Man Camps, Work Trains & My Personal Story

Foreign. Hey guys, it's Sandy Boucher here. Mishkopaganan Kwei Nadishnagas, Mang Dodam. 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 this is yet another one of our member only videos. I just noticed how many cat toys are all over my living room floor. I have. I have messy roommates, I guess. Anyways, good news. I figured out, I guess, a benefit of the member only videos. Well, from my perspective. I'm hoping there's a benefit from your perspective. But what I realized is the member only videos are going to allow me to share so much more and at a much more personal level. Because the reality is the member only videos are safer. I don't need to worry about trolls attacking with the member only videos. No troll is going to pay to watch videos. Just a troll. So I know the people in my membership. I know you are dedicated to learning, and not only learning, but supporting my work as well, which is such a beautiful act of reconciliation. So I am truly looking forward to being able to show a more complete whole image through the member only videos. And that's definitely what I wanted to do today. Most of you if you've been watching my videos would know that I'm completing the Yellow Head Institute Land Back course and I highly recommend it. It's longer than I thought it was, but I'm doing it in bite sized chunks. I'm running my business at the same time, so if I can do it, anyone can do it. I'm as busy as anyone out there, but it is definitely worth the time it takes. It will blow you away. By the way, Riley, yes, no is involved. I did not know that until I watched a video today. But the section I'm on now is the impact on gender of not only the Land Back movement, but the actions that were taken that necessitated the creation of the Land Back movement. And this got personal because at one point they mentioned the man camps. And what that is is basically think of a camp set up by a mine or a logging company or whatever the case may be that is usually staffed by a high percentage of men. And often, more often than not, what happens is the cases of sexual violence against indigenous women in that area goes through the roof. Now, 99% of the time, the only women in the area are indigenous women. We're talking about remote communities and we're talking about using alcohol to entice people. It's just horrific and it is unregulated no one's watching what happens. A whole lot of, well, they're adults. Hard pass on that. We're really pushing the definition of adults in a few cases, more than a few cases. So. So that whole unworthy victim, again, the indigenous being less than. It doesn't matter if, if they're assaulted. It's just, just guys being guys, boys will be boys. And it really got me thinking about stereotypes and how willing we are to unpack the stereotypes, because if we're not, we're not going to get anywhere. And I know I've told this story before, but it's been forever, so I thought I'd share it again. And it's not to do with the man camps, but something incredibly close. So I grew up in a small northern Ontario town. I did not grow up on a First Nation community because my dad's French and he worked in the local sawmill. So. And I'm talking remote and I'm also talking small. We're talking 400 people. So every summer when I was a kid, we. Our town was located on the CN rail tracks, Canadian National Railway, the train tracks. And every summer the work crews would come out. So it would be a trick, several train cars, the. The bunk type cars, not storage, but the living quarters type train cars. And three, four or five of them would show up and just kind of be stopped on the tracks. And we knew they were there doing work, repairing the tracks, whatever the case may be. And they would show up overnight, no one knew they were coming, and they would disappear just as quickly when the work was done, which could be two, three, five, seven days from now. And I can honestly say now. So before I get into that, when I was living in the gta, my partner at the time, when we first started dating, he'd be the first to admit he had some very interesting views of indigenous people. And he came home from work one day and he just like bust through the doors. He was so excited to talk to me. You could tell he had something to share. And he was just like bursting. And he said, I've got proof that Indigenous people are insane. That's a great way to start a conversation. And I was like, okay, what? Tell me, what are you talking about? And he worked in roads, maintaining the roads in the region we lived in. And I guess a co worker told him that the coworker used to work for CN and used to work in the northern communities in northern Ontario where I grew up. And he shared with my partner how he can remember pulling into certain communities Whether it was a municipality or a First Nation community, and sometimes being met by indigenous men with guns. And he said, just, indigenous people are crazy. So this is what my partner came home with. So I shared with him that I know about the trains. He was talking about the work trains. I had seen them as a child. They came to my hometown. I said, but I want to share, like, some information with you. And then you. Of course, the notifications are, these are member only. These are personal chats. They're not going to be perfect. Sorry about that. Forgot to put the do not disturb back on. So I said I was going to share some more information with him and see if it changed his perspective. And I told him I remembered those work trains, and not only that, that I hated those work trains with a passion. And he was very shocked to hear that. And he said, why? Like, what are you talking about? The guys were just there to do their work. And I explained to him that I hated the trains because the minute they showed up, like when we got up in the morning and we notice the trains were there, the. The cars were there because we could see it from the house I lived in, I was instantly grounded until they left. And my partner thought that was very unusual. And he asked me why. And he. I explained to him that in the words of my mom, she was okay with me being angry at her and hating her for grounding me, but little indigenous girls gets dragged behind those trains, and she would rather I dealt with my anger towards her than the memory of what happened to me because I got dragged behind a train. My partner was the dad of a seven, eight year old little girl at the time. And the look on his face said it all. So I asked him, I said, imagine that your little girl got dragged behind the trains the last time they were there. Do you think maybe you'd be tempted to meet them with a rifle to protect your kid the next time they showed up? His silence said everything. So you may have heard stereotypes about indigenous people. You may even have seen things that reinforce it. That doesn't mean you have the complete story. And by the way, when I was a teenager, older, working in the. I got to finish the story here because I like the way it ended. When I was older, like 17, 18, I started working in the small grocery store in our hometown. And I was at work one day when all of these young men, because they'd always be late teens, early 20s, came into the store to buy supplies. And we knew, like, I hadn't seen the cars when I came to work in the morning, the train cars. But I knew these were CN guys and one of them took an interest in me, personal interest, wanted to take me out for coffee. And I was very blunt with them. It was like, that is not gonna happen. We know you got your reputation preceding you and we know what you guys are like and how you treat the women and then you just disappear into the night. So he was shocked to hear that. But to his credit, he was also bound and determined to prove that reputation wrong. So I told him he was insane and whatever and I went home after work and I have no idea how we got my phone number, but somehow he got my phone number and he phoned me and he asked me to join him at the local tavern to have a drink. There was no coffee shop open. I had already told my mom about this guy that was determined to prove the reputation wrong. And I said like, he's on the phone. So now she's giggling and she said, well go. Let's see what this. If this guy is worth it, be careful. But let's see, he was in town for about three or four days and we went out several times and that man was never anything but a complete and total gentleman. Kudos to the men who are not a threat to indigenous women. Just had to share that. So I hope you enjoyed this video. I'm looking forward to the behind the scenes sharing I'll be able to do in the safety of the member only videos. Until next time. I love you. Take care. Bye bye.