Sandi L. Boucher (Red Thunderbolt, Loon clan, Seine River First Nation) introduces a short video about improving Indigenous engagement by explaining an Indigenous (Anishinaabe/Ojibwe-leaning) worldview that emphasizes ties to the past, future, and the spirit world. She recounts family anecdotes: her mother had an identical twin who died at birth and was told to rally around her, an elder (Josephine Mandelman) confirmed that surviving twins often have a direct tie to the spirit world, and Sandi shares her own experiences including losing a child to SIDS and communicating with ancestors and descendants. The piece invites cross-cultural comparison (comments) and teases a follow-up on ties to the future.
Questions this video answers
Sandi L. Boucher (Red Thunderbolt), member of Seine River First Nation, Loon clan.
October 9, 2023.
Josephine Mandelman.
Chapters
Okay. I'd be the first one to say that discussing Indigenous Canadian reconciliation is serious. Really hard to be serious when we have this going on in the background. Hi, everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher, and this week I want to help you up your Indigenous engagement game by giving you a little insight into an Indigenous worldview. Now, of course, your goal is not to adopt our world view any more than I want you to adopt our teachings. Not talking about appropriation here. We're talking about building bridges. So that's what we're focusing on this week. So let's jump into it. 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 my fur mate, Blue, made an appearance earlier. You never know. Stormy might show up anytime now. Now, this week, I said I wanted to focus on an Indigenous worldview, and that's largely to do with the calendar and the dates that are falling this week. And as we go through the week, that'll make more sense to you. We're going to start off with the October 9 blog post, and it was called, I will never forget her words. If there's one thing about the Indigenous worldview. And of course, I'm speaking from an Anishinaabe slant, an Ojibwe slant. I am not saying this is across the board for Indigenous people, but I've worked with many nations, and I have yet to come across one that doesn't feel a tie to the past and the future, tied to those that came before, a tie to those that come next, and a tie to those in the spirit world. And that's what the Monday blog post is all about. In it, I shared how my mom was half of a set of identical twins and how she lost her twin. Her twin passed away at birth, and she grew up hearing her father instruct her siblings to always rally around her and protect her. And she never understood why, because she wasn't sickly and she wasn't the baby. It just didn't make any sense to her. I had had the chance to work with way more Indigenous elders than she did. She was just coming into our cultural knowledge and learning just how much of her knowledge she still carried. And I had a feeling I knew what that meant, but I wasn't sure. So I took some tobacco and I went to see my elder, Josephine Mandelman, who has now passed on, who is now in spirit world. And I asked her if there was some significance to the fact that my mom had a twin that was in the spirit world. And Josephine confirmed my suspicion that what that means is for the twin still on earth, they have a direct tie to spirit world and the deeper things that only become obvious when we're in spirit world. And that made so much sense to me because she was literally describing my mom. I then went on to share with Josephine that I have a twin in spirit world as well. And Josephine just smiled that knowing grin of hers and said, I know. I have always known of my sister. And I can remember talking to her and talking to my old older sisters as well. My mom had a set of identical twin girls that both passed away shortly after they were born. But as a mom, I actually lost my first child to sids. And I quickly realized that the twin connection is not the only tie to spirit world. I was later to find out that you can still talk to your parents, you can talk to your grandparents, and yes, you can connect with your children. That is common in many indigenous nations, that we see ourselves as a link in a very long chain that we owe those that came before, and we work for those that come next. And I know we're not the only culture that thinks that way. So I'd be really interested in hearing if yours does. Feel free to comment below. Let me know what your culture is. I don't want to make any assumptions. I would love to, love to learn. I'd love you to share. If we have that in common. Tomorrow I'm going to share about a tie with the future. We talked about the past and those that came before tomorrow, a very specific tie to the future. Until then, I love you. Take care. Bye Bye.
