Canada, Are You Listening? Because You NEED the Indigenous Advantage Right About Now!

Canada in this time of looming tariffs. I really need you to listen to me. Imagine for a second you're a kid on the playground at elementary school level. There's this kid that you play with every single day. They're in a different class than you, so you only see them at recess. They have a different background, different skill set. But you've been best friends forever. You share your toys, you have a lots of laugh. It's something you've counted on. But one day you go out to the playground and that friend is there and they're telling you they don't want to play with you anymore. And that neat toy that they have with them, they don't want to share it with you. And by the way, they're not interested in at all in the toys that you brought to play Canada. The US is that past friend on the playground. But the Indigenous that live within Canadian borders have some really important information for you. Why? Well, been there, done that. If you're Indigenous living within Canadian borders, you know the sad truth? No one's ever wanted to play with us. But we figured out how to get past it. Let's talk about it. Boju Mishko Pagan. 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 like I mentioned in the opening, we have some information for you. Because we've had people turn their backs on us or use us or just out and out ignore us as if we're invisible ever since the settlers got here. But that doesn't make us a victim. Do not get it twisted. I call it the Indigenous advantage. You see, when I went to school, I was smart enough to realize that I wasn't the target market, that what the teacher was sharing was not for my benefit. But I learned that that's okay. Just because it's not aimed at me doesn't mean I can't pull out what I need and leave the rest behind. And on top of that, I know what you're learning. That's an advantage. It became a game. It became kind of like a video game long before video games were invented. And by the way, years ago, I came up with what I call the video game analogy that I want to take a couple minutes to share with you. If you know a youth that likes to play video games, or maybe even an adult that likes to play video games, you're going to want to share this with them. If you're not interested at all. I'll put the timestamp below so you can just skip, skip ahead. But this is really good foundational information, so I'd suggest you stick around. Now, I am not a gamer, so I apologize for the lameness of my video game challenge or my video game analogy. I want you. Now, I was always fascinated by the video games my son played that had this whole storyline behind it. So I want you to imagine in the video game I'm talking about that you're in this big old creepy castle with, with hidden hallways and doorways that pop out of nowhere and different levels and different challenges. And your. Your task is to get through the castle and get to the end to get to the treasures, maybe even rescue someone that's there. That's all you know as you walk into the first level. And what's ahead of you is a long, dark, creepy hallway with doors on each side. You get to decide which door you're going to go in or if you're just going to ignore them. You decide to go into the first door on the right and you check it out. You, you're looking for booby traps. You're looking for treasure. After a few minutes of searching, you realize there's absolutely nothing in this room except for a really shiny golden skeleton key that's laying right in the middle of the floor. Now, you kick it with your foot. You tap it. You want to make sure it's not a trap and it seems safe. At this point, if you want to win the game, what are you going to do? You're going to pick up the key. Any gamer can tell you you're going to pick up the key. If you come across a key in a video game, you can bet your last buck that there's going to be a locked something or other in your future. Grab the key. Now, why is this important in real life? Math class is a key. Sitting with an elder is a key. Getting a degree is a key. Getting a driver's license is a key. Learning anything new is a key. Learning from the indigenous based on their experience is a key. Tariffs. The threat of tariffs from the u. S. Could be the chance to grab some keys or a hint that maybe you should. Okay, don't want to sneeze on you itchy nose. Okay, we finished with room one. You go back into the hallway. You go into the first door on the left. You poke around the. There's absolutely nothing in this room. Nothing. Nothing bad, nothing good. Nothing. If you want to win this game, what do you do? You get out of the room. Cuz guess what? Like any other video game, there's a clock ticking. You only have so much time to finish this level or even the game. But how many people you know are staying in some place and just staying there? It's not really good, it's not really bad. They're not growing or achieving, they're just sitting there. Canada. Have we been sitting in a room for too long? Maybe, just maybe not too good, not too bad, just is. Eventually you decide to leave the room and you continue down the hallway. Down the corridor is another door. And as you come to the door, you can hear that there's obviously a fight going on on the other side. There's yelling and scream and, and things getting banged around. You poke your nose in the door, you can see all these people fighting. If you want to win this game, what do you do? You close the door and keep going. Because if there's no reason for you to be in that fight, you're just wasting time. You're just winning, wasting energy. Canada. Choose carefully the battles you're going to put your energy towards. Eventually you're getting really close to the end of the hallway and all of a sudden you run out of energy. The clock ran out of time. If you want to win this game, what do you do? A gamer doesn't even think about it. It's automatic. You hit reset and you try again. Indigenous have been doing this forever. We're going to try to work with that corporation that didn't work. We're going to try working with that municipality that didn't work. But you don't give up. Because giving up is the only way you guarantee you will never win this game. Now the video game analogy in my mind is incredibly important because rather than ripping on the kids for playing video games transferable skills, just make sure to remind them often that if they take the lessons from the video game and apply it to real life, they will be successful. As long as they take those lessons and apply it to real life, it's just another video game. Now, as I promised, maybe the video game version of these teachings isn't for you. You're an adult, you're not interested in video games. So let's go through the adult version of what you need to do in times like this when nobody wants to play with you. Step one of the adult version, you got to sit down and figure out what you know are facts. Not what you believe is a fact, but what you absolutely know is a fact. I know without a doubt I'm a few months away from my 61st birthday. I know for a fact I have been in business for more than 15 years. And yes, I've faced some challenges. Can you say lockdown? But I figured out a way past them. So even if something unknown comes up, I'm probably going to be able to figure out how to get past it. I got past worldwide pandemic. What do you know is fact, Canada? I think we better accept that the trade relationship with the US is no longer a stable fact. Will it continue? Probably in some form. But how about we don't make it our foundation? How about we don't bet on it? Because that would be dependence. Trust me, as a 10 year domestic abuse survivor, dependence is not the way you want to go next. Can everyone just take a second and remember you're intelligent, right? You have some smarts in that brain of yours. It's not just bobbling around on your neck. Bottom line, if there's one thing my mom taught me from the get go is blind faith is dangerous. Blind faith gets you nowhere. So if you're just listening to someone and buying every single word they say and you're not thinking it through on your own, that's blind faith. And unfortunately, that group mentality, that group mindset, group think is way too common nowadays. People are leaving their brains at the front door and just absorbing all of the crap they can see on social media. And the more outrageous it is, the more they want to buy it. Come on, you're not a puppet, you're not a victim. No, dependence, as I already said, if it helps in this time. This is going to sound crazy, but hang on. Give me, give me the benefit of the doubt for a sec. Imagine the US didn't exist anymore. Imagine the US just blew up. No, I am not advocating for anyone to do that. But imagine the US is not there, so trading with them is no longer an option. What are you going to do? Canada? What are we going to do if that's no longer an option? Now we're on the right path. Next, even though I want you. Let's balance this for a second. There is so much you know. You have intelligence, you have experience. I also need you to acknowledge constantly that you have so much more to learn. That Canada and the people within Canadian borders and Indigenous or non, have to commit to a journey of lifelong learning. Because we all know a little knowledge is dangerous. Indigenous people watching this. Can you say allies? Ah, I have met so many allies. Heart in the right place, maybe even the right intent. But they Get a little bit of knowledge and they start running with it like they've been indigenous their entire life, or like they are indigenous, which they're never going to be, and they end up causing more damage than the people that stay away. Humility. Teaching a little bit of knowledge is dangerous. So like anyone else in business, which is why I always used to say, like, if you want to overcome helplessness, the antidote is responsibility. If there was no one else to count on to get you out of this hole, what would you do? That's how you get yourself out of this hole. So, like anyone who runs a business, you come up with a plan, something you want to try, you execute it, you actually do it. You don't talk about it, you actually do it. Then you evaluate how it turned out. Maybe you go do some more research and learn some stuff. You adjust your plan and you try again. For all those people out there who are learning, learning, learning, learning because they want to know it all before they start, yet never going to know at all. And guess what? The best teacher, all the stuff you learn after you start, figure out what you're going to do. Do it, evaluate it. Go get some information to see how you could tweak it. Try again. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Canada, it's time. Oh, this is a big one. This is such a big one. 4. You're going to learn the difference between a fact and an assumption. And trust me, after doing reconciliation work exclusively for 15 years, there's way too many people out there running around on assumptions. What's the difference? A fact is something you know to be true about you selling to the US or worse, being dependent on that is no longer reliable fact. An assumption is every single time you assume that you know why someone else did or didn't do something, you are wasting valuable energy trying to figure out why the US did it. Can I be the first to say, who cares? They did it. They have established the shaky trade partner they are. It is time for us to decide what our plan is and execute it. Every single time Canadians make assumptions about why indigenous people do something, I can tell you 99.9% of the time you're wrong. Because you don't have our cultural lens, you don't have our values, you don't have our experience. So don't assume that is ego, that is not confidence, and that's not going to help you. And by the way, just assuming things will never change, knowing that someone like Trump got elected and assuming nothing was going to change for us, I'm pretty Sure, that's the epitome, the definition of naive. Last but not least, and this is what being Indigenous in school taught me, and it has served me for my entire 60 years. Listen to others, but learn about you. Interesting. They believe this. Will that serve me? Does it fit who I am? Will it help me to build the future I want for myself, my kids, my community, my country? Take what you need, leave the rest. What can you take from them? What can you adjust and tweak? I swear to God, I used to joke around that my career was translation, even though I don't speak my indigenous language. It was taking what the mainstream teachers were trying to tell me about running a business, about sales and marketing and tweaking it, adding it to what I knew about Indigenous communities, values, relationships, and changing it so that I could use it in a First Nation community and not get kicked out on my butt. Right. So learn from other people. Identify what fits or identify what. Interesting. That got me thinking. Maybe I can just tweak that a little bit. Consider all the options before you dismiss them. No arrogance, no judgment, just. Okay, why are they saying this? Why do they believe this? Oh, wait a minute. Okay, I've been that scared. I made some assumptions when I was scared. I can see why they would do it. Are you done wasting money? Are you done losing the contracts? Have you realized that your indigenous engagement game just isn't up to what it should be for the benefit of you, your company, your nonprofit, your municipality? Are you done guessing why the relationship ended or why the community's so upset with you? Have you been bcr'd out of a community? All of it is possible without the proper training. And just when you get your team trained, you hire someone new. You can't afford to keep sending everyone to the same training. Isn't it time you got your onboarding program up to snuff? I have just what you need. Check it out on my website. By following these steps, you build the one thing Indigenous people are known for. Well, if you talk to people that aren't into the stereotypes and misinformation and missing information. It's our wisdom. We know that. I can't remember the doctor's name. Dr. John Deloney. I run across him on YouTube every now and then. Don't believe everything he says, but every now and then, there's a nugget I can take. He says actions are a language. It's not just the talk. It's what people do. Trump has shown us what he's capable of doing. Instead of being Instead of kissing butt and continuing to be dependent because the king has changed. This king doesn't care if we starve. Oh, hang on a sec. Sorry about that. Should have put that on hold. The king has changed. The relationship has changed. To believe it hasn't is scary. And again, 10 year domestic abuse survivor. I know what it's like to try to kick butt, kiss butt and pray that it's going to get better. It doesn't. What I want you to do is practice these steps. So not only do you learn how small you are in the big picture, but how essential a puzzle piece you are. Because nobody appreciates the puzzle. What the one piece means Missing Canada. We are an essential puzzle piece in the global global puzzle. Our identity is not US dependent. And by the way, the indigenous watching this, our identity isn't Canadian dependent either. We have always been teachers. Always. Just because the students haven't shown up for class yet doesn't diminish the value of our teachings. So I'm going to come back to where I started this Canada. Are you listening? We're here if you need some help. Till tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye Bye.