Sandi L Boucher describes a four-stage model of Indigenous personal and political evolution, from isolation and self-harm risk to full authenticity across all contexts. Stage 4 means "I could be me anywhere." The piece is for people doing Indigenous engagement and recruitment work, and for those trying to reach it themselves.
Questions this video answers
July 27, 2023.
Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt), woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory, Northern Ontario.
Chapters
So I assume if you're on my YouTube channel or watching this on social media, whatever the case may be, that you're interested in Indigenous engagement, maybe you're involved in recruitment and retention, whatever the case may be. But I want you to think of the indigenous people you work with or know. See if you can figure out what stage they're at in their evolution. I'll explain what I mean. Talk about it. Bonjour, Mishko Pogganon Kwei Nadishnikas, Mangdo Dam. Hello, 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 want to talk about the blog post for July 27th that was called not for Everyone. And I alluded to an empowered individual yesterday in yesterday's blog post. But I want to take you through the stages today. So stage one, the lowest, most marginalized, most assimilated, most oppressed indigenous person, stage one. And every stage has a sentence that describes it or a phrase is I can't be me anywhere. And that one always makes me sad because that's the youth that feel like they don't think and then they might choose not to stay. These are the abused women that have been convinced that everything about them is wrong. How they talk, how they dress, how they think, how they see things. This is a really scary time. And if you see someone isolating, what they need is acceptance. You need to prove to them that they do fit somewhere, they fit with you. They fit in your home or in your space or in your office. Because we can't leave them in stage one. In the stage two, the phrase is, I can only be me within my inner circle. So now that individual has found a group to hang out with. And this is the student who has their head down in a super quiet in class and laughing as loud as anything on the playground with their friends. So they found that acceptance. What is scary about stage two is the fact that who's the group they found acceptance with? If it's a group of empowered, supportive friends, that's amazing. If it's a gang, we've got issues. One of the other characteristics of stage two is group think. So not thinking as an individual because they're scared stiff, they're going to get kicked out of the group and end up back in stage one. So they adopt the group think. We see group think in today's politics or in the politics of our southern neighbors, where everyone's just got One mindset and never asks questions and never. It's scary. Group think is scary. Stage three now looks like. I can't say that word in a video, but it looks like insanity from the outside. But it's actually an important stage. Stage three is I can be a me. I can be me among people who are like me. These are strong indigenous voices that work in indigenous agencies, but you don't really hear them in mainstream. This is the strong voice in the indigenous community, but you don't hear them speaking up in the municipality next door. What you also see at this stage is the lateral violence that we discuss on a regular basis, the people turning on themselves, which is a condition, natural human reaction to oppression, by the way. So don't judge the people doing it. But what's happening is in stage three, they're breaking away from the group think. And people are daring to think as individuals and share opinions. So some people are sharing opposing opinions and they're at odds with each other. Other people are still just new into stage three. So they're saying things like, how dare you say something different than the group? Right? So it's, it's. Think of the, the, you know, little caterpillar becoming a butterfly. It's a fight, It's a struggle. But it's so worth it to get to stage four. And I am so happy to say I've finally made it to stage four. And stage four is I could be me anywhere. I am me in a First Nation community that I've never been to before. Even though that might nerve some people in the beginning when they realize how outgoing I am, I'm me amongst a group of non indigenous successful business people. I'm just me. And it took 49, 49, 59 years to get here. The point of this blog post is stage 4 people prefer alone to dealing with the insanity of stage three or lower stages. Stage four people are okay with the sound of our own voice and the sound of silence. So if you know an empowered, outspoken indigenous voice that is not disrespectful, I'm not talking about attacking, but a strong, respectful voice in whatever arena and they're walking next to you just like yesterday. That's a huge flipping compliment. Whatever you're doing, please teach your non indigenous friends to do same because we need way more like you. So we are not for everyone in stage four. That's okay, because at least we're finally us. One more blog post and yep, it's another personal one tomorrow. Until then, I love you. Take care. Bye bye.
