Indigenous Engagement Training - What You SHOULD and SHOULD NOT Expect!

Yesterday we talked about upping your indigenous engagement game and how many people are interested in that, whether it's small business owners, teachers or next door neighbors. But to up your indigenous engagement game, you have to take some training from an indigenous engagement trainer who hopefully is indigenous. Today I want to talk about what you can and cannot expect from that trainer. Let's talk about it. Bonjour Mishko Paganong Kwei Nidishnikas Mang Do Dam. Hi everybody. My name is Andy 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 today we're talking about indigenous engagement trainers. In other words, people like me. Now first comment, as I mentioned in the opening, an indigenous engagement trainer should be indigenous and I know I'm getting backlash on that. Don't care that this is me being blunt and honest like I talked about yesterday, how is anyone else? The only reason you would hire an indigenous engagement trainer that is not indigenous is for your comfort level. And of course there's all those companies out there that have a DEI person and, and for example, I've run into many dei, Diversity, equity and inclusion. For those not aware, I'm run into many DEI professionals that happen to be the homes tend to be black women, which amazing. I would never do a session on engagement with black people. How could I? I couldn't tell you what you're going to trip over or what word is going to cause you a problem because that is not my cultural knowledge. So these people are phenomenal. But when they are then expected to teach on Indigenous engagement, Pam Baumanner comes to mind if it's convenient. It's not reconciliation. They that is not going to help you. So bottom line, if you want to learn about Indigenous engagement, hire an indigenous person to train you on indigenous engagement. That's going to make some people uncomfortable. Reconciliation is uncomfortable. Learning new things is uncomfortable. So second point, they need to have the ability to create a safe space. You as a non indigenous person need a place where you can ask your questions without being crucified, where you can say I don't understand what is reconciliation? I've never heard of Indigenous engagement. What does that mean? What is cultural appropriation? Right. There's so many terms out there. No one should be made fun of or ignored or expressed, expected to know these things. If you don't know, you don't know. That's a conversation that needs to be had. So Indigenous engagement trainer, safe space. You shouldn't be Able to ask your questions. What you. So you can expect that. Expect a safe space. Expect someone that is open to hearing your question and providing you with an answer. What you should not expect is a robot. So obviously we do our training. We need to do a lot of training and a lot of healing before you can do this work. Because I have heard some seriously problematic things. Part of a question that in my younger years would have totally triggered me and I've just become a master of recognizing that this is what the person was taught that when they were a three and four year old, we didn't know racism at that age. Racism is taught, stereotypes are taught. So I stopped being upset with the person and went to. I wish they had never been taught that. The phrase I always use in seminar is like, okay, I'm going to push back on that a little bit because they've said something that is factually wrong, it's inaccurate. So I am going to correct that. That's what you should expect, that you will get corrected. I run into way too many people not in my seminars. These are the people not yet comfy enough to go to a seminar that want us to celebrate your effort. Well, at least I'm here. No, no, of course you're here. I think you wanting to put in effort for us to work together is kind of the bare minimum, isn't it? And if you come to a seminar and you say something that is stereotypical, it falls in line with those racial stereotypes and it's wrong, I am going to correct you. I'm not going to attack you, but I am going to correct you. And that might make you feel uncomfortable. Back to the statement, a safe space is not a comfortable space. A safe space is comfortable enough to have uncomfortable discussions. And if you come at me with something and the way you phrase it is like there's a difference. I call her walking softly. There's a difference between saying, I don't understand why first nations people don't. Whatever the thing is and why don't they just. Did you hear the difference that judgment in the second one? So if you come at me with that judgment, do not be surprised if I say, okay, whoa, okay, we're, we're gotta back that down a bit. We're gonna rephrase that because again, non indigenous education can't be at the price of indigenous pain. I'm not doing this so you can attack me. I'm not standing up there as a dart board and you just get to throw whatever at me. We're going to come into the space with respect. I'm going to respect you. And maybe you're not knowing and not understanding and help you with that. I need you to respect me as well. So what you shouldn't expect is a robot. What you should expect is pushback and correction in a safe space. So, and I look at it as saving you, saving you from being your own worst enemy. Because in that safe space, I can say, oh, you don't want to use that word. Here's a better word to use. Here's why you don't want to use that word. And now that we got that out of the way, I'm going to answer your question. Pushing back is not attacking. Correcting a falsity is not attacking. And what I need you to do is look up white fragility. Because often people, non indigenous people come into these spaces and this work and they want to learn, but they're so on edge, they're so fragile that any kind of pushback they take offense to. You have to be willing to unpack if, if everything was hunky dory, the way you believe things, we would have reconciled a long time ago. Obviously, there's things that need to be unpacked and you need to be willing to unlearn what you previously thought was true. Not that we're going to hate the people that taught you that because they probably thought it was true, but if you want to increase your indigenous engagement and engage with this trainer and get the most out of this opportunity that that training represents, because it's huge, then expect pushback. Expect to be to have your vocabulary, your phrasing, your wording adjusted for your sake and for mine eventually. Because if you actually make the changes, then you're not out there hurting indigenous people. So remember, you came into the seminar because you didn't want to hurt people. You want to be part of the solution. If you're using a word that's going to be problematic, we need to be able to point that out to you. So you can expect a safe space. You can expect the opportunity to be able to ask your questions. You can expect pushback, you can expect correction, and you might even see emotion. Now, I, I love the comments on here and I've been watching the comments and one of the things that has really been detrimental to indigenous people for generations is the policing of our voices. Don't get so emotional. Don't get so loud. Don't get so passionate. I was just asking a question. Don't tell us how to be, because that's the problem we're trying to correct. We are who we are and we can be very passionate about Indigenous issues, challenges Indigenous culture, Indigenous strength and resilience. I am passionate to the nines. I don't attack people. But I am going to push back if something problematic is said. That's what you should be able to get out of an Indigenous engagement session on honest, respectful training that is actually going to help you. It's not a fake pat on the back. It's not a good job you showed up. It is actually training so that we can unpack the suitcase of all those stereotypes we've been handed and actually being able to work together in a respectful way. I hope that makes sense. Have to check my handy dandy card. Make sure no policing. We appreciate the effort, but need more than just effort. Be kind, like you should expect people. I'm always kind. I'm not going to attack anyone. But if you come at me with judgment, you're going to meet a wall before you meet a bridge. I'm not there to be attacked either one. Like I said, be willing to unpack, be willing to unlearn. And if you want to police anyone's words and emotion, police yourself. Make sure you come in there with an open mind, willing to learn, because things have to change. That means the things you've been taught probably have to change or at least be clarified so we can really start building these bridges. I hope that makes sense. I hope. And by the way, if you have taken the Indigenous Engagement training and it was less than that, follow up because you worked hard for your money and you deserve quality training. And that's what quality Indigenous Engagement training looks and sounds like. If you have questions, comment below. As always, like subscribe notifications, all that, blah, blah, blah. I will see you tomorrow. I can't remember what tomorrow's video is. I guess we'll find out. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye.