to say. I tell them what’s on the agenda. And I let [them] know why it’s important that they hear from [them].”
our fates are intertwined with Ma’iingan [wolf]… We aren’t the main character, we aren’t the only character. We aren’t the ones who are in this place of dominion. …
Nichole Keway Biber, Lunch + Legislation, August 7, 2023
Our language was never a written language. … What’s spoken of is what you’re experiencing together at that particular moment, in that particular place. Quite a difference from a language like English … where the definition of something … and the policy … [i]s separate from what’s being experienced.