In Kahnawake culture, we have Kanien'kehá:ka onkwawén:na raotitióhkwa: “words before all else”. I'm sure you've heard it in different forums. You've heard either chiefs or elders, or even young people who are starting to be able to speak in these public forums, recite these words: Kanien'kehá:ka onkwawén:na raotitióhkwa. This translates to “words before all else”; it matters before all else.
Before we begin our days, before we begin meetings, we have to bring our minds as one. We all have to think together. I am trying to translate it in my head. It's very hard to translate. I have three languages in my head. We first give thanks to mother earth. We give thanks for everything she has given us: for giving the land that we walk on; for allowing the plants to grow from her; for having the waters. We give thanks for the waters, for the fish and the waters. We give thanks for the trees, the animals, and all living beings. It goes down to insects. It goes down to the roots. It goes up to the winds that bring the seeds of change and whatnot.
All of this is to say that our roles and responsibilities as humans are to coexist with all of these living beings and that we are not superseding them. We are not paramount. We are equal to all of these different beings. We are equally important.
In my teachings, when it comes to hunting and harvesting, the Creator has given those animals for us to be able to sustain ourselves. When it comes to a hunter seeing a deer or a harvester seeing medicines, the teaching is “don't pick the first one”. For medicines, you know that it's because that might be the last one. You wait until you see a few more so that you know you're not picking the last one. That's a sustainable practice, because we know that if we pick the last one, it's gone. It's the same thing for hunting. We know that it's very hard to hunt. Sometimes it takes hours and sometimes it takes days until that deer presents itself or the moose presents itself, and then you are finally able to harvest that animal to feed your family for sustenance.
You have to understand that there have been a lot of changes to the way that we conduct ourselves. Sometimes others are not hunters and families are not hunters, so there are hunters who go out to hunt for other families. We share those kinds of sustenance. We share those protocols. We share those understandings.
I hope I'm answering your question, because I can go on forever about this.