Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt, Loon clan; Seine River First Nation, Treaty 3 territory) argues from an Anishinaabe medicine-wheel perspective that political leadership should shift toward younger elected officials while elders serve as advisors. She critiques elder-dominated mainstream politics (citing US leaders' ages) as poorly adapted to technological and societal change, highlights youth traits—vision, willingness to try, stake in the future—and proposes reverse mentoring as a model for guidance and consequence-awareness.
Questions this video answers
Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt), woman of the Loon clan, member of Seine River First Nation in Treaty 3 territory.
July 15, 2024.
She says Biden is "81 now" and that Trump is "like 76."
Chapters
Hello, you absolutely amazing person, you. We're starting the week off different today. I'm doing something different today in that I'm not speaking to something that is either Indigenous specific or Canadian Indigenous relations specific. You've heard me talk a hundred times about the two sides of the feather or the wampum belt and how we got to learn to swim in the lane, the water between the lanes, that. That for the longest time it was white supremacy. It was non Indigenous settlers and settler descendants telling us we were wrong and our ways of being and looking at things or doing things was inadequate and. Or just wrong or uncivilized. And that we must learn how to do things their way. Well, this is one of those times where I'm looking at mainstream and I'm thinking, maybe you need to listen to us. So today let's talk about politics and specifically old guys. Let's talk about him. Hi, everybody. My name is Sandy 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 before I jump into what is probably going to be the most ageist thing I have ever said in my life, but I'm still going to say it because I think it has value. I wanted to touch on the medicine wheel for a second, and you may be familiar with it. A lot of indigenous nations use it as a teaching tool. Excuse me, I want to be crystal clear. It is not a sacred item. It is literally just a teaching tool to remind us of some sacred teachings that are encapsulated in our world view. And one of the things it represents, one of the things the four colors represent is the four stages of your life. The baby stage, the youth stage, the adult stage stage, and the elder stage. And one of the things the medicine wheel highlights is the fact that every single one of those stages has value and should be paid attention to that. There are key lessons in each stage. For example, the babies. Everything is exciting, everything is new. And they are so willing to try something new, even when they feel fail multiple times. The example I always give is the toddler, or like barely a toddler trying to get the TV remote. Excuse me, Sorry, Just had some yogurt and it's stuck in my throat. The toddler trying to get the TV remote off the coffee table. Like, they reach and they fall and they try to reach again and they fall. And they will do it. And I guarantee you they're ending up with a remote unless mom or dad comes and moves it or moves them. So that persistence, that excitement, that willingness to try new things because everything is new and exciting, that childlike enthusiasm, the baby stage reminds us to hang on to that. The youth stage. Now the baby stage is a learning stage. The next stage is a learning stage as well, except it's higher learning. The youth are natural born activists. They see the problems in our world and they're like, that is not working. Why do you keep doing this? Why don't you try this now? Unfortunately, the youth are often quickly dismissed because they're passionate or largely because, well, you've only been around for 17 years. Like it's so dismissive and so ageist. When they are still the visionaries, they still see possibilities and they see problems in systems that they're not a part of. They have that outside view, that other view that is so important. The adult stage is an action stage. Now you've done your learning in the baby stage and the youth stage now is when you're supposed to implement it and make the changes you identified in the youth stage stage. Contributing to your community, to your world, to your family. It's not all about me. That's more the younger stages, the adult stages is now responsibility and service and community. And of course the elders now have the wisdom of looking back over the whole journey. The elder stage is not an action stage. The elder stage is an advisory stage. That those words of wisdom, the history repeating itself and being warned that we can't do this. In my culture, Anishinaabe culture, elders are revered. We value someone who's been on the planet for 76, 78, 82 years. Not so much in mainstream now. Why the review of the medicine wheel? Because it directly plays into what I'm talking about today. I will admit. Pay attention to US Politics largely because it quickly becomes in so many ways Canadian politics and the insanity that is Trump, you can already see happening in Canada. That mindset that it's just so close minded and so self centered and so not inclusionary scary AF in my opinion. But today wanted you can't watch u. S News and not hear age come up, especially because of Biden and his age. I believe he's 81 now, so he'd be like 85, 86 by the time he finished his second term. If he gets in again, Trump is like 76. He's not farther behind or not much further behind. And there are challenges that come with being an elder, which is why the elders are not. It is not an action stage. That is not the role of those people and that is what I wanted to talk about today. Yes, I don't have the handy dandy index card. I emailed myself again. So two things are playing into this. What I'm seeing on the news in politics and the fact that last week I had a chance to take part in a podcast. I don't think it comes out for a couple of months, but it was about mentoring and specifically reverse mentoring. Whereas when you think of mentoring, it's often an older, more experienced person mentoring the newcomer, the new employee, the one with zero experience. With reverse mentoring, it's the younger person mentoring the older person. Maybe technology based or whatever the case may be. Or if they're servicing a youth audience, then the youth has that insight, right? So it's the reverse mentoring. So here's my crazy idea. What if our elders were not the elected officials? What if the youth were. Now, don't get me, don't, don't panic yet. Let's think about it. Remember, we're trying to figure out how to swim between the lanes. You got to consider alternatives. The youth see the problems, right? Because they're new to this world. And when they're presented with something, it's like, well, they don't have that. They're not tainted by. We've always done it this way, right? So they see the pitfalls and the challenges and what's not working. 2. They have the passion and the energy to change it. That is a characteristic of youth. Now, do they need guidance? Absolutely. The elders would need, okay, we've tried this before. This is what happened when we tried it that way or we've never tried that before. This is what we think the consequences are. And the part that really solidified this crazy idea for me, why do we have these senior politicians that are working to create a world they're not gonna be here to enjoy? The biggest stake is we can't put the babies as politicians, obviously. So they're kind of out of this discussion. But the biggest stakeholders are the youth because are for one not part of these discussions right now yet. It's their world, the world they're going to live in that we're discussing. They have the open mindedness, they have the innovativeness. Don't let them do it alone. Of course they need guidance and support from people with experience. But maybe it's time to start listening to the people that are actually going to have to live with the decisions that are made by these old people that aren't going to live with the decisions. Doesn't that make sense? That's Medicine wheel. So no more old. I'm looking at what I wrote here. No more old politicians experience in a world that no longer exists. So the older politicians, they have experience in a world that we're not living in anymore. These are people that grew up before technology, before the Internet. There it is not relevant experience. Instead, young decision makers with older advisors simply to lay out consequences. If they totally screw up things. Well, they're the ones that are going to pay the consequences. So they have the incentive not to. Because we shouldn't be voting to design the country we won't be living in. So that is a hundred percent my indigenous cultural lens. But like we're seeing these old men making decisions for women, making decisions for younger people based on experience that is no longer relevant. The system is broken in my mind. And if you don't want to go all the way, well then we gotta at least get some younger politicians in there. And we have younger politicians running in Canada. Doesn't mean they aren't screwing up. Doesn't mean they don't have bad ideas. We're not talking about perfection here. But I believe in our youth. I believe. You know what? It is hard to hear. Thanks, mom. You totally, your generation totally screwed that up. It is hard to hear that they're also not wrong. So just putting it out there, maybe. Like I know in the States they're talking about age limits. Now. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Change the positions, go into the elder stage, go into the advisory stage. But in Canada, we definitely get adults in the the leadership roles. I want to start hearing from the youth, and not just as a youth delegation that's allowed 10 minutes to speak at some gathering. It's their future. Why not give them the power to design it? Because they're the ones that know the consequences. They are the ones that will feel it. Dying to know what you think. I know it's wild and crazy. And if you're non indigenous, it might just be too far out there for you to consider. But I leave you with this. If you can't consider it, that's a choice. You are consciously choosing not to swim in between the lanes. You are consciously choosing to hang on to something just because it's always been around. And you know what? During lockdown, the businesses that refused to pivot died. Adaptation decides who gets to go on. You adapt with the changing environment like the animals do every single day. And then you get to still be here. Maybe, just maybe, we need to respect our elders without expecting them to be the leaders. And we pass that to the people who will live the decisions. Food for thought. Until tomorrow. I look forward to this week with you. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye.
