In Light of Trump's Speech, 10 Things to Remember ...

In this absolutely crazy time in the world, I think it is really super important to remember a few things in light of the insanity that's going on below the border. Yesterday I sat down and wrote a list of things that I think we need to remember because we are not the U.S. those of us blessed to be living within Canadian borders, those of us living in on Indigenous traditional territory, we need to remember. In the same way that you prepare for a cold winter, we have to prepare for the years to come. I know there's a whole bunch of people that just don't want to talk about it and don't want to hear about it, and if that works for you and your mental health, then kudos to you. But I've always been the type that I take comfort in knowing the facts. It's the unknown that scares me. So even if it's bad news, even if it's scary af, I want to know so I can prepare, so I can pack a good canoe. In the words of Elsie Quandaments, my dear elder, who passed on far too soon and not that long ago. So today let's talk about the things that we have to remember in light of the insanity. 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 I mentioned in the opening, in light of the insanity just beginning below the border, there are some things we have to remember because even the coldest winter eventually ends. And that was a really easy statement to make considering it's like minus 3 million outside. Of course not. But it's really cold. Yes, even the coldest winter eventually ends, but you buy a coat and prepare for it. You just don't pray, you know, sit around praying the winter's not going to happen, not if you live in Northern Ontario. So I am a huge fan. I. I didn't bubble wrap my, my kids. I prepared them for what they might deal with. It was about coping mechanisms, not praying that the world would be nice to them. Of course I wanted the world to be nice to them, but I armed them with the skills to be able to handle it if it wasn't. So I came up with a list of. I have to look here. 10, I believe. Yes, 10 things that I believe we should remember. First and foremost. I already said it in the opening. We are not the U.S. we are not the U.S. so the decisions that Donald Trump makes do not directly impede us unless it is tariffs or something that we're trying to make Canada the 51st state. So when it directly involves us, it does. But we have to remember that we have our own parliamentary system, that we are a separate country. So yes, they are close, yes, what they do affects us, but we are not the US and we need to take pride in that. Canada is got a lot of issues you got to work on. I'm indigenous. I will be the first to list off the things we have to work on. That doesn't mean we can't be proud to be here. So number one, we got to remember we are not the US Second, and then this is one that came to mind really quickly for me. If you look at how often Indigenous voices are in the news, how often our activists are being heard, how often the Supreme Court backs us because we have the data to back up those rulings in Canada, Indigenous voices are being heard. We've worked a long time and worked really hard to ensure that happens. And not so much in the US when there's some big protest against a pipeline. Absolutely. But on a day to day basis. Often the only time I hear Indigenous voices in the US and it's not even their voices is just to announce that an Indigenous person made it into the Senate or the House, whatever the case may be. So in Canada, Indigenous people have voices and we cannot afford to go silent again. So this is a rally cry to the activists and the indigenous voices, our elders, our teachers, our knowledge keepers, our speakers do not go silent even though it is scary. Silence always benefits the oppressor, which is point number three, that silence always benefits the oppressor. So this rally cry is not just to indigenous but to everyone living within Canadian borders. Because we see the rise of that conservative movement here in Canada too, that wants to restrict and define other people as if anyone can define who someone else is. Canada. That is literally how we got in this mess. Because Canada decided who indigenous people were. They had no clue who we were. And the assumptions they came up with became our stereotypes because they were totally, completely wrong. Did we not learn? I guess not. Silence always helps the oppressor. You do not have, by the way. Silence is also a perfect example of privilege. If you are non indigenous and you're not saying something because it doesn't directly affect you, how nice for you. That is privilege. That is not an option. We have to speak up. Donald Trump the changes he promised in his speech. He is opening the floodgates to hate speech, disguising it as freedom of speech. Again, that doesn't directly affect us. We are a different country. But we saw the first time Trump came to power. I can say personally that racism got way more blatant up here. It will continue to happen. We need to speak up. We need to stop creating safe spaces for hate speech and racism and sexism and homophobia and transphobia. Come on, enough already, enough. Creating safe space for the ugly. Okay, good. Number four, this is going to get dangerously close to a rant, but it's not. It's just that things I want you to remember more. Number four, think I've already alluded to. Can you tell this is all intermingled? Get loud and be proud. I am Anish. I live in the country of Canada on traditional indigenous lands and your disrespect you can keep south of the border. Be loud, be proud. Number five, I definitely already touched on. You got to shut the crap down yesterday. Thank God my chair has arms because I probably would have fallen on the floor. And the thing is about like, by the way, I think I announced it. I know I announced it. I'm off meta. Seeing Zuckerberg at Trump's inauguration just reinforced that decision. So I don't see a lot of social media anymore and I so don't miss it because I know it's going to get even more toxic. Toxic. Ran out of air. My mental health doesn't need that. I don't need that. I'm using my energy to fight a good fight and it can't be drained by some person sitting on their couch spitting out ugly because they got nothing better to do with their time and they're just bitter little people. Anyways, I digress. I was on LinkedIn. LinkedIn, we're hang out with business people and other people that are trying to make a difference. And I had. I came across this post. I don't know why I saw it. I didn't know the human, but this person was going on and on about the fresh start with Trump coming in. After I secured my head because it wanted to implode, I posted it's like, you're kidding, right? And I listed off just some of the things he said in his speech because yes, I watched it. Because yes, I want to be informed. I'm not down with hearing from somebody else, but someone supposedly said I want to hear it from their own face. So I shut it down. And for one, I was very thrilled later on to come back to the post and see he wasn't getting any love. And two, my comments were. So did I expect Backlash of ugly. Absolutely I did. But silence always helps the oppressor. So silence was not an option. Shut down the crap. Go on record shutting down the crap as being someone who is not going to put up with this. Because if you're silent, then your silence is acceptance. Right? You're saying it's okay to be ugly around you, then I know where you stand and I don't want to be around you. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. That was the first five. How you doing? Number six. I've seen a lot of videos on TikTok about this. In light of the changes where social media is concerned, it is going to become more and more important that just because you see something online, don't believe it's true. I'm not saying totally dismiss it. It might be true. What I'm saying is doing your research. Do your research. Like the Elon Musk Nazis salute when I first saw it, well, actually I didn't know what happened. I didn't see. I didn't stick around for Elon's speech. I had no interest in Elon's speech. It was Trump's speech I wanted to hear. But when I first heard about it was actually on blue sky and it was actually someone saying that the reports that he did that were false, that it was actually clips from the speech that he had posted on X about. So that's how I first learned of what he did. And I was talking to my daughter about it and it just took a few clicks, a little bit of research to see there was a whole bunch of media outlets and clips from his actual speech on inauguration day showing him giving the Nazi salute. And you can say that it was what, a Roman salute or whatever. That's still oppressive. So that neither here nor there. And we all know what it was. Don't minimize it, don't dismiss it. We made that mistake before World War II. Let's not make that again. Ugly is ugly is ugly calling out. So do your research. Because when something does actually happen, it's not reported on in just one site or Source. It is you. 10. And even if you don't believe in traditional media sites, it's everywhere. So then that's how you know there's a really good chance it actually did happen. Different places are going to have different slants on it. Tread carefully. This is not back in the day when if it was in the paper, it was real. And even that's debatable. So do your research. Get good at doing your research, especially before you share it. Because that's how fake news gains momentum. People believe it with researching it and they share it. And you're just as guilty with the sharing. Don't do that. Number seven. Can't believe I'm going to say it, but it sums it up perfectly. Love thy neighbor. What's that quote? It's really hard to hate up close. So get closer instead. Call out the stereotypes. I mentioned that in another video. It's impossible to say one thing that applies to every member of a group. That's just ridiculous. And I don't care what the group is. So get to know the people. Don't just assume you know what they're like. And by the way, if you think you know what indigenous people are like, you're actually missing the boat. Because 640 some odd first Nation communities in Canada and they're all different. I've mentioned this a hundred times and Schnabe teachings are totally different from Coast Salish or Mi', Kmaq, right? So assuming all indigenous are the same is like saying all Europeans are the same, no matter what country they come from. It doesn't make any sense. So quit assuming you know about another group. If you hear someone talking about another group as if they're all the same, call out that stereotype and instead, get to know people. Get close, get to know people. That's how we realize how wrong the stereotypes are. Number eight, I alluded to this earlier. Can we all just agree no one has the right to tell someone else who they are. Again, that's what happened in the beginning of Canada with people deciding who indigenous people were, what they did and didn't have, that we didn't have an education system, system that we didn't have, a governance system. All of that was totally, completely wrong, for one. And I'm coming out here loud and proud. I'm bi, right? Most people don't know that. And you can't tell me I'm not. Just because that doesn't fit into your perspective. Yes, I'm female, so that fits into Trump's male, female. But there's a whole bunch of non binary people that are not just going to stop existing because it makes you uncomfortable that they exist. Anishinaabe traditional teachings had eight different genders. I don't know why this. Just because it's different doesn't mean it's wrong. Maybe you've been wrong all along and it's time to enlighten yourself. So what I'm suggesting is stay on your side of the feather. Worry about who you are. Not who someone else is. Leave the other side of the feather alone. If they tell you who they are, believe them. Because who else would know except the person? And like I said, just because it makes you uncomfortable doesn't mean you get to define someone. Canada, we learned this lesson with the Indigenous peoples. Can we please stop now? Oh, another one that I have been saying for years. It's a huge difference I see between Anishinaabe worldview and non Indigenous worldviews. We got to get better at thinking seven generations in the future or even two generations, one generation in the future. Because short term term focus is disastrous. Long term, think of your health. I want to eat a strawberry shortcake for dinner. And you decide to. That's a short term gain, meaning a short term need that. Long term is going to be disastrous if you keep doing that. And far too often in government, I see whoever's in power, this is not party specific, making decisions that affect people now without any regard for the consequences for the next generation or even 10, 50 years in the future. It's why I had a problem with burying nuclear waste up here in northwestern Ontario, because they keep saying the containers are good for 150 years. What happens in 151? How do we get down to wherever you're sinking it to to fix it when it starts leaking? Because guess what, Northwestern Ontario, not a huge population. The indigenous are going to die long before mainstream even notices. I have an issue with that. So we gotta start thinking long term, which is why everyone's freaking out about the carbon tax. And everyone's trying. Trump's trying to back us up on. Not us, the US on all their environmental issues. We are the only animals dumb enough to destroy the place. We need to live. Deer don't do it. Moose don't do it. Rabbits don't do it. We do it. We do it usually for convenience, money or both. We gotta smarten up. We have got to smarten up. And last but not least along the lines of doing your research. When you do see something on the social media, can we stop it with the conspiracy theories? And everyone's out to get you because you know what you're doing when you do that? You're announcing to the free world your victim and mentality. I can't do anything because they're out to get me. They're out to get. No one's out to get you. And I'm Indigenous saying that. Are there awful, oppressive legislation ends? Acts of Parliament in play right now? Absolutely. But guess what? You know who can overcome that us. And I'm not going to put any of my time or energy into analyzing how bad someone else is and what they're doing. No. I got a life to live. I've got change to make. And I got a world to create for my children and grandchildren. That'll be better when I leave. Enough with the conspiracy theories. Sitting around having a beer, talking about, you know, all of those crazy conspiracy series theories is the same as sitting on the couch putting stupid stuff on social media. You're doing nothing. Nothing to improve your way of living. And that's like gossiping, right? You're doing nothing. You may think you're doing something by expressing your opinion. You're not. You're talking. That's all you're doing about. Take that energy and do something to actually improve your existence. Or better yet, the existence of everyone around you. Together, we can do this. We can do this. Remember, even the coldest winter eventually ends. Spring will come. But we got to prepare because I don't want you to freeze. So there's the 10 things I hope you remember going out on a limb, but that's calling it out because we got four wicked years to survive. I don't even want to think about the possibility of it being more than four. We got this. We're indigenous. Talking to you. We've survived worse. We got this. For all you people who haven't survived worse, maybe follow our lead. We know how to do this. We're still here after all. Till tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye bye.