A short YouTube talk by Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt, Loon clan, Seine River First Nation, Treaty 3 Territory) about Manaaji'idiwin — Respect — one of the Seven Grandfather Teachings. Boucher explains the Anishinaabe meaning of respect (menage dewin / go easy on one another, including all of creation), cites a translation from the Seven Generations Educational Institute, and gives concrete practices: taking only what is needed when harvesting medicines, hunting/fishing responsibly, offering tobacco and thanking animals, and using all parts of an animal. She critiques practices like trophy hunting and taxidermy as disrespectful, notes a nearby Treaty area's phrasing emphasizing manners and human rights (Robinson Superior 1850 Treaty Area), and shares a cross-cultural anecdote about differing expectations for how people want to be treated. The talk emphasizes humility, interdependence, and asking others how they wish to be treated.
Questions this video answers
Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, Seine River First Nation, Treaty 3 Territory).
Menage dewin (translated as 'to go easy on one another' / respect).
Seven Generations Educational Institute.
Robinson Superior 1850 Treaty Area.
December 26, 2023.
Chapters
And I am back. As I shared yesterday, Creator is showing off again. And I thought I was going to be sharing clips from keynotes and virtual events I had done. Because if you're watching my YouTube channel, there's a really good chance you've never seen my live events. Didn't turn out that way. Creator reminded me I had five videos to release and there were five grandfather teachings left to talk about. So yesterday we talked about. What did we talk about? Yesterday we talked about humility. The bridge builder. Today we're going to talk about one that is a term or a word used in English that has a totally different meaning in Anishinaabemowin. Let's talk about respect. Hi, everybody, it's Sandy Boucher here once again. 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 believe it or not, I'm on my winter break right now. By the way, I'm absolutely enjoying the time off, but I have a responsibility to you. That's the way I look at it. With a gift comes responsibility. As I shared last week, week on Monday in my little speech clip, you are a gift to me and I take the responsibility of our relationship very seriously. So I wasn't just going to ignore you for two weeks. Oh, and make me a lousy relationship to be in. So I'm releasing these videos to prepare us for an amazing 2024. This to this video's topic is respect. And in Anishinaabemoan. Is respect. Are you ready for this? Remember how I said, like I'm so Treaty 3A very blunt, very direct. I find that Treaty 3's interpretations of the Seven Grandfather teachings are very close to the literal translation of the word. So I think if I asked you what respect is like, you'd be able to give me some kind of definition. Listen to this again. This is from the Seven Generations Educational Institute. You can Google them. You can find all of this on their website. Respect. I love this so much. This I am Trudy3 and this resonates with me. Deboe Win to me. Truth to me. To go easy on one another, meaning all of creation. Respect. Menage doing. To go easy on one another, meaning all of creation. So there's two aspects to this. Go easy on each other. The first is very much rooted in humility, in that we need each other to survive. This is moving away from those. I don't need anyone. I can do it all on my own. Death is the most unhealthy thing a human being can say. I am sorry if you've ever said that. I'm sorry if you've ever been hurt so much that you thought you had to or that it led you to that dark place. We need each other. And I hope soon you find the healing you need to open your heart again. Because, like, wow, those walls you were building to try to protect yourself is also keeping out all the good stuff. Don't believe me Out Brene Brown's work. The other thing, going easy on each other so not hurt each other really applies when you think of traditional Anishinaabe hunting practices. Yes, it's lunchtime. I should have eaten something. I always say that we are taught, whether it's gathering the sacred medicines or hunting or fishing, whatever the case may be. May be. You take what you need, you leave the rest. You never take all you can in that greedy way. You go easy on each other. When you're picking the medicines, you pick them carefully. You don't take the whole plant so that there's more medicines the next year. You take only the fish you need to feed your family and leave the rest. When you take an animal, many, many people offer tobacco and thank that animal for giving up its life so that your family can live. And you use every part of that animal, which is why, like trophy hunting or bringing down a moose just for the antlers so you can show off that you're a great hunter. So disrespectful. Taxidermy to me is the absolute worst. Unless you're okay with me taking your grandma and stuffing her and hanging her on a wall. I want nothing to do with the beautiful deer being reduced to his head on a. The disrespect of that makes me ill. You may not agree with that. That's Anishinaabe worldview. I'm not going into your house if there's stuffed animals. So disrespectful. So. So think of someone taking your dead loved ones and putting. Remember, Anishinaabe, we're not better or worse than the animals. There's no that hierarchy. Man is at the top. Bs. Man's not even smart enough to take care of the very environment they need to live. Like, that's. That's ego. That's not humility to go easy on one another. Make sure that we are around to help each other, including Mother Earth. So now let's go over to Robinson Superior 1850 Treaty Area. Again, this information I got from Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship center, which is the city where I live. Oh, it's not next. Okay. Because remember, I thought they were exact opposite of each other. So respect is. Respect is third on the list. Oh, they're in the exact same place. According to 1850 Robinson Superior Treaty area, to honor all of the creations is to have respect. Respect yourself. Treat others how you would want to be treated. Make sure your interactions with others are positive by showing positive manners, speaking kindly and honoring a person's human right to be who they are. Accepting feedback is helpful in considering different outlooks on life. I'm sorry. From my Anishinaabe perspect that sounded like colonialism has touched that that positive manners, be respectful and manners. And I have personally learned that treat other people how you want to be treated is going to blow up in many cross cultural relationships. It's not about treat them how you want to be treated because that reinforces that everyone's like me and that's not true. Treat them how they want to be treated. Great. I ran into that. I keep bopping my. I tried to move my mic closer and now it's too close. I'm not going to say what happened, but I traveled to a foreign country and without even thinking about it, I just treated people the way I was taught to treat people. Like my mom, only to be informed at the end of the journey that I was the most disrespectful person they had ever met. Because I wouldn't engage in the debate with my host. My mom would have reached down and slapped me if I ever started arguing or debating with my host. But that was a cross cultural and they were not wrong. They had the right to value what they want to value. I just made the mistake of treating others like I would want to be treated and never once considered how they would want to be treated. We're going to bring this feather together. It's not about what we think is right. It's about asking. Asking. You know this. I've talked about this. So today we were talking about menage de winaj de win respect until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye bye.
