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"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."
~Nelson Mandela~ "Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man made and can be removed by the actions of human beings." ~Nelson Mandela~ |
I couldn't decide which quotation I like better, so I used both.
I recently found myself in a challenging conversation regarding Indigenous communities. The other party involved took the stance that if an individual living on a reserve wanted a better quality of life, they should just move south. I was absolutely blown away by the over-simplification of such a complex matter and complete ignorance towards a culture and the oppressive history of Canada.
I cannot claim that I am perfect or know everything about a culture which isn't mine, but I do try to keep an open mind, educate myself, put myself in the shoes of others and stay empathetic. In my opinion, one who does not do such things, does not deserve to have such black and white opinions.
Below is a list of resources that have been valuable to me, and will hopefully be of value to others in their journey of educating themselves on the history and experiences of Indigenous peoples in Canada.
I recently found myself in a challenging conversation regarding Indigenous communities. The other party involved took the stance that if an individual living on a reserve wanted a better quality of life, they should just move south. I was absolutely blown away by the over-simplification of such a complex matter and complete ignorance towards a culture and the oppressive history of Canada.
I cannot claim that I am perfect or know everything about a culture which isn't mine, but I do try to keep an open mind, educate myself, put myself in the shoes of others and stay empathetic. In my opinion, one who does not do such things, does not deserve to have such black and white opinions.
Below is a list of resources that have been valuable to me, and will hopefully be of value to others in their journey of educating themselves on the history and experiences of Indigenous peoples in Canada.
When I was in grade 7, we watched a full length film about a young Kainai girl who was captured and taken away to a residential school in the 1930s. The brutality conveyed in this movie sticks with me, and helps me to better understand the tragedy and genocide caused by the residential school system.
More recently, I learned of the story of Chanie Wenjack. My learning was prompted by the publication of Gord Downie's book The Secret Path.
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In 2010, my sister and I worked as teachers in Summer Beaver, Ontario. We are so fortunate to have had this experience and to have been welcomed into the community. We truly enjoyed and appreciated learning about the Oji-Cree culture and being welcomed to learn their traditional crafts like beading, participate in cultural activities like building quinzhee, and share collective experiences with the community whether at festivals and celebrations or in mourning. We enjoyed seeing the most amazing sunsets, that one would never see here, and the night sky without light pollution opening to the northern lights.
We cherish memories of our comfortable routine in Summer Beaver. Memories of free time spent walking the shoreline, visiting friends in the community or participating in rummage sales and volleyball tournaments. However, it's easy to romanticize the memories of the community in moments of nostalgia. It's important to identify the daily and ongoing hardships we learned and observed of living in a fly-in community.
Members of this, and many fly-in communities, are forced to make do with undrinkable water, sometimes no plumbing, unreliable hydro (or no hydro at all), astronomical costs for food, often poor housing, harsh winters, few jobs opportunities, youth suicide, limited access to mental health resources, and resource challenges associated with having to fly in and out for basic things like medical attention. Access to seeing a dentist or doctor are restricted to either flying out of the community or waiting for one to be scheduled to come in. (Even in the school, we went weeks without a working photocopier while we waited for a technician to be scheduled to fly in and fix the machine.) And of course, at times, when weather delayed flights or fuel transport via the winter road, the community generator would run out of fuel, meaning the school would have no heat and force a multi-day school closure.
There were so many complications that came with living remotely, and it was quite a learning curve to acclimatize to the reality of life there. And we were privileged, because sadly, in order to keep teachers in the community, they provided us with better conditions than their own community members. School staff had homes with running water (which we boiled because the community was on (and remains to be on) a boil water advisory). Sometimes teachers were even provided with free jugs of clean water. We were even given better and more spacious housing accommodations than most of the community members. We learned to live with no gas/electric heating and only a wood stove; we would wake up to a cold house and have to build a fire, walk home at lunch to rebuild, and rebuild again at the end of the work day. But we only did this for a year, without children or elders to care for, and only ourselves to worry about. We even had our wood supplied for us by the Education Authority; on Saturdays a staff member would drop a truck load of logs at our door for us to stack and split. We adjusted and enjoyed what we can look back on as an "adventurous" year, but to those in the community, this is their life and there are no free jugs of water, competitive salary, and wood deliveries.
At the end of the school year, my sister and I chose to return to the comforts of our community in the GTA. We are fortunate that the place we call home has municipal clean water, several heating options, easy access to affordable stores, job opportunities, higher education, entertainment, health care, and so much more. To suggest that Indigenous community members should move elsewhere to access these essentials is completely ignorant to their human rights and to the importance of ones' community. Fly-in communities need to be supported and invested in so that their members can access life essentials within their community, in the comfort of their home, surrounded in the comforts of their culture. It's easy to take for granted the things that we have, and it's too easy to forget that so many people right here in Canada (the original dwellers of this land) are deprived of some of the basic necessities.
We cherish memories of our comfortable routine in Summer Beaver. Memories of free time spent walking the shoreline, visiting friends in the community or participating in rummage sales and volleyball tournaments. However, it's easy to romanticize the memories of the community in moments of nostalgia. It's important to identify the daily and ongoing hardships we learned and observed of living in a fly-in community.
Members of this, and many fly-in communities, are forced to make do with undrinkable water, sometimes no plumbing, unreliable hydro (or no hydro at all), astronomical costs for food, often poor housing, harsh winters, few jobs opportunities, youth suicide, limited access to mental health resources, and resource challenges associated with having to fly in and out for basic things like medical attention. Access to seeing a dentist or doctor are restricted to either flying out of the community or waiting for one to be scheduled to come in. (Even in the school, we went weeks without a working photocopier while we waited for a technician to be scheduled to fly in and fix the machine.) And of course, at times, when weather delayed flights or fuel transport via the winter road, the community generator would run out of fuel, meaning the school would have no heat and force a multi-day school closure.
There were so many complications that came with living remotely, and it was quite a learning curve to acclimatize to the reality of life there. And we were privileged, because sadly, in order to keep teachers in the community, they provided us with better conditions than their own community members. School staff had homes with running water (which we boiled because the community was on (and remains to be on) a boil water advisory). Sometimes teachers were even provided with free jugs of clean water. We were even given better and more spacious housing accommodations than most of the community members. We learned to live with no gas/electric heating and only a wood stove; we would wake up to a cold house and have to build a fire, walk home at lunch to rebuild, and rebuild again at the end of the work day. But we only did this for a year, without children or elders to care for, and only ourselves to worry about. We even had our wood supplied for us by the Education Authority; on Saturdays a staff member would drop a truck load of logs at our door for us to stack and split. We adjusted and enjoyed what we can look back on as an "adventurous" year, but to those in the community, this is their life and there are no free jugs of water, competitive salary, and wood deliveries.
At the end of the school year, my sister and I chose to return to the comforts of our community in the GTA. We are fortunate that the place we call home has municipal clean water, several heating options, easy access to affordable stores, job opportunities, higher education, entertainment, health care, and so much more. To suggest that Indigenous community members should move elsewhere to access these essentials is completely ignorant to their human rights and to the importance of ones' community. Fly-in communities need to be supported and invested in so that their members can access life essentials within their community, in the comfort of their home, surrounded in the comforts of their culture. It's easy to take for granted the things that we have, and it's too easy to forget that so many people right here in Canada (the original dwellers of this land) are deprived of some of the basic necessities.
While researching online to try to find some information about the Oji-Cree language, I stumbled across this write's essay. I think she presents her time in Kingfisher Lake First Nation in a realistic light, including some humor and life lessons.
Check out the essay here:
https://www.cbc.ca/2017/as-a-non-indigenous-student-of-oji-cree-i-learned-much-more-than-a-language-1.4342357
Check out the essay here:
https://www.cbc.ca/2017/as-a-non-indigenous-student-of-oji-cree-i-learned-much-more-than-a-language-1.4342357
As we are aware, Canada is a bilingual country. Children at school are taught both English and French and, here in Ontario, have the opportunity to attend French immersion schools. However, little attention is paid to Canada's true roots and Aboriginal languages. I think more light needs to be shed on these languages, and respect paid where respect is deserved.
Check out just a few Oji-Cree words and phrases here:
www.lakeheadschools.ca/aboriginal-education/anishinaabemowin-words-phrases/
Check out just a few Oji-Cree words and phrases here:
www.lakeheadschools.ca/aboriginal-education/anishinaabemowin-words-phrases/
One of my past students has since taken up photography. He has become a reputable photographer with work featured in various magazines and galleries. He shares the beauty of the land while often adding his own "dream like" spin. With so many unfortunate circumstances affecting life in northern communities, Andy Beaver does a spectacular job at depicting a beauty that we in the south would not get to experience otherwise.
When my sister and I started this initiative to help supplement northern communities with warm winter clothing and essentials, we were unaware that several other people have already taken on a similar endeavour.
Helping our Northern Neighbours was started in 2014 and aids in sending food and clothing to communities northern Canada, where the price for such goods can be 20x the cost of what it is here.
Toques to Toes supports Indigenous communities in Nunavut by improving access to warm clothing & basic supplies.
Helping our Northern Neighbours was started in 2014 and aids in sending food and clothing to communities northern Canada, where the price for such goods can be 20x the cost of what it is here.
Toques to Toes supports Indigenous communities in Nunavut by improving access to warm clothing & basic supplies.
I recently received an email from Canada Post and was pleased to see that they have developed an Indigenous and Northern Reconciliation Strategy. I've posted the video below that explains the strategy and implementation.
Additionally, I was impressed to see that Canada Post also offers rewards for Indigenous students returning to education. I hope the awareness of this program is more wide spread in Indigenous communities.