A Land Acknowledgement CHALLENGE (To Fix What Has Been Wrong with Them!)

I should probably start this video out with a disclaimer. I'm gonna go activist on your butt. But I think important things need to be said and shared today. So let's talk about it. Bonjour. Hi everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River first nation in Treaty 3 territory in, in Northern Ontario, Canada. And we need to talk about land acknowledgments, or I guess today I want to talk about acknowledgments in general. And then we're going to get specific on land acknowledgments. So the truth is, you're seeing this on Friday. Today is Friday. I'm shooting another early morning video, just not as early as usual. And I was going to do the missing facts video, you know, going through the timeline, helping you to realize how we got here in present day with the state of indigenous non indigenous relations. But then I realized that now if you follow my social media posts or, or maybe if you're on my email list, you would know that recently I went through a personal and business challenge that kind of rocked the world and rocked my world, I should say. And really highlighted what pillars are strong and gonna be amazing and other ones that had some cracks that needed to be fixed. If there is one thing that the last week, 10 days has shown me, for one, my faith is so strong, the Creator will always send exactly who I need. And that I have often said in videos when I'm doing more of my empowerment or more motivational, motivational stuff, I tell you to surround yourself with the people who believe in you, especially if you don't yet believe in yourself. Because that's literally how I started out. I had so many amazing elders, amazing quay, amazing older women who believed in me before I did, until I could, and after. And I tell you to surround yourself with those people, but now I realize there's other people that need to be in your inner circle as well. And those people are the people that will not let you rush to the silver lining. These are the people that are not going to let you look for the good side five seconds after something happens. These are the people I have not been. But I didn't realize how much I needed them. So first off, I made the rough decision, the tough decision of selling my Mustang earlier this week. And my son was here. My son's in his mid-30s. We were joking around, laughing, and I had just signed the papers to release the Mustang and I started doing that. Well, you know, this is good. It solves so many problems, blah, blah, blah. And in his firmest voice, without yelling, he was just firm. My son said, don't you do that. And I was like, pardon me, don't do what? And he said, don't do that. You had to make tough decisions and you had to be strong the entire time. You raised us, him and his sister, and you couldn't allow yourself to feel the disappointments and the pains because you were a mom, a single mom of two kids. You don't have to do that anymore. You can acknowledge this. And this sucks. And I didn't realize how much one, I needed that and how much I appreciated my son for saying it. So it was a big super hug and. And tears. And for those who are going to come after me for being materialistic, the Mustang was a dream I had since I was 12. And don't worry, I will buy another one. But yes, it sucked. So that's the first person I wanted to acknowledge today. The second person, I swear, Creator sends you who you, even when you don't realize it. So I moved. We all know I moved. My background changed in the beginning of the summer and through, I was going to say a total flip. But no, Creator doesn't do that. I end up living right next door to a woman I used to work with, an amazing woman. She has a pool. In the summer, we have spent quality time floating in her pool, just talking. And I honestly, we knew each other in our much younger days, Much, much younger days. And I didn't realize how amazing this woman is. I can honestly say that. And last night, I was sitting on my couch doing my quiet, watching some TV before bed. And there was this knock on this door, the pounding on this door. And it was Christine. And they were having a fire in their backyard. The pool is now gone. They have the fire pit. And they said, come on over. I was like, you know what? That'd be cool. I haven't sat around a fire in a long time. So I went over thinking, this is just a friendly thing to do. No, don't underestimate who creator sends. Because she had seen my posts on social media. She knew about the decision to sell the Mustang. She knew how much I loved it. And she said, you've had a rough week. I figured you needed a fire. And it was just. And she was like, are you okay? Like, seriously, are you okay? And it was just so caring, so compassionate. She had zero interest in hearing the good side of the decision. She was so willing to sit with me in the suck, as Brendan Burchard would say. And it was just amazing that. And I shared with her when we were talking that when things go wrong for me, I don't tend to reach out to people. I tend to go inward. I think, you know, being a single mom for so many years with no one to lean on, that was a requirement. And she just kind of looked at me with this knowing smile and said, I know, that's why I knocked on your door. I guess she had sent me a message and messenger that I didn't even see, and she was having none of that. So I wanted to acknowledge Christine today. The last person I wanted to acknowledge. This is the perfect time to acknowledgement. Acknowledge it and acknowledge him. Because today is my older brother's birthday. For anyone who knows anything about my company, you know, my older brother is now my general manager. And did I see that chapter in our lives coming? Absolutely not. Like any older brother, he's three years older. He has been my protector and my tormentor. He has been the person who was there for me and the person who challenged me. There were times in our lives where we saw each other all the time and times when we didn't see each other at all. There were times that we were talking and good friends and there were times that we weren't talking. So. But I've always respected him, admired him, and most definitely loved him. And he's had a career, not only in management, but in mainstream management, even though he's indigenous and which is total counter to my career. And the other thing is, as when we were. As when we were growing up, he spent all his time with my dad, and I spent all my time with my mom. And of course, I lost my dad when I was 17. I've mentioned that previously. So Ernie has this insight into my dad, not only from being older, but because he had such a close relationship with him. And I have that insight into my mom. And we just have the best conversations. It's like I'm learning about my brother for the first time after 60 years, and I absolutely love working with him. There were so many people that. You sure that's a good idea? It's like, you know what if the idea of working with your sibling makes you. You nervous, that speaks to the state of your relationship. We've gone through the seasons, like I said, and there are definitely years where we couldn't have worked together, but I love that we are now. So. Happy birthday, Ernie. Thank you for being the blessing you have always been. And thank you for being such not only an incredible asset in my life, but now a phenomenal asset in my business. I love you. So those are the people I wanted to acknowledge today. But that got me thinking of land acknowledgments and anyone who's watched. I can put links in the show, notes about the the videos, the set of three videos I did and what should and shouldn't be in the land. Acknowledgment and why you should be doing one at all if you should be doing one. And I realized this morning as I was thinking of these people. Excuse me. As I was thinking of these people. Hang on, I'm gonna take a sip of my coffee so I do not cough on you again. Coffee so good. As I was thinking of these people, I wanted to acknowledge, I realized a couple things wrong with the land acknowledgment for what as they are presently done. For one, how freaking easy to acknowledge the land. The land is not going to require anything of you if you're mainstream. Land is just there. So I'm going to acknowledge I'm standing on this land. And then I realized that for Anishinaabe Kwei, for an Ojibwe female or even any indigenous person, not any, a lot of indigenous people, to acknowledge the land has so much more and such a deeper meaning than mainstream acknowledging the land. We are acknowledging Mother Earth. It is the taker versus caretaker mentality. We understand that Mother Earth gives us everything we need to survive and in turn that we must take care of her like we would an elderly parent. It's a reciprocal relationship. You think of mainstream. Where is the reciprocal relationship? It's a take, take, take mentality. I'm going to take the minerals, I'm going to take the trees. Maybe I'm going to give something back to the people, but not to the land. So the land suffers and we see the consequences nowadays in the climate change that what that constant done to Mother Earth. So when I realized how easy a land acknowledgement is, I kind of went, oh. Because once again, indigenous people are being removed from the equation just like the settlers did when they first got here. Here's the land. We're just going to pretend there's not people on it. Do you see the problem? Do you see the replication of a problem? So I actually wrote a note to myself about this. So the difference between a mainstream view of land and an indigenous world view of land is the difference between seeing untouched and underdeveloped or pristine and potential, right? So today, what I want to do is challenge you if you're gonna do a land acknowledgment. Because, by the way, there is a whole bunch of us indigenous people that could care two beans about your land acknowledgment because it doesn't mean deadly squat. It's empty words. And thanks to the federal government. I need some water. Thanks to the federal government, we've had some. We've had enough empty words. If you are going to do a land acknowledgment, here's what I want you to do in the land acknowledgement. I want you to acknowledge how many indigenous people you employ. I want you to acknowledge how many indigenous people you serve, how many indigenous customers you have. I want you to identify the training initiatives, the indigenous engagement training, the cultural competency, whatever it is. I want you to identify the initiatives that you have undertaken to work more with indigenous people. I want you to put the people back on the land. I want you to acknowledge. Apologize for this. I want you to acknowledge we're still here. I want to. Because we can acknowledge the land and give her. Give her the respect she needs. I need you to acknowledge we're here. And I need your checklist of how well you're doing, how many do you employ, how many do you work with and serve? And by the way, how is your indigenous engagement game? Is it improving? That's the acknowledgment I want to hear. Not just that we're standing on the traditional territories and we never speak to one of the people. I'm gonna go get some water. I hope you appreciated that. I have no idea what's going on here. I should not be drinking coffee. I should be drinking water. Much better do better. Acknowledge us. See us, so that we're not invisible. Finally, in 2024, acknowledge the people in your world and the indigenous peoples on this land. Then we're talking acknowledgment. I hope that made sense. That's a powerhouse way to end the week. Apologize for the tickle in my throat and the coughing. That wasn't good. Have a super duper double delicious weekend. If you do anything on mother Earth, please make sure it's reciproc weekend. Leave her better than you found her. Or at least the way she was. Don't leave your garbage behind. Don't destroy her. Don't hurt her. She's been hurt enough. Until Monday. I love you. Take care. Bye bye.