Sandi L Boucher argues allies should stop using 'decolonized' and start saying 'Indigenous-centered' instead. The key shift: Indigenous people aren't part of Canadian history. Canada is part of Indigenous history. This reframes who came first and how to actually center Indigenous knowledge.
Chapters
If you've spent any time on my YouTube channel, you've heard me talk about decolonized spaces and Indigenous centered spaces. Well, here's a statement to wrap your head around. Canada is white centered space situated on Indigenous lands. If you don't see the problem with that, then you should definitely be subscribing to my channel. But today I want to throw out another quote to you that might help you understand Indigenous centered better. Let's talk about it. 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, and as I mentioned in the opening, I wanted to talk about Indigenous centered spaces. So it is the difference between reclamation of Indigenous culture and decolonization. Do you see the difference? One is focused on the Indigenous Knowledge. The other statement, decolonization is still centering whiteness. It's talking about eliminating that influence. But it's still focused. It's still white centered. I wanted to share a quote with you today that as an ally, you should totally not only get this, but embrace this. Because if you do, you're going to be standing on way more solid ground as you do your allyship work. So here's the quote. Canada in. Well, I'm going to backtrack here. Indigenous people are not part of Canadian history. Canada is part of Indigenous history. Let me repeat that. Indigenous people are not part of Canada's history. Canada is part of Indigenous history. And what that does by adopting that phrase, what that does is undo the mistake that is still in way too many history books being used by our impressionable youth and students. The history didn't start when the settlers got here. As Indigenous people, we had chapters upon chapters upon chapters of existence and growth and development and invention. Before the settlers arrived, Canada became a chapter in our very long story. And yes, the chapters have continued, yet entered at like chapter whatever, 2532. And we've traveled together since. But we have to start acknowledging the chapters that existed before. Before the settlers arrived. That's an Indigenous centered statement and actually happens to be a factual one. So again, Indigenous people are not part of Canadian history. Canada is part of Indigenous history. And it doesn't start at the first chapter. I hope you get that. I hope that makes sense. Did that blow you away? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Comment below. Please don't forget to subscribe. And again, as always, if you're not yet confident enough to use your voice to help educate people on Indigenous engagement recruitment or retention, then do me a favor and please share mine. Share this YouTube video, share my YouTube channel and help me to get the the word out there. Because we need a lot of voices to make this happen. Until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye.
