YouTube video by Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt woman, Seine River First Nation) reacting to an APTN news segment and criticizing the sale of Indigenous-style beadwork on Teemu/Temu as cultural appropriation. The speaker praises APTN's inclusive coverage, then rants about mass-produced knockoffs of Indigenous beadwork being sold cheaply online, urging viewers to buy authentic Indigenous-made crafts and avoid Temu to prevent harm to artisans and reconciliation efforts.
Chapters
I was doing so good. I was trying to stay away from the rants. I mean, rants don't help. They don't. When they help you feel better. And sometimes they're justified. But when you're trying to build bridges, I much rather share information that rants. But sometimes you gotta rant. So today we're going to talk about APTN and a new phrase for you. I got to look it up here. Indigenous Craft fraud. 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 today, I want to talk about APTN and Indigenous craft fraud. So Aboriginal People, People's Television Network APTN. Do you get APTN? You need to subscribe to APTN, their news at least. I watch it on YouTube and it never disappoints. So last night I checked out the news, the clip, the video on YouTube. Beautiful indigenous man delivering the news. Just gives you all the warm and fuzzy, discussing issues that are important to indigenous people. I couldn't help thinking, is this what it would have been like if the colonists, the settlers never arrived? That we wouldn't have been marginalized and made invisible? Of course, he wouldn't be speaking in English, but you get my point. Don't come at me for that. It's kind of nice to imagine your peoples without the trauma. Anyways, to their credit, at one point in the program they did the weather, national weather, what I loved. Of course, you're not going to be surprised. I don't think you're going to be surprised to hear that they mentioned indigenous communities right along with mainstream municipalities. CBC Radio does that too. But the one thing, I guess, maybe because there's a visual to go with it, because it's a video. I noticed that they didn't just focus on the border, you know. Yes, we all know that's where most people in Canada live, right next to the U.S. canadian border. But that doesn't mean the rest of us don't exist. I loved how they highlighted the temperatures. They picked two or three in every area. They showed a whole bunch more on the screen, but. But they didn't have to list them all off. They didn't have to make it all boring and long to be inclusive, but it was wonderfully inclusive. The other news programs need to take note. So kudos to aptn. Rah, rah, rah. Then I watched the news and the different things they were covering the different court cases, the different celebrations. Ashley calling bull. Yes. Amazing. And then we got to Temu, an indigenous craft fraud. And how the beautiful indigenous beadwork, our earrings are being replicated and sold for peanuts on temu. That is the definition of cultural appropriation. So I had to do this video. I had to rant. Just to be crystal clear. If you are buying beaded easy earrings, indigenous style, indigenous inspired beadwork, and you're paying like five bucks, you are guilty of cultural appropriation. Those crafts, that craft is beautiful. You have to be talented to do it. It takes time and effort and all the goodness that gets put into it. And you can't buy. If you're not buying from an indigenous vendor, you shouldn't be wearing the earrings because you're actually causing harm. And the base, base factor of reconciliation is no more harm. So please stop it. If you cannot afford the authentic earrings, we understand. We forgive you for not wearing them. But buying a knockoff version hurts the artisans and hurts indigenous people and hurts all of our reconciliation efforts. So please don't. Just don't. If you're not sure, check. You will see that it's indigenous created. If it says indigenous inspired, run as fast as you can away. Do not give them your money. And Timu is nowhere to be buying indigenous crafts of any kind. They're beautiful. They deserve to be honored and cherished. The artisan deserves to make the money from their hard work. It is part of our economy. Back away from Teemu. No indigenous crafts on Teemu. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Have you seen them on there? I don't go on Teemu. I have no desire to spend my hard earned money on something that's going to last two days. I go for quality over quantity. Was that always the case? In my younger years, I used a set of encyclopedias for a TV stand. I know what broke is like. I have sold furniture to feed my kids. I know what broke is like. Some things were out of my reach, but I didn't rip people off to pretend they weren't. We can do better. Reconciliation works if we work it. So Teemu indigenous crafts. No. No more indigenous craft fraud. Until tomorrow. That wasn't a really bad rant, was it? I don't think so. Until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye.
