Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt, Loon clan, Seine River First Nation, Treaty 3 Territory) addresses nursing students and viewers, offering cultural guidance and empathy-based advice for engaging with Indigenous patients. She provides a virtual tobacco tie and explains three reasons Anishinaabe people offer tobacco—seeking wisdom, requesting ceremony, and asking listeners to hear with their hearts—urging healthcare trainees to recognize fear and shame in patients across ages and to listen to emotions behind words.
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Hi, everybody. It's Andy Boucher here once again. 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 today, well, I'm still on break. My team and I really needed this break, but we weren't going to leave you alone. I wanted to share some things with you, some clips, clips from past keynotes, seminars and workshops that you probably haven't seen before. And today it's the final clip from the Nurses no Canadian Nursing Students association keynote speech. I did. And it's advice to the nursing students. But what I wanted, why I wanted to share it with you is if you engage with Indigenous people at all, then I believe this advice is going to help you. And just as an added bonus, not sure if you've ever engaged in the tobacco ties before, the giving or receiving of tobacco ties. In today's video, we talk about it. So let's talk about it. Now.
I share that with you tonight because as new nursing students, you're going to go out and you're going to be working in clinics and hospitals, and in some ways, you're going to be working with my mom at different ages. You're going to run into that teen, a teenager so intimidated, too intimidated to answer your questions, or so belligerent that they just want to prove to themselves and everyone else that they're not scared of you or this situation, even though they absolutely are. What you're looking at is fear. So please remember that it might be the elder, so embarrassed by their lack of vocabulary, too embarrassed to answer your questions, almost apologetic for even breathing, and you're going to run into all the people in between, because that's Canadian history. So if you don't mind, because I know none of you are taking this course or doing these studies because you don't care. You absolutely do. I would bet on that. I have some advice for you, some things I need you to remember on those days when you're overworked and frustrated and tired and it may be easy to forget. But please don't. But before I share the advice with you, I wanted to offer you a virtual tobacco tie. Now, not all Indigenous nations use tobacco ties, but Anishinaabe people do. And when I offer tobacco to someone, it's for one of three reasons. The first one, often you offer tobacco to someone when you want to ask them for their wisdom. You're trading a sacred medicine, which is the tobacco, for the knowledge they're going to share with you. You're Struggling with a problem, you don't know what to do. So you offer tobacco to your elder. It maintains the balance, which is why we do it. That's the first reason. The second reason is closely related to the first. But this time, what you're asking of the elder is to perform a ceremony. Whether it's a naming ceremony for a baby, a sweat lodge ceremony for someone that needs healing, a special healing song, and a powwow, or whatever the case may be. You again offer tobacco in exchange for them performing whatever ceremony they have, the teachings, whatever ceremony they carry. The third reason is the reason I'm offering you tobacco. I offer you tobacco because what I need you to do now is listen to the feeling and emotions behind my words. And not just my words. In other words, I want you to listen to me with your heart and not your head. If you're not sure what that means when you listen with your heart or with your head, you're in debate mode. I'm not sure. That sounds great. Okay, maybe I'm not sure about that. That's all in your head. When you listen with your heart, and we've all done it, you're in an argument with someone and they say something, and you know that that's fear or frustration. No matter what the wor, you hear the emotion behind the words. And that's what I'd like you to do with this advice. So just virtual tobacco. There you go. I'm gonna get in trouble with my elders for doing that, but shh.
Okay.
First and foremost, settlers were mentioned in the beginning, in the opening. If you are non Indigenous, get comfy with the fact that you are the oppressor. You are one of the settlers. Whether you do that personally or not, you're part of the system that has set that up. Indigenous patients will fear you, hate you, or both. And it's easier to assume that than to assume that they're fine. It's not personal. Even though it's going to feel personal to you, it's because of Canadian history. It's real to them, and they are not wrong. They've developed these skills. They. Because they're just trying to survive. Because that's what our lives have taught us. Indigenous patients are used to judgment. We feel like that little Chihuahua almost every day of our lives. What we are not used to is kindness. So please show your patients kindness and patience, keeping in mind that they're in a completely different world. When they're sitting on that gurney in a clinic or a hospital, they're in your world. Which is comfy to you, but completely foreign to them. One of the most amazing pieces of advice I was ever given. Way back when, in my 20s, I had a chance to work for a medical facility in an administrative capacity. The head of the organization, the very first day, he gave me the piece of advice because I was going to be on the phone with our patients. He reminded me that no one chooses to be a patient. That you're there at some of the scariest times of their lives. That no one, not even the addict desperately trying to medicate their pain away, or the diabetic, that poverty is slowly killing. We have to remember that these people are not there by choice. Chief Tony Alexis from out in Alberta is one of my dear friends and mentors, and he always speaks of sacred places. And this quote sums it up so absolutely beautifully. There are no unsacred places. There are either sacred places or desecrated places. Now, why does that matter to a nurse? Well, my body is sacred, so please ask before touching, because I'm just going to feel even more helpless if you don't. That backpack that's in your way, sitting on the floor. My entire life is in there. So please don't move it without asking first, because I would lose everything if I lose track of it. My thoughts are sacred and so very real to me. So please don't dismiss them and don't make fun if I don't understand. I am just scared. Keep in mind that for indigenous people, we were schooled by another culture that often did not make sense to us. So please don't talk down if I don't understand what my mom would call $15 words, those big words. I was taught that no matter how educated I get, I am always to speak like I'm talking to my grandma. That it would be incredibly disrespectful to use words that other people don't understand, that I had no right to make them feel less than. So please don't disrespect me. Forgive me my silence. I'm scared of you and the test results. I have been invisible my entire life. But please see me here. I need you to see me here. I am not a chart. I am not a problem. I'm not someone you have to put up with. I am a human. I am a patient. And I'm scared, especially because I'm indigenous in your world. There you have it, my friends, the story I wanted to share with you. So often we come across as argumentative or we're not cooperative because we're not answering the questions and, and it's so often overwhelming fear of being in an environment that historically has not seen us. Please keep that in mind as you go on your career journey. Miigwech.
