Good Medicine from a Non-Indigenous Person About ... Pretendians?

It's been a minute since we talked about pretend Ians and people who identify as Indigenous. And I mean, should you do that? No. But the problem comes in when these people who identify as Indigenous go after the funding, go after the positions where the employer needs an Indigenous person, they need an Indigenous worldview, they need Indigenous lived experience. They end up hiring this person who has none of that. Here comes Blue to join us again. So today, like, I had zero plans of talking about pretend Ians or what defines someone as Indigenous. And until I saw a post shared on Facebook by Allison Bradshaw and she made five points that just blew me away. And by the way, she's not indigenous, but boy, would I love to meet this person. Let's talk about him. Foreign. 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, which means I am Indigenous. And yes, I could put my status card up here to show you, but my family freaks when I do that, the whole identity theft thing, so I'm not going to do that. But I am Indigenous. I'm known in my community. I've been doing working in First Nation communities with Indigenous peoples, with my families and friends and colleagues my entire adult life. But of late, there are so many people out there, I honestly believe they don't like being on the colonizer side of history. They don't want to have to deal with what their ancestors did. They don't want to have to deal with the fact that Canada was built on the oppression and marginalization of Indigenous people, shoving us out of the way, silencing us, restricting us from taking part in the economy, restricting us from leaving the tiny little communities that they sentenced us to. And then of course, nowadays we get judged because we don't come out and we don't. We're not part of the economy. All of the things we didn't have a choice in, but as I said, not high on my radar, that when someone problematic comes out, of course I'm going to say something, but it wasn't high on my radar. I actually have a whole bunch of the things I'm working on right now until I saw this Facebook post by Alison Bradshaw. And to be clear, I do not know who this person is, but I love this person. So I wanted to share her five points with you because I could not agree more. And humility teaching says I don't have to rewrite everything. There are some things that are just beautiful the way they are. And you know what makes me happy? When I see something written by a non indigenous person that fills my heart. That is good medicine. That reinforces my belief that indigenous and non indigenous can work together. We can thrive together. We can have the most amazing, healthy relationships when we're not pretending to be something that we're not. So, without further ado, I want to share Allison's post with you. So it starts out in light of the latest Indigenous identity theft in quote brackets, hitting very close to home. I'm not sure what she's referring to, but that's what she wrote. I'd like to offer the following dos and don'ts to my fellow white folks. Her authenticity and her transparency. I just love her humility. I love it. Love it. She's white folk, and she's totally cool with identifying as such. And you should be. You totally should be. Okay, so point number one. Having 23 and me tell you about your indigenous ancestry from three to 10 generations ago does not make you Indigenous. I need the sound of choir of angels singing truth. It means you have some indigenous ancestry. It does not make you indigenous because one puzzle piece in A puzzle of 5,000 pieces has indigenous bloodline. That doesn't make you Indigenous. Not to the extent that you should be speaking for Indigenous people or taking up that space or claiming those positions or that funding. This is not going to be a rant. I promise. This is not going to be a rant. Okay, well. Well, that's the goal. That's the goal. I just want to make sure that my recording is working. Yes, it is. Okay. I got scared there for a second. Point number two, I've always felt Native. Nope. No, you haven't. Stop saying that you felt empathy, joy, sadness. Being Native or indigenous is not a feeling. Don't confuse our blood memory with. With. You just identify with that feeling. And just because something makes sense to you, many Indigenous teachings are common sense. And. And of course, it resonates with you. That doesn't make you Indigenous. Okay, we agree. Awesome. Awesome. If you don't agree, don't come at me. Go do your research. Don't come in, Allison, for being this beautiful soul. Go do your research. Maybe unpack why you were so determined to say you're Indigenous. Like, does your family. Is it what you discuss at family gatherings? Are they wondering why the heck you're acting this way? Point number three, another quote. I love going to powwows and other First Nation events. She goes on to say, yup, I love pizza, but it doesn't make me Italian. You also don't have a spirit animal. Truth. People getting spirit animals off the Facebook quiz. Give me a break. And just because you see an animal on a regular basis, they're probably common to the area you're hanging out in. Doesn't make them your spirit animal. Get real. And guess what? A lot of people like going to powwows. I'm trying to think of something I like going to that is not my culture. I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but I'm certain you could. Number four, I don't know my family background, but I've been told I'm indigenous, so that's the quote. Maybe, but unless you have lived experience, that's not relevant. She Alison's got Irish ancestry, but she doesn't claim to be Irish Irish because she has no community connection, no experience with the Irish culture and can't even pronounce many Gaelic names. There's my point. Just because you have that one indigenous puzzle piece, zero lived experience. I know I used to ask people, how have you suffered for being indigenous? And I know Ryan McMahon, who is a very well known. He did the Canada Land series or no, he did like the Spotlight on Thunder Bay. He's a stand up comedian, he's been on the national quite often and he used to ask what community claims you, what community knows you. Right. So just because you've been told and there's a whole bunch of people that have been told they're indigenous and there is nothing in their ancestry. So no, hard unpack it, go find out for sure. And again, if it's generations ago, that doesn't make you indigenous. That makes you someone who has some indigenous ancestry. There's a difference. And number five, I don't know why indigenous people keep questioning my identity. This is where Allison got all my love and support her response to that statement. Because among indigenous people and communities, it's more normal to ask where you're from, who your family is, find out if we're cousins or not. No one gets upset about this except people who don't have the answers. I ask it all the time, where you from? And I'm not talking Thunder Bay, I'm talking about your community. Where are you from, who's your family, what's your family tree, what's your bloodline? I ask it all the time. And yep, some people get really upset with me. Tough nuggies. People ask me all the time and they should look at the way I look. I don't look stereotypical. Indigenous. But I am. So ask me. I cheer people when they ask me because they should be checking to make sure I'm Indigenous. If they're hiring me to do some kind of training involving indigenous peoples, they should be vetting me. So ask. And we're going to keep asking. If that makes you uncomfortable, quit saying you're indigenous. Easy peasy. And then after her five points, Alison decided to summarize this with the do's. Educate yourself about Indigenous issues, cultures, appropriation and identity fraud. Admit when you're wrong and do better. She signs off written as a white settler ally who's still learning thanks to the patience of First Nation family and friends. You notice she acknowledges she has first nations family. She has Indigenous family members. Doesn't make her Indigenous. You do not become Indigenous by who you're sleeping with. And there's definitely people out there who are acting otherwise. So I hope that helped. 23andMe is not going to make you Indigenous. I've always felt Native. Not going to do it. I love going to powwows. Not good enough. I've been told I'm Indigenous by family. You better check that out. And if you don't have lived experience, still not going to qualify you for those jobs, those fundings, that space. And I don't know why Indigenous people keep questioning my identity. Because we do. We like to find our own. We love to meet our own. So we have to ask. I hope that made sense. I hope that helped you out. I'd love. Do you know people who have used any of those points to say they're Indigenous? Now you've got the knowledge and the. The tools to call them out on that. Let's hold the space for the people with real lived experience, because that's who we're trying to build bridges to. I hope that made sense. Until next time. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye.