Today, our team at NPI is observ­ing two hol­i­days: Cana­di­an Thanks­giv­ing and Indige­nous Peo­ples Day, both of which fall on the sec­ond Mon­day in October.

Thanks­giv­ing, which is a quin­tes­sial North Amer­i­can hol­i­day, has been cel­e­brat­ed in Octo­ber in Cana­da for more than half a cen­tu­ry. In 1957, Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al Vin­cent Massey pro­claimed that Thanks­giv­ing ought to be observed on the sec­ond Mon­day of the tenth month of the year, and the date stuck.

Cana­di­an Thanks­giv­ing cel­e­brates the autumn har­vest and affords Cana­di­ans an oppor­tu­ni­ty to give thanks for the bless­ings they have enjoyed dur­ing the year.

“Thanks­giv­ing is a time to cel­e­brate the abun­dance of the fall har­vest with fam­i­ly and friends, and in our com­mu­ni­ties,” not­ed British Colum­bia Pre­mier John Hor­gan in a state­ment pro­vid­ed to the North­west Pro­gres­sive Institute.

“It’s when we come togeth­er and are thank­ful for the many bless­ings in our lives. It is also a time to reflect on, and help, those in need.”

“Our gov­ern­ment is putting peo­ple first and work­ing hard to make sure no one gets left behind. From deliv­er­ing afford­able hous­ing and child care, to expand­ing access to edu­ca­tion and train­ing, we are work­ing every day to pro­vide oppor­tu­ni­ties for all British Columbians.

“British Columbians are gen­er­ous by nature. It’s a part of who we are. Thank you to every per­son around B.C. who has vol­un­teered at a com­mu­ni­ty kitchen or made a dona­tion to their local food bank this week­end. You’ve helped make your com­mu­ni­ty a stronger and more wel­com­ing place.

“To every­one cel­e­brat­ing through­out the province, have a hap­py Thanksgiving!”

A Cana­di­an Thanks­giv­ing cen­ter­piece (Pho­to: Christo­pher Porter, repro­duced under a Cre­ative Com­mons license)

Cana­di­an Thanks­giv­ing is not a hol­i­day rec­og­nized by the Unit­ed States gov­ern­ment, but that does­n’t mean Amer­i­cans can’t keep it. If you ask us, the only thing bet­ter than Thanks­giv­ing is two Thanks­giv­ings! Every day is a good day to give thanks and enjoy a good meal in the com­pa­ny of fam­i­ly and friends.

Today, we are also cel­e­brat­ing Indige­nous Peo­ples Day, which is rec­og­nized by many juris­dic­tions in the Unit­ed States in place of Colum­bus Day.

“Wash­ing­to­ni­ans do not sup­port the geno­ci­dal lega­cy of Christo­pher Colum­bus,” not­ed Ever­green State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty Chair Tina Pod­lodows­ki in a mes­sage to Demo­c­ra­t­ic activists. She elab­o­rat­ed: “Our state has a rich his­to­ry of indige­nous cul­tures, and to observe today’s hol­i­day is dis­re­spect­ful to the Native lives that were lost after Colum­bus’ arrival in North America.”

“We should remain con­stant allies to our state’s indige­nous peo­ple — which, to me, means being inten­tion­al about con­demn­ing Colum­bus for ruth­less­ly destroy­ing indige­nous pop­u­la­tions in the south.”

“That’s why I hope that you will join me and our state par­ty in cel­e­brat­ing Indige­nous Peo­ples’ Day. We need to hon­or Native Amer­i­cans, both here in Wash­ing­ton and across the coun­try, today and every day.”

Com­mis­sion­er of Pub­lic Lands Hilary Franz agreed with that sentiment.

“In com­mem­o­ra­tion of this sacred day, let us hon­or the tribes that call Wash­ing­ton home and rec­og­nize their immea­sur­able con­tri­bu­tions to our state,” Franz said in a state­ment. “As the leader of the Wash­ing­ton State Depart­ment of Nat­ur­al Resources, I am proud to work along­side our state’s First Peo­ples to strength­en our forests and waters and pro­tect pre­cious species.”

“By tak­ing care of our land­scapes and water­ways, we help ensure that First Peo­ples are able to con­tin­ue cul­tur­al cus­toms and tra­di­tions that have been passed down through generations.”

Today is a great day to learn about the his­to­ry of Wash­ing­ton’s first peo­ples. Did you know there are a dozen trib­al muse­ums in Wash­ing­ton? Find the clos­est one to you by vis­it­ing the web­site of Gov­er­nor’s Office of Indi­an Affairs.

And, at the Wash­ing­ton Tribes web­site, you can learn more about each of the fed­er­al­ly rec­og­nized trib­al com­mu­ni­ties that have called this region home since time immemo­r­i­al. There are more than two dozen:

Wash­ing­ton state is home to twen­ty-nine fed­er­al­ly-rec­og­nized Indi­an tribes. Trib­al gov­ern­ments are improv­ing people’s lives, Indi­an and non-Indi­an alike, in com­mu­ni­ties from Neah Bay to Usk.

• Learn more about the eco­nom­ic impact of Wash­ing­ton Tribes in the new report: The Eco­nom­ic & Com­mu­ni­ty Ben­e­fits of Tribes in Wash­ing­ton.
• Look­ing for class­room mate­ri­als about Wash­ing­ton Tribes? Check out our 2018 Wash­ing­ton Indi­an Tribes Today news­pa­per insert.

Rev­enue from gam­ing and oth­er trib­al enter­pris­es is tax rev­enue for trib­al gov­ern­ments. The mon­ey is used to cre­ate jobs and busi­ness oppor­tu­ni­ties for all Washingtonians.

It helps pay for hous­ing, health care, pub­lic safe­ty, environmental/natural resource pro­grams and transportation.

As trib­al gam­ing mon­ey flows through the Wash­ing­ton econ­o­my, it gen­er­ates hun­dreds of mil­lions of dol­lars in tax rev­enues for local and state gov­ern­ment. Trib­al gov­ern­ments and their enter­pris­es are a major fac­tor in Washington’s econ­o­my today – gen­er­at­ing more than 30,000 jobs and invest­ing bil­lions of dol­lars in goods and ser­vices, and on cap­i­tal projects.

View a map of Wash­ing­ton’s fed­er­al­ly rec­og­nized tribes:

Each mark­er on the map above shows the loca­tion of a fed­er­al­ly rec­og­nized trib­al com­mu­ni­ty in Wash­ing­ton State (Cour­tesy of Wash­ing­ton Tribes)

Again, Hap­py Thanks­giv­ing and Indige­nous Peo­ples Day!