Sandi L. Boucher names three expectations that need to die: that Indigenous leaders be perfect and fully healed, that workplaces get healthy without investing in healing, and that Indigenous communities heal on outsiders' timelines. She calls for support, resources, and partnership instead of judgment.
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Sandi (Red Thunderbolt) L. Boucher
Loon clan; Seine River First Nation (Treaty 3 territory), Northern Ontario
Chapters
Today, I'm focusing in on the word abandon, one that often has very negative connotations to it. But today it's something I want you to do. Let's talk about it. 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 Northern Ontario. And today I really wanted to focus in on the things we need to abandon. Now, anyone who's heard my work or listened to any one of my seminars or workshops or videos or whatever the case may be, you know that when it comes to the indigenous side of the feather, the first thing that has to happen is healing. Healing takes time. Healing is not easy. Often you think you're standing in a good place and then something happens and it knocks you back three steps and you got to do the next chapter of your healing journey. That's what it's like. There's nothing wrong with that. What is wrong are expectations. And I see it time and time again. Communities, members of the community, individuals, are expected, expecting that their chiefs and council are perfect, that they are absolutely healed, that they have made amends for every human mistake they've ever made, and they are now going to do the best for the community. And anytime they falter or act like a human being, they're crucified for it. We were taught judgment. We really need to stop doing that to our own. Yes, we should expect a certain level of competence from our leaders, but how about support them rather than judge them? That's the Anishinaabe way. The other expectation that we really got to abandon, as far as I'm concerned, I get the calls. I want to create a healthy work environment. My automatic response now is, do you have healthy people? Because that buffet is made up of all the ingredients, meaning the people that are working there. How well have you supported them? What kind of healing opportunities have you provided for them? What kind of conflict resolution procedures have you put into place to support the healing journey of those involved? Because until you have healthy people, you can't have the healthy work environment. It's the sum of the parts. We need healthy parts. And I'm now seeing indigenous people job hopping from one agency and entity to the next, looking for that healthy work environment and condemning them when it's not there. We are not there yet. We have come so far. There are so many more empowered, healthy indigenous people than there were 20 years ago. I know, I've been around to see the change, but we're not at healthy work environment yet. And guess what? If you're judging them and condemning them rather than helping them, that's part of the problem. So we got to abandon that expectation too. And then the biggest one, I guess is actually the expectation of non indigenous people. Would you quit expecting our communities, our agencies and our people to be totally healed from what you've done to us, from what mainstream has done to us. I'm sorry if our healing is taking longer and it's inconvenient for you. Don't care. In true red thunder, lightning bolt way, don't care. Because healing, anyone who's grieved knows you don't get to decide how long this that takes. It's the same with healing for us. So again, don't judge, don't expect when we can't make your tight deadlines, you came up with those deadlines. We didn't say that it worked for us. And considering the challenges we have in our communities, even if we thought we could, there's a good chance it's not going to turn out that way. But if you want to be our partner, you're going to work with us, not judge us, not condemn us. When you are going to abandon those expectations. So today let's move forward with a whole lot less expectations and a whole lot more support. That's how we cut those ropes that are tying indigenous and non indigenous together. We can do this. We deserve to be free of this. But we don't do it with expectations and judgment. We do it with support and time. Sound good? Let me know your thoughts. Comment below. Until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye Bye.
