Sandi L. Boucher (Red Thunderbolt) delivers a short spoken reflection unpacking a common non-Indigenous misconception that Indigenous people were "okay" with assimilation and non-Indigenous systems. She introduces herself as Loon clan, Seine River First Nation (Treaty 3 Territory) and argues that mainstream education, Western medicine, and the Canadian justice system historically and currently fail Indigenous people; she calls for decolonization, culturally safe alternatives, and continued learning toward reconciliation.
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Sandi L. Boucher (Red Thunderbolt), woman of the Loon clan, member of Seine River First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory.
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Foreign. Hello, 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 today, really big revelation. This may not apply to my friends and followers and fans because you've already done some unpacking and some healing and some educating. But I've done a couple blog posts lately about how many people I'm meeting, non indigenous people I'm meeting that have nothing, know nothing about reconciliation, know nothing about the efforts of Indigenous people to decolonize. And most importantly, they don't understand why. And maybe you've met some of these people, they tend to say things like, why can't we just go back to the way things used to be? And that is such not only an indicator, but a red flag for me because I hope if you're following my work, I hope you realize that the way things used to be never worked for Indigenous people. And what this blog post is all about, it is called oh my God, you thought we didn't mind. I met people that actually thought we didn't mind another culture educating our children. And that's every provincial school in modern day is still a non indigenous culture educating our children. You thought these people thought that we were okay with Western medicine systems and that our traditional medicines were just discarded, that if it was based in Europe, it had validity and if it was based here, that it didn't. And you thought we were okay with a justice system that has always condemned Indigenous people. No, except up until recently, the assimilation was so huge and our healing levels were so low that no one or a very selective select brave few were speaking up. And now there's so many more of us speaking up saying, you know what? This just doesn't work. It never has. Look at the numbers. Look at the number of indigenous people incarcerated. And no, that's not because we're natural born criminals. It's because it's a justice system that doesn't work for us. And that doesn't mean we're going to be running around doing horrible things. If that's what you're thinking, you need to spend some time unpacking that. And look at the numbers of people in horrible health. That's poverty, that's lack of access, that's lack of traditional medicines in many, many cases. And the education system, like, where's the line between education and assimilation? As educators, if you're still trying to educate Indigenous people so that they can thrive in mainstream, that's assimilation. There's no choice in that. What if we want to stay in our communities? What if we want to return to our traditional way of life? We have that option. I'm an advocate of educating that thrives in both worlds. So indigenous people can go wherever they want and be okay, that we have the skills to be able to adapt and learn. But mainstream is not the only option. So like I said, if you're a friend or follower, a fan of my work, you got this. But I'd be willing to bet you know people that think indigenous people were okay with the systems that we were forced to operate under. Can I be crystal clear in saying no? No, we were not. No, we are not. And that's why this has to change. I hope that makes sense. If not, you got some work to do and you can keep walking with me. We will learn together. Let's get to reconciliation because we got a lot of steps left to take until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye.
