Sandi L. Boucher (Red Thunderbolt, Loon clan) introduces "immigrant envy": admiration for newcomers who keep their culture strong while adapting to Canada. Indigenous youth often lack that core because schools impose non-Indigenous norms from childhood. She argues for land-based teaching and language instruction so Indigenous children learn their traditions before adapting to wider society.
Chapters
Totally different pace today from yesterday. Yesterday was definitely not my usual content. I'm not sure if today is either, even though I did mention it in my book. Today we're going to talk about immigrant envy. And my friend the froggy is going to help me. So 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 as promised today, I wanted to talk about what I call immigrant envy. Now, the first time I spoke about this was in my book the Path, which is my third book. If you want to track that down, you can go to my website or Amazon Cat. But what I was talking about. Let me explain myself and I hope, I pray that people watch this video before they jump into my comments. What I was talking about is I have met so many new Canadians, newcomers, foreign students, a whole bunch of people from other countries, totally different cultural backgrounds, maybe religions that aren't as common here, whatever the case may be. And they come here and they face incredible challenges because of that. They have to learn whole new cultural norms. They have to learn a new language because their employer or the teachers for their children are speaking English or French if you've landed in Quebec. And they have to adjust to this. So why would I envy these people? Well, as I explained in my book, it was because of what happens when they go home. If you've ever been around a personal trainer, like a physical fitness personal trainer, they often talk about your core and how you have to have that core muscle because if you do, that's going to protect your back. That protects you from a lot of different aches and and pains. Why I came up with immigrant envy is because these people know who they are. They at their core know what they believe. They know their language, they know their culture. They're adapting to an external environment that they now have to learn to live in. But they know who they are. And when they go home, they celebrate their culture, they practice their traditions, and they know who they are. They know who they are. That's the phrase you got to focus on because switch the page now and look at Indigenous youth growing up in our First Nation communities. They are never given the opportunity to develop that core from jk, SK or just kindergarten. They go to school and are often taught by someone from a different culture. And even when they have an indigenous teacher, the curriculum is 99.9% of the time, not their own. Another culture is already deciding and Influencing them. By the time our kids get to be teenagers, they are most definitely confused. The world, I. E. Canada has highlighted again and again and again that they're different, but they've never learned how they're different. Like every other young person at that age and stage, they want to fit in, but unless they're in a school with just Indigenous kids, they don't. They definitely don't feel that way, except for rare circumstances. Now I had the opportunity to have this conversation with actually Chief Arnold Gardner, one of our amazing chiefs and elders, and we just lost him in the last year. I was sharing with him, just, just babbling at an event and I shared with him, you know what? If I could wave a magic wand that our kids, Indigenous kids would not leave the communities until they were in high school. They would learn their language, Anishinaabemowin, Cree, Haudenosaunee, whatever the case may be. They would learn their traditional languages, their cultures, their traditions. They would be hunting and fishing and trapping all of. So they know at their core, one, who they are and two, already how to provide for themselves and keep themselves alive. At the same time, in their own language, they would be learning math and they would be learning science, probably as land based teachings, but same principles would be applied. And they would be learning English as a second language or French as a second language so that when they do come out to high school, just like with our new Canadians. Yes, they got to adapt to teachers that speak English or French, but they know who who they are. They have their core. Our kids are confused from the get go. And seriously, I have such an issue with any S system and Canada has many of them historically and in present day. Just bit my tooth that go after kids. If you want to do something, you want to change something that happens with us, you talk to the adults, you leave our kids alone. But that's not the case. And if that. Again, I just want to remind you if that sounds like some other group or what happens in some other part of the world. You know what? Share this video and comment on that on your own social media, not here. Indigenous centered space. So in case you didn't realize it, what I'm talking about is decolonizing, which means in the words of yet another elder, remembering who we were before the others came, remembering how we did things. And all those people that think, well you can't survive like that. Do you know how many Indigenous people would benefit from knowing how to hunt and fish rather than being solely dependent on social assistance because where they live has Zero economic base. It's not because they don't want a job. There are no jobs. So we can keep the judgment at bay. There is something amazing about knowing how to build a house, how to provide a meal, going hunting, going fishing, knowing how to fill that freezer. And we are fully capable intellectually of learning of who we are as well as how to adapt in the outside world. But up until now, because the influence has been non Indigenous, the focus has been on how to function in non indigenous Canada. And it's still that way. We're wondering why Indigenous youth still struggle, why Indigenous adults still struggle. We need the opportunity to build our core. Or you're going to do it like I did, do it backwards, have to unpack all that stuff. Decolonizing your life and your practices. I hope that made sense. I hope that totally made sense. Because we should all grow up in an environment that teaching us, teaches us who our ancestors were, what they did, the struggles they faced, so that we have that core, we know what bloodline we're a part of so that we can hold our head up high. And in Canada, there are just way too many forces at play. They want Indigenous to bow their head in shame. I'm just not playing that game. No one should have to. I hope that made sense. Tomorrow. Tomorrow I got something. Oh, tomorrow. A special video. It's a request. We're going to talk about all those cases where someone cuts an indigenous person's hair and why it's. That's an absolute no go. We're going to talk about it until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye Bye.
