This YouTube video ("A Personal Pledge of Reconciliation") is a spoken commentary by Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt, Loon Clan, Zane River First Nation) highlighting a "Personal Pledge of Reconciliation" created by Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. The speaker reads and reflects on eight pledge points that ask viewers to learn about Indigenous peoples, counter myths and stereotypes, read the TRC 94 Calls to Action and the National Inquiry's 231 Calls, and actively support Indigenous awareness days, while encouraging viewers to take the pledge and deepen their commitment.
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In case anyone's ever asked you or if you've wondered, this YouTube channel is not an ego trip. This is not just a place where I get to show I'm all that in a bag of chips. I have a lot of wisdom and a lot of years experience that I share with you. But every now and then I come across some amazing work of another activist, another artist, another public speaker. Speaker. And I am more than happy to highlight their work. And that's what I'm going to be doing today. Today, I'm sharing something from the Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. What I'm sharing is a personal pledge, a pledge of reconciliation that you can choose to take. Let's talk about it. Sam. Hi, everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon Clan, a proud member of Zane River First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory in Northern Ontario. And as I mentioned in the opening today, we were talking about. We were. We are talking about the personal pledge of reconciliation that was created by the Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. I will put their website there, the link to this pledge. And they asked that if you share this on social media, you use the hashtags, hashtag reconciliation pledge or hashtag I made the reconciliation pledge. I will put that all in the notes below the video. So listen to this and I'm going to share it with you. There's eight points that you agree to. And just as we go through this, like, ask yourself, would you be comfortable making this pledge? Is this point something you could do? There might be a point that you're a little bit hesitant about and then that's something you need to work on and unpack. Like, why is that one uncomfortable for you? If it's because you're going to get backlash from your friends, find better friends that don't have an issue with wanting to reconcile. Remember, if your friends are anti Indigenous or racist, you're not an ally because you're allowing that in your world. Your silence is acceptance. Remember? Let's not do that. Okay, so here it is. Check this out. I thought this was epic, which is why I'm sharing it with you. If it was crappy, you wouldn't know about it. Okay? Not on this channel anyways. In the spirit of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples in Canada, I blank space for you to put your name solemnly pledge to one learn more about Indigenous peoples and issues. By the way, if you're watching this video and you subscribe to my channel, you've already committed to learning more about Indigenous peoples and issues. So Kudos to you. Yeah, get that one. Check. Two, you pledge to continue to look forward to positive change for the situation with Indigenous peoples. Okay, that one's kind of. You're going to look forward to positive change. How about be a part of positive change? Whatever. That's what you're pledging to. That you're going to look forward to positive change. Three, you're going to. You pledge to find ways to address this, the indigenous related myths and misconceptions with my fellow Canadians. That means calling out the stereotypes. When someone says that indigenous people don't pay taxes. Can y' all please shoot that one down? Like, hello. There are so many misconceptions that we. What? That we can just buy houses are given to us off reserve, like. Or that we get a big lump sum payment once a year or when we turn 18. There are so many stereotypes out there and they're all myths. They're inaccurate. So. So you pledge to be part of waking people up and shutting that down. Number I love that one, by the way. Number four, you pledge to not perpetrate stereotypes in my conversations or observations. So you're going to watch what you say and what you contribute to make sure that you're sharing truth. And if you're not sure, then you don't share it. I think that's a very good one. Number five. I solemnly pledge to encourage others around me to keep reconciliation an ongoing effort. That kind of just makes sense. Until it's achieved, it has to be ongoing. I hope that made sense to you. Number six, I solemnly pledge to read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's 94 calls to action. Now, the report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission I think is like seven really fat binders. That's not what this is saying. It's saying, read the 94 calls to action. The 94 points, the numbered points calls to action that the report asked us to do. I think that's a bare minimum. And by the way, Google it, it's so easy to find. Number seven. I solemnly pledge to read the 231 calls to action in the final report of the national inquiry. Inquiry Inquir Inc. Inquiry. That word, inquiry. That's it. Into missing and murdered Indigenous women's and girls. My screwing up the word totally minimize that. The national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Read the calls to action again. Available online. Please do that. I. I don't even. I can't even add to that. Just do that. Maybe that's a longer vid video I have to do Interesting. Let me know if that sounds like something you would like to do. I could do a video on both of those things. Let me know if that sounds interesting. Finally, I solemnly pledge to actively encourage ongoing support of National Indigenous Peoples Day every June 21 and National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30 for myself, my family and my community. Do I want you to support those days? Absolutely. Do I think that's enough? No. I want you to support Indigenous peoples every day of the year, not just on those two days. So there you have it. The personal pledge of reconciliation as prepared by the Indigenous corporate training ink. What did you think? What did you think? Those are eight things, like I said. The links will be in the notes below this video. Could you take the pledge? What? How? You know what. Putting a challenge out there. Could you take the pledge? And if you did, how could you up your game? How could you change it to be even more powerful? I'd love to know your thoughts. And yes, non indigenous, this. This is you. So, like, I want to hear your responses. You can type it out in the comments. I would love to see it. You could literally make my day. So could you take the plunge? Could I hear a Hell yeah. And I would love to see how you would up the quality of this pledge. I enjoyed that. I hope you did. I was blown away when I saw it again. It was at one of my events I attended. Let me know your thoughts until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye.
