2 Don'ts & a Do (for Those Attempting Reconciliation Work)

If there's one thing that any Indigenous person will tell you if they are in working in the realm of reconciliation and working with non Indigenous people, I know this because we comment on this and laugh about it all the time, is how often non Indigenous participants, audience members, whatever, will ask us for the 10 steps to reconciliation. They want the checklist, they want the to do list. And I get it, I get it. We all have incredibly busy lives and could you just tell me what to do? I'm happy to do the steps. Just tell me. Problem. There are no 10 steps. Indigenous peoples, Indigenous communities are multifaceted. They're one nation is incredibly different from another. Customs and traditions are different. So I'm not going to mislead you to believe that there are 10 steps. But every now and then I can come up with what I call a guiding principle. If you just keep this in the back of your mind, you're going to be on safer ground. There's less chance you're going to offend someone. Still probably going to do it, but safer ground. Today I came up with two don'ts and a do. Yes, based on comments from my Buffy Saint Marie video. So let's talk about it. Hi, everybody. My name is Andy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River first nation in Treaty 3 territory in Northern Ontario. I have dedicated my life time, energy, passion to Canadian Indigenous reconciliation for the last 15 years. For eight years, I worked solely in First Nation communities, helping our people to heal, to remember our resilience and even the strength of our teachings. Then seven, eight years ago, I started working with non Indigenous Canadians, realizing I had to balance the. The feather that there was work to be done on both sides and to believe that only the Indigenous need training is part of the problem. So that led me to my YouTube channel, that led me to a lot of my seminars and workshops and keynote speeches. Just helping build the bridge across the divide, helping to replace stereotype with facts and information. And I love the work I do. Problematic people don't come to my seminars. Amazing non Indigenous people who are confused, who are just looking for a safe space to be able to say, I don't understand. That's who I get to work with. And I am happy to create that safe space for them. But YouTube is a different animal because anyone can bop in and anyone can say what they want. And I find the comments, sometimes they're upsetting, not going to lie when a troll shows up, but often they're an educational opportunity. I learn either what I need to include in future seminars or something I need to be way more clear when I explain it. And that's what brings me into the principles. So some of the principles you've heard me talk about time and time again, the back to back principle, understanding that you do not see the whole picture, which of course ties into the humility teaching that indigenous people are just going to see the world differently than you are going to see this project differently. And by listening to them, not to correct them, but to be able to see the full vision is going to be to your advantage. Another principle that I use often is that humility builds bridges, ego burns them. So again, you're going to hear me talk about humility on a regular basis because based on a conversation I had yesterday, it's becoming clear to me that for reconciliation to work, it's often going to require non indigenous to slow their jets a little bit that non indigenous are so used to just saying what they want to say or, or just that privilege oozing out of every pore that they don't realize. Maybe step back a sec, just, just think about it before you say it and we can actually build a bridge. So adding to those principles, we're going to do today's don't, don't and do. And I'm commenting on this because yes, a comment on a recent video reminded me of it, but it happens a lot. This is not rare. So the first thing that you should never, ever, ever, ever do. I haven't done one of these videos in a long time. Don't ever, ever, ever comment on a conversation or a video or a post on social media starting out with well I know nothing but. And then go into a big long explanation of what you think you know or the assumptions you're making. The truest part of that offering you're sharing is the I don't know part. So if you're going to acknowledge that you don't know, this is that backing up bit. Two things. One, if you don't know, maybe you should be hitting Google before you hit reply. Go find out some things first. You can come back and ask about what you found out, but you've already acknowledged you don't have the view back to back teaching. So maybe you should get some information. The other thing you have to keep in mind is even if you do the research, what makes you think that the reply can fit in the reply box? What makes you think that the nuanced, multifaceted shared history between Canada and Indigenous people Living within Canadian borders is simplistic. If it's simplistic, we would have solved it a long time ago. So think twice about what you just blurred out. If you want to know that maybe asking a creator on YouTube isn't the answer, do the research first. Come back for clarity. I read this. Does that make sense to you? Keeping in mind chances are depending on your source, unless you make a point of finding an indigenous source for your research, chances are really good it's a non indigenous source. So asking clarity in that case would make sense. But how about we make sure that the answers we ask can be answered in less than 20 sentences? I don't think that's too much to ask. Next. Oh, this one. I realize this is so new for non indigenous people. Many non indigenous people, especially if you're just new to trying to work with indigenous people, you have to resist trying to put indigenous peoples, indigenous customs, indigenous practices into European boxes. And what I mean by that is I mentioned something in an email with a friend the other day and he came back with the European equivalence and asking me if that's where I got it from. No, that is not where I got it from. Similarities doesn't mean that was the root. And what I need you. This is where you put ego down. You have to realize that European rooted teachings aren't the only teachings. Now, what sparked this for me? Are you ready? I got called a communist. What? So big long comment. Because of future comments after that, this person has now been removed from my channel. So you're not going to find the comment. But yeah, based on a few things you've said, I'm going to assume you're a communist. We all know what assume means, right? Okay. What? And I came back at that point with no, I'm an Anishinaabe traditionalist. I follow my teachings. Again, similarities doesn't mean the same route. Actually, similarities are kind of nice as far as burning or building bridges, right? Not burning them, building them. So no, I'm not a communist because we believe in taking care of everyone in our community and that no one is left behind. We don't let people starve. There's a lot of people that believe that they're not communists. Maybe some are. I'm not. So stop. Stop with the European references if it. Honestly, I was going to say if it brings you some comfort to find a European similarity, go for it. But I'd rather you didn't. Because if that similarity is going to lead you to believe that as long as you study communism, you're going to understand Indigenous people, you're going down the wrong path. Be okay with learning something new. If you don't and do not assume, then in Anishinaabe teachings, Indigenous teachings of the Ojibwe people are the same as the Indigenous teachings of Coast Salish people in BC or Mi' Kmaq on the East Coast. Quit assuming. Just accept. Consider it. Think about it. Add to your knowledge. That doesn't mean you're gonna appropriate it and use it as your own. You're learning about us, right? Last but not least, and the last one. If I could get people to do this, I'd be so incredibly happy. So what? It's assumptions. I guess we're going to take out assumptions here. A lot of people, a lot. I'm not going to try to guess a percentage less than there used to be. I hope will look at a First Nation community or the poverty of a First nations family, whatever the case may be, and make assumptions about why they're that way. And of course, often they're the really negative stereotype assumptions where we like poverty, we're welfare bums, we just want to be a drain on the Canadian coffers, all that garbage. Don't go there. What I want you to do here is, and this time I'm actually going to give you a question you can ask yourself. I'm going to be really nice to you. The question is, if the stereotype isn't true, what could have caused this to happen? If the stereotype isn't true, what could have caused this to happen? If the stereotype that all Indigenous people are lazy isn't true, then how could this community have ended up so impoverished? Then go do your research. If the stereotype that all Indigenous people are addicts is not true, then why is my friend suffering so much? Maybe have a conversation. What you have to do is understand stereotypes aren't true. By the way, we have a hundred stereotypes about non indigenous people too. And yes, I had to unpack those to be able to do this work. We've been trying to work with non indigenous people since you got here. Just trying to get you to meet us in the middle of the bridge. So don't say, well, I don't know anything but and launch into some big thing. Don't try to put us in a European box just because that's your comfort zone. That would be assimilation. And do ask yourself if the stereotype wasn't true or isn't true. What do I think is causing this? What could be causing this? If you could do those things. We are getting so much closer to building the bridge. I hope that helped. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye.