I have so much to say on the recent forest fires and how they’re a direct consequence of colonialism and imperialism, but I will spare you from another doomsday-flavoured column and pick something more lighthearted – aliens!
David Grusch, a former US intelligence official, testified under oath during a House of Representatives committee hearing that the Pentagon has classified information about alien life and technology.
According to him, the Pentagon’s knowledge of extraterrestrial life goes beyond UFO sightings. US intelligence has – allegedly – recovered crashed spacecrafts and biological remains that are not of human origin. In addition to his shocking and bizarre testimony, Grusch added that the US military has even tried to reverse-engineer the recovered alien technology.
The Pentagon, not surprisingly, denied the claims. Even if it is true, state secrets are their thing, and they cannot discuss classified information.
Because we occupy a remote region, our people have many stories of UFO sightings and weird stuff in general, some of which were included in Ernie Webb’s documentary series, Indians and Aliens. Even our legends have mentions of other worlds, like the âtayohkân of Ehepikw, the spider that brought humans to Earth from another world on its silk thread.
According to Cree beliefs, we were the original aliens. The animals, which back then spoke a common language, welcomed us on their rock. There’s also the Cree belief that one of our two souls goes back to the stars when we die.
Even if we don’t rely on the sky as a navigating tool anymore because of modern technology, we still gaze at the stars. The Cree paranormal pages on Facebook are a testimony of our curiosity for the universe and its secrets.
Many community members have great UFO stories, especially Elders. Fortunately for us, oral tradition is alive and well, so ask your Elders about their favourite spooky sightings.
Grusch’s testimony at the House of Representatives feeds into a long-standing fascination for all things alien. Hillary Clinton campaigned on declassifying information about extraterrestrial life during the 2016 US presidential election and lawmakers are still advocating for intelligence entities to release information to the public. The US government is usually very slow to declassify documents, so things like Jeffrey Epstein’s client list and aliens remain a mystery.
Statistically speaking, it is unlikely that there are more advanced and intelligent life forms out there, because it takes a lot of factors to perfectly align for life forms to thrive on a planet – but it’s still possible. If aliens with powerful technology exist and that they visit us like Dave Grusch says, they probably laugh at us for believing in trickle-down economics and for destroying our planet.