00:10i want to tell you a story today about
00:14i'm of mixed ancestry growing up in the
00:161980s in winnipeg in manitoba we would
00:19call that being a half-breed we don't
00:21use that language anymore
00:23but being of mixed ancestry growing up
00:24in the 80s i'm proud of it now back then
00:27it was not a good thing all that meant
00:28was that i had to fight with everybody
00:31but being of mixed ancestry my father's
00:34people are ojibwe metis from treaty 2 in
00:37manitoba mary and eg there's actually a
00:40street in winnipeg named after my
00:42grandparents i'm very proud of that
00:45and this is a story about those people
00:47and those communities long ago
00:50i'm told long ago that when it came time
00:52for people in that community to
00:54leave and go out hunting and looking for
00:57it would be the responsibility of
00:58somebody in that community to sound the
01:05as those hunters went off into the harsh
01:09and it was understood that if that
01:11drummer played in just the right way
01:14and if the hunters listened
01:16in just the right way in a good way
01:19no matter where they were in the
01:20manitoba landscape they would always
01:22know what direction home was
01:24no matter how cold it got how dark it
01:27was no matter how viciously the manitoba
01:29wind blew they would always be able to
01:31find their way back home by listening
01:33for the sound of that drum
01:37i suppose in the modern world we could
01:38receive a story like that in a number of
01:40different ways we could hear that and
01:42think that it's quaint
01:44we could hear that and think it's naive
01:47we could listen with respectful
01:51but i think there's another possibility
01:53and that possibility for me is found in
01:55the spirit and intent of reconciliation
01:59more specifically decolonization which
02:01is not the same thing
02:03but necessary for there to be
02:08i know that those words can be very
02:10scary i understand that let's slow down
02:12here let's gear down a little bit i know
02:14those words can be threatening they can
02:16sound intimidating for many people
02:19but i don't think it has to be that way
02:21i don't think that these have to be
02:23scary words in fact i think that they
02:24can be invitations for each and every
02:26one of us indigenous or otherwise
02:29to be a part of something good
02:32but we're going to have to come to some
02:34understandings first so let me speak
02:35about those two words first
02:38that's a difficult one there can be as
02:40many definitions about reconciliation as
02:43there are people trying to define it
02:46i would encourage you to not have too
02:48strong of opinion yet if you haven't had
02:49a chance to read the 94 calls to action
02:52of the truth and reconciliation
02:54commission which leads out a pathway of
02:58i also have to acknowledge that i have
03:00indigenous brothers and sisters who
03:01reject that term altogether
03:05it's very difficult to talk
03:07reconciliation when we continue to find
03:09the graves of our children in unmarked
03:10hidden places behind schools
03:14but i don't think that word has to be
03:15scary two things i believe to be true
03:18about it the first is this
03:19i truly believe that we wouldn't be
03:21talking about reconciliation as a
03:23concept socially here in canada
03:26i wouldn't be doing this presentation
03:30many of those little children would have
03:33if it hadn't been for the courage
03:38of residential school survivors
03:41that's what i believe
03:43if it hadn't been for survivors having
03:45the courage to share their stories
03:48stories that sometimes came with so much
03:53we know that when we experience hardship
03:55when we experience trauma sometimes the
03:57best we can do is lock it in a box and
03:59push it as far away as we possibly can
04:02don't think about it don't look at it
04:03it's a survival technique
04:06and yet these survivors had the courage
04:08to open that box up so that we could
04:10have an opportunity to talk about
04:11reconciliation as an indigenous person
04:14it makes me feel proud
04:15makes me stand up a little bit taller
04:17makes me feel grateful
04:20so that's the first thing i believe this
04:21is a gift given to us by survivors not
04:24that they did it for us not that they
04:25owe us anything at all but simply to
04:27acknowledge that we wouldn't have it if
04:32the second thing i believe to be true
04:33about that word is this
04:35and this one's going to be a little bit
04:36more difficult to understand i'll beg
04:39i don't think that reconciliation is
04:42something that we are doing out of pity
04:45for indigenous people here in canada
04:48in fact i kind of think the opposite
04:52i think that reconciliation is a gift
04:53that was given to us so that we you and
04:55i speaking to you as brothers and
04:58can be a part of healing this country
05:01to help canada be a better version of
05:03itself to leave behind a better nation
05:05for all of our children
05:09which leads me to that word
05:12if you want to upset a dinner party
05:14bring up the topic of decolonization
05:17there's a lot of big feelings attached
05:19to this now that's a word that can sound
05:22lots of misunderstanding about that term
05:24decolonization is about recognizing
05:27challenging and ultimately dismantling
05:30power structures that oppress the
05:34it's about recognizing those tools of
05:36oppression and exploitation that
05:38continue to harm people in our country
05:43oppression is legislated through
05:45something called the indian act
05:47that's a very curious piece of
05:48legislation that still exists today that
05:50has kept indigenous people from being
05:53able to fully experience vibrancy in
05:55this world that has been like a thumb on
05:57the well-being of indigenous communities
06:00there's a very famous activist a hero to
06:03many including myself named cindy
06:04blackstock and if you're watching this
06:07on a recording afterwards hit pause and
06:08go and find her first
06:13that here in canada we are the last
06:17in the so-called developed world in the
06:20so-called first world
06:22that enforces federal
06:26based on blood quanta
06:30we're the last country on earth that
06:33in the so-called civilized world every
06:35other nation on earth has given up on
06:37that sort of a practice dividing our
06:39citizens according to who their parents
06:41are and says here's a set of laws that
06:42apply to you and a set of laws that
06:44apply to everybody else
06:46in canada unfortunately systemic racism
06:52and so decolonization is about
06:54recognizing challenging and dismantling
06:57structures like that there is no healthy
06:59future for canada that sees the
07:01continuance of apartheid-like
07:06but i don't think the work of
07:07decolonization ends there
07:10i think decolonization is an opportunity
07:12for us to maybe look around at business
07:14as usual in canada and examine those
07:16tools of oppression and exploitation
07:22in fact i believe that the grand
07:24narrative of colonization in canada has
07:27unable to fully thrive the way we would
07:33now to explain that i'm going to have to
07:35talk about my other grandparents who
07:38i'm told that my mother's
07:41family came from ukraine and fled that
07:44country after world war one to escape
07:48this of course was before holotamor and
07:51ukrainian genocide at the hands of the
07:55i'm told that my grandparents like many
07:57europeans suffered in europe prior to
07:59coming to canada that the tools of
08:01exploitation and oppression were alive
08:03and well there long before being
08:05exported to colonized turtle island
08:09life was difficult for so many people
08:13that they risked the journey of fleeing
08:15across an ocean to find something
08:16different women weren't considered to be
08:20children were pushed into the
08:21machinations of the industrial
08:23revolution poor people were locked in
08:26prison for being poor
08:29when people fled that reality to come to
08:32a new place here unfortunately those
08:34same tools of oppression and
08:36exploitation were duplicated here
08:38the result of that was disastrous for
08:41indigenous people it was genocidal
08:44but the point i'm trying to make here is
08:45that the damage doesn't then end there
08:48that perhaps if we look around in the
08:50world around us we might find that there
08:52are still structures in place that
08:55we don't want to leave behind for our
09:00nowhere is that more evident i think
09:01than in our relationship with the living
09:05here in canada colonization was
09:07characterized by the taking of land of
09:09course decolonization is going to have
09:12to be about writing those historical
09:16but underneath those activities
09:17underneath that taking of land was a
09:21beliefs about extraction
09:28this belief that somehow as human beings
09:30were separate from the living world and
09:33rather than being delicate vulnerable
09:35pieces of a complex relationship of life
09:39those attitudes are going to have to be
09:41challenged if we move forward
09:43if we're going to leave behind a future
09:45for our children we're going to have to
09:46get to a place where we can begin to
09:48deconstruct some of those attitudes
09:50about the living world
09:56now when we think about challenging
09:57these attitudes i think that every
09:59single one of us in this audience can
10:01relate to feelings of wanting to see
10:02sustainability we want to see
10:04environmental change we all believe that
10:05i don't think that there are many cogent
10:08arguments left that are rational against
10:10fighting climate change but i think that
10:12many of us feel powerless
10:14there's got to be something more than
10:16just taking our recycling out to the
10:19we think about where things come from
10:20how things are made and it feels so
10:22overwhelming so quickly it's hard to
10:24know where to start i think many of us
10:30some of us may feel like what i'm saying
10:32my hopefulness is naive
10:34but those feelings of powerlessness
10:36those feelings of hopelessness i think
10:39are evidence of those very power
10:41structures that i was talking about
10:43those attitudes and beliefs that have
10:45remained unchallenged for so long
10:50attitudes and beliefs still so well
10:52entrenched that now today we're seeing
10:54the ultra wealthy build tools new tools
10:57of colonization now for different
11:00as if we haven't learned anything about
11:02living sustainably here over the last
11:04couple hundred years each pleasure
11:06cruise into space spewing poison into
11:09the air of those of us left behind i
11:10have to believe that we can do better
11:13and i believe that that hope for me is
11:15grounded in this idea of deconstructing
11:19those power structures around us within
11:22business as usual in canada that have
11:26been left unchallenged
11:33i was driving home from a wedding one
11:34night many years ago on a dark highway
11:37and i got a call from my mother
11:41that my cousin's husband
11:43corporal christopher cloat who served in
11:45the canadian military
11:47who was in a gun fight with the taliban
11:53when i got that call he was on a
11:54helicopter being flown from
11:57afghanistan to germany which are our
11:59closest allies with hospitals that could
12:01treat a wound like the one that he
12:04and we didn't know if he was going to
12:05survive and if he did survive if he
12:07would ever walk again
12:08and so my mom asked me to hurry home as
12:10quickly as i could because my family was
12:12going to gather in my grandmother's
12:16and so i rushed home with kilometers of
12:19highway disappearing behind me i pulled
12:21into winnipeg just before sunup and i
12:25church where my family was gathered and
12:27sat with them and prayed
12:29we each took turns going up and lighting
12:33with this hope of being able to see my
12:34cousin's husband again
12:40if any of us in that church literally
12:42believe that lighting those candles was
12:44going to save my cousin's life
12:48but i don't think that was the point
12:51i think the point was to come together
12:53to share in a moment of hope
12:55it was very scary not knowing if i was
12:57ever going to see him again for all of
12:59us i think that coming together and
13:01doing those actions was about creating a
13:08and i think that's what the sound of the
13:10in my other grandparents communities
13:13i come from winnipeg
13:15i know that the manitoba landscape can
13:16be very harsh it must have been very
13:18scary to see loved ones going out not
13:20knowing if they were going to make it
13:22i think the sound of that drum must have
13:24provided some comfort it must have
13:29and i think that many of us can relate
13:31to needing to feel hope
13:33when we can see each other
13:35in each other's stories
13:37we might find that there are teachings
13:39in those stories that might help us
13:43that perhaps through good relationship
13:44with one another we might find a pathway
13:46forward for all of our kids
