A personal narrative by Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt, Loon clan, Seine River First Nation) reflecting on an emotional encounter with a loon parent and chick at camp. She uses the loon as a metaphor for Indigenous child-rearing, survival teaching, and the necessity of giving youth skills and resilience; she calls for government-funded programs (martial arts, empowerment, anti-racism training) to help Indigenous youth survive in urban settings. The tone is reflective, emotive, and advocacy-oriented.
Chapters
So I'm wondering if this has ever happened to you. You're watching something happening in real life, or maybe on TV or on YouTube, TikTok, whatever. Something happens and suddenly you find yourself just bawling. Not only because you can relate to it, but now you realize maybe you haven't really healed from something. That's what I'm talking about today in this blog and video. It's definitely happened to me recently, a couple of times. It's got everything to do with indigeneity and Canadian reconciliation. So stay tuned. Hello everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the loon clan and a proud member of Seine river first nation in Treaty 3 territory in Northern Ontario. And today we're going to talk about my clan, the loon clan. Now, I posted a little while back just, just a quote, for lack of a better word, one of those sentences, just identifying where my head was at. I had spent some time out at camp recently and I realized that as Anishinaabe Kwe, as an Indigenous woman, as an Ojibwe woman, I find it so much easier to relate to the animals and the birds as my siblings than I would a non Indigenous person in the quote I identified. Maybe that's because the former has never harmed us, that we can just be open to seeing the similarities and to receive teachings from them. And wouldn't it be, wouldn't it be amazing if we could get to the space and place where Indigenous people could look at non Indigenous that way that non Indigenous is no longer a threat, that we could bring our defensive walls down, our survival mechanisms that we have developed over the years, that we could bring those down because. And just focus on the similarities. We're not there yet. So if you run into Indigenous people and maybe they're not as open or maybe they're not as forthcoming, don't blame them. That's Canadian history. But now back to today's blog post, which is called Fly baby Fly. And as I mentioned in the intro, I am a member of the Loon clan and I get up really early and same thing happened at camp. So I found myself sitting at the dock all by myself. And then over in the distance, so quietly, so beautifully, so humbly, here comes a loon. Just do do, do, do do. And I smiled because I haven't seen the loons in so long. I haven't been at camp in ages. And then I noticed in the distance a little ways behind, here comes another one. And I instantly knew this is, this is parent and child. And I thought, she's teaching him how to fish. This is awesome. And sure enough, she would dive and he would dive and on and on and went. And I was just enjoying it. And then no warning. And if you have ever seen a loon take off, well, for one, if you haven't Googled that, it's worth seeing. But if you've seen them take off, it's not a quiet process. I guess maybe it is if they think there's a threat nearby. There was no threat. It's loud, those wings and beating against the water until they get enough pressure and enough, you know, momentum and off mom flu. You may not know this if you don't live in northern Ontario, but when it comes to the end of the season, the parents leave, the parents balloons take off and the new offspring that have been growing and learning all summer are left behind. And they have to make that decision. Like, okay, this is like. Like if you think people invented, you know, tough love and hard parenting, it you could look to the animal kingdom. And I don't believe that's tough parenting. I believe that's survival. I also think we got to go back to teaching our indigenous youth survival how to handle racism, how to handle the city. If the government. Government. Are you hearing me? You really want to help make a difference? You gotta fund martial arts training for indigenous youth. You gotta find empowerment and self confidence training for indigenous youth. You gotta fund anti racism training for indigenous youth. If you can't make your city safe for us, then you can at least help us survive them. Just saying off on a tangent there for a second, but mom took off and the baby was there and I was like. And. And the baby, kind of like, you could almost see him hesitating. And then he started flapping his wings, but he only did it for, you know, not even a minute. And then he gave up. And I was like, she's gone, hon. You gotta fly. And as a loon whose mom is gone now, I understood that fear, that apprehension that, what if I can't do this? And what was incredibly heartbreaking was he tried a few times and then he quit. And he just sat there and he started to call the cry of the loon. And if you've ever heard that, it is heart wrenching. It's so sad and so deep, as if he was trying to call his mom back. And my heart just broke as I whispered to him, she's gone. You have to fly. And the good news to this story is I sat there long enough and he got stubborn enough in true Anishinaabe style and loon mung style. And he did. Before I was gone, he took off and he flew. And I know the mom is so proud of him because she knew we could do it. She also knew he had to. Like, my mom was focused on teaching us everything we needed to know so we could go on without her. That loon mom did an excellent job. I just wanted to share that with you. Coddling your child, Trying to protect them doesn't protect them. Instead, give them the skills they need to handle whatever life may throw at them. Then you can sleep nights. I know my kids are safe. Would have messed with my kids. They're wise and intelligent and compassionate, but they're not naive. Food for thought. Till tomorrow, my friend. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye.
