A Clear 6-Step Reconciliation Action Plan That YOU Can Start on Today!

Good morning, you absolutely amazing person, you. Good morning, good evening, good afternoon, good night. Whatever time you're watching this, I thought I would finish off the week. Yes, I'm back in my office. I got company here. I thought I would finish off the week with discussing balancing the feather and how important that is. And if you followed my work for any length of time, you know that's a phrase I use often. The feather. Feather teaching of how one side of the feather represents Indigenous people living within Canadian borders and the other side represents non Indigenous Canadians. And how for the longest time the focus was on training one side of the feather with no corresponding training on the other side. Now, for the last, like, I've been in business for 15 years and I fell into that trap too, for the first time. Seven years of my career in business, I only worked with First Nation communities and agencies. And about eight years ago, I started working with non Indigenous entities as well. Hospitals, universities, colleges, municipalities, name it, I've probably been there. I've been in a jail doing a presentation. So literally, I've probably been there. And when I started working with non Indigenous entities, I realized quite quickly that I was finally balancing the feather, that both sides needed healing and support and information if we were ever going to fly to the heights that we want Canada to reach. So today I have some advice on what you can do depending on what side of the feather you're on. So let's talk about it. So if you're in your First Nation community. Oh, before I start. Hi, my name is Sandy Bouget. Mishko Paganong, Queen, addition across. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River first nation in Treaty 3 territory in Northern Ontario. And as I said today, we're going to focus on what can you do. So for the Indigenous that may be watching this video, thanks for coming out. I love that you're here. I hope you stick around. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss my videos. Would love to hear your opinion on what I share. Indigenous it's all about healing. Now remember, I'm going to show you the image of the sick tree, the sick communities because of the oppression and discrimination that is point poisoning our trees. Okay, we'll make that one go away. And now I want to focus on this healthy tree. You notice oppression and discrimination are still in the soil. We can't control what other people do. We can control whether it continues to poison our communities or our tree. So there are six solutions. And if you Think H A, A P P S haps so H is heal first and foremost. Don't do it for Canada, don't do it for anyone except you. You deserve to heal from past pains. You deserve to put down that doubt and that lacking of your value that comes from internalized oppression. And don't beat yourself up for that. It happens to everyone that belongs to an oppressed group. But I'm living proof you can move past it. So healing first, whether that means going to church, going to a healing circle, going to a sweat lodge, praying, whatever your way of healing is your way of healing. Just please do the healing. Take the time. It's over. I don't care how many degrees you have, that's not healing. I'm not talking about your job, talking about you. And you deserve to put that stuff down. Now. The first A is learning to act out against oppression instead of each other. No more gossiping, no more bullying, no more attacking our own. Instead, attack the lack of funding that keeps our communities locked in poverty. Attack the enforced on US elections that have to happen every two years. That wasn't our doing. That's Indian act, right? Act out against the oppression. There's not enough funding for schools. Our indigenous children and federally run schools are underfunded compared to the provincial counterparts, non indigenous youth in their schools. If you didn't know that, look it up. Fight the oppression. Teach the youth how to fight against pro oppression. Writing letters, doing the walks, painting the signs, posting on social media. Use that natural born energy they have to make a positive change. So act out against oppression instead of each other. The second A is to become an ally. Not to mainstream, but actually to each other. When you see someone that's struggling with internalized oppression, they're saying things like why bother? Or I'll never be able to do it or they're never going to accept me. Encourage them. Don't let them insult themselves. I always think of my niece when I mention that because she likes to insult yourself every now and then. And it's like, no, I'm sorry, your spirit just heard that and I'm not gonna let your spirit just rest in that. And you think you're being stupid. I think you're beautiful. I just think you're overwhelmed or you're tired. I think you're incredibly intelligent. Right? Be an ally to each other. Encourage the daylights out of each other. And if you get teased for it, who cares? You're the one being a positive influence in your community. Don't wait till someone else does it. But because our communities need it. Be the first. Okay, so that's H A A the P. Pride. Have pride in your indigeneity. Everything from hunting and fishing to beadwork, to dancing at powwow, to art. Whatever it is. Blueberry picking. Whatever it is. Hide. You know, tanning the hides, stripping the hides. Whatever it is. Be proud of who you are. Be proud of your beautiful dark skin. Indigenous pride. Sorry, my phone should be on silent. There it is. Next. We got to protect the children. And it's. So this week was September 30th. We've got to protect the children. And what do I mean by that? If you got a couple, two, three, four year olds playing in the living room and the adults are in the kitchen gossiping about the person that there, you just taught another generation lateral violence. Don't do that. My mom used to always say, the elders and the children are listening, so make them proud. Don't do that. That gossiping is killing our communities. Whether there's someone around or not. Don't do it. The only time you have the right to talk about another person is A, to their face or B, if it's positive. You can rant and rave about how amazing someone is as often as you want. But don't be doing the gossiping that's gonna stop. So protect the children from learning the horrible habits that we learned. And last but not least, the S. Speak up. Speak up when something doesn't work for you. Speak up. And I'm not talking about attacking our own. I'm talking about speaking up in the grocery store when you hear the racist comment. I'm talking about speaking up when the teacher in class says something that's ridiculous. Speak up. We don't have safe spaces if you don't defend the safe spaces. So heal. Act against oppression, not each other. Become an ally to those struggling with oppression. P is for pride. P is for protect the children. S. Speak up. That's if you're indigenous. But what if you're not indigenous? Well, I have six things for you too. And I will have a little guide that. How are you going to get the guide? Well, I guess if you're in my membership, you already have it. You should check out my membership. Here's the address. So first off, fix your side of the feather. There are way too many non indigenous Canadians that want to help the poor indigenous people. Not realizing the people that attack us, the problematic people, are on your side of the feather. If we're not being represented, it's because you didn't notice we're not on your committee, we're not in your meetings. We may not be in your business entity anywhere. Speak up about that. Fix your side of the feather. The fact that we got marginalized out and not included because can be fixed by including us. You may not have the power to include us, but you have the power to point out we're not there. Do that. Next. Remember the rule. Nothing for us or about us without us. Nothing for us or about us without us. If you are planning an indigenous initiative, Indigenous should be on your planning committee. If you are designing a new program to assist indigenous people, Indigenous people should be on that planning committee. Right. And that applies to any group. If you're working with elders, elders should be involved in the planning. If you're working with youth and you're not a youth anymore, they should be involved in the planning. It is amazing how many people I meet that want to be a part of reconciliation if they could do it without talking to indigenous people. That's not how it works. Next one. As I mentioned earlier, look for us at your meetings. Call it out. Point out that we're not there. Right. And. And keep calling it out until it changes. Still no indigenous representation and not non indigenous speaking for us. Because I've worked with the community so long, that is literally taking our voice away. Don't do that. Don't do that. Which leads us into the next one, which is invite us to. To speak for ourselves. Do not dilute our truths or stories through your interpretation of them. Hand us the microphone. If you want to help strengthen Indigenous voices, pass the mic to indigenous voices. Okay. Next. When we listen or when we speak, please listen. Youth, elders, activists, whatever the case may be, don't despise, dismiss us as the angry Indigenous stereotype. If we are speaking up against the oppressor, you can bet it's important. Hear us. And you know what? Share our message. If you're on social media, share it. Don't be adding in your two cents because again, you're diluting it. Unless you're talking about how much you appreciated the message, that's cool, but don't explain it for us. Let us speak for ourselves. That's often requires that you're not speaking. Last but not least, you gotta allow space for Indigenous people to share their resilience as well as their trauma. Our elders always remind us, do not speak of the trauma without speaking of the resilience. Do not speak of the horrors of the residential schools without pointing out the fact that we survived them, that we are still here, still laughing, still having our children and still believing that Canadians can work with us in a respectful way. So if you're non indigenous, fix your side of the feather. Shut down those racists. Remember nothing for us or about us, without us. Look for us at our your meetings and gatherings. If we're not there, call that out. Invite us to speak for ourselves. Don't speak for, for us. And when we speak, listen, understand that it's important. And last but not least, allow the space for us to share our resilience, not just our trauma. So there you have it. Now you have an action plan. Whether you're indigenous, whether you're non indigenous, together is how we do this. If I could reconcile Canada, if my energy and strength and work could do it, I would kill myself to do it. But it's not just me, unfortunately. I need a whole bunch of people helping me. And it happens in those little ways. Pointing out there's no indigenous at this gathering. Pointing out that we're designing a program without indigenous input. Pointing out that that comment was racist. We can do this together. I know. I believe in you. So let's do it. Have yourself a super duper double delicious weekend and I'll see you next week. I love you. Bye. Bye.