Sandi L Boucher, Seine River First Nation, is recruiting Indigenous speakers for her Traditionally Speaking Inspirational Indigenous Speakers Academy. At nearly 60, she wants to pass on knowledge to people who believe in reconciliation and Indigenous-non-Indigenous collaboration, not angry activists. She's asking viewers to share the video and reach out through her website.
Chapters
I'm looking for the believers, the Indigenous believers in this case. So if you know of any, please share this video with them and get them to email me because I really need to talk to them. Let's talk about it. You. 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 as mentioned in the opening, I need to find the believers. So the reality is I'm cruising up on my 60th birthday and as much as I love the work I do, it is a part of my culture, Anishinaabe culture, to realize that at a certain age and stage you get to the point where you have to start passing on the knowledge, you have to start preparing those that come next, understanding that you're not going to be around forever. And as my 60th birthday approaches, I realize I my thoughts just, just go to that more and more often. I have been in business. I'm now in my 15th year. I have learned so much about running a business, about how to have a strong, respectful, confident Indigenous voice, how to get people to hear you, especially when what you have to share may be contrary to what they've been trying to taught. Now what I am not looking for are angry Indigenous people. And don't get me wrong, I understand why the anger been there, done that. But I promote and believe in reconciliation, which means, and this actually came out of a conversation I had Friday night with a girlfriend. She asked me if there were a lot of people doing the work I do. And for one, there's not a lot of Indigenous people doing reconciliation work. If they are, they often work for a specific corporation. They're not doing it like as a business like I am. So I can work with many different people. And when it comes to Indigenous people as a whole, and this is just blunt honesty and non Indigenous people, you might want to hang on to your chair for a second because this is going to be one of those lightning bolt moments that I'm known for. There's still a lot, and I would go as far as saying most Indigenous people in the communities, especially those I work with, and I've worked with a lot of First Nation communities, most of those people still don't believe that Canada can get it together, that Canada can make the changes or wants to make the changes necessary to end the oppression of Indigenous peoples. Now that really shocked my girlfriend when I said that, that we didn't believe in Canadians, but that is based in Fact that is based in history, that is based in inaction so far. So don't judge us for not believing in you yet. Show us we can believe in you. Show us you're not the cat, as I've said a hundred times. So what I am looking for are who I am looking for, I should say are indigenous peoples interested in the public speaking career who also believe in the future of this country, who steadfast believe that indigenous and non indigenous can work together. And that one of the key ingredients for make that to make that work is the indigenous perspective that we have to share how things sound to us, feel to us, look to us so that our non indigenous counterparts can meet us in the middle of the bridge. That is what I get to do every single day. And it is an honor and it's a privilege. And before my time ends, I would love to be able to train those that come next. So I created way back when, you may not know this way back when I had the Traditionally Speaking Indigenous Speakers Network I thought I think it was called, and I had other speakers that worked with me that didn't really work well because they had varying levels of experience. Experience. And it ended up to be a lot more than I could take, especially at that point. I was still new in business at that point. Now I have the Traditionally Speaking Inspirational Indigenous Speakers Academy. If you want more information on that, go to my website. It is all there. Please share this because while I'm still here, I would love to help empower and magnify, amplify other indigenous voices. And for participants that go through the academy, if I have a couple participants that are totally ready for it, not only am I going to announce when you graduate, not only do you graduate with products, you can start marketing and I teach you how to do that. But some of you are going to be invited to join me in my work. So if that sounds interesting at all or if you know of someone who should hear about this opportunity, please share that video because it is time to pass the torch and it's getting there. And I want to make sure that this, I'm sorry Canada, but I don't think we're getting this together in the time that I'm gonna see. Prove me wrong. Please prove me wrong. Nothing would make me happier. But just in case that doesn't happen before my time is up, I want to make sure that there are people that benefit from all my experience so that they can share their voices. Please pass this video and help me to achieve that goal. I hope that made sense. If you have questions, comment below. Don't forget to subscribe and I'll see you tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye Bye.
