Reconciliation or EGO Era? WTF?!

Hello again, you super duper delicious person, you. Once again, I'm still shooting videos ahead of time because while you're watching this, I'm going to be up to my neck in unpacking and trying to find my home. But that's okay. It'll so be worth it in the end. Yesterday was Canada Day. The video was shot ahead of time. So I referenced the Canada Day was coming. No, it. That video actually went out on Canada Day. And yes, it involved a rant about land. Acknowledgments Today. Is this a rant? I don't think it's really a rant, but it's. I don't know about you, but lately when you see the news or you hear about what's going on in the world. Well, I shouldn't say the world. More North America. Do you ever just think, wtf? Like, really, seriously? Honestly? Because in my book, the Path, which is my third book, it says communication strategies for the Reconciliation Era. And I do believe we're in the middle of the Reconciliation era. We're in the middle of the biggest learning curve Canada has ever seen. Excuse me. Because for the first time, Canadians are trying to learn how to work respectfully with Indigenous peoples. And that is literally never happened before. But what I realized last night watching some of that news that was making me shake my head is there's another era going on that is causing the Reconciliation Era to fall into the background, to slow that process. And. And the Reconciliation Era is not the only thing taking a hit. We need to talk about this. 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 I said in the opening, I believe that Canada's in the middle of the Reconciliation Era. It's a learning curve. We are trying to figure out how to learn and work together and speak to each other and partner in a respectful way. For the first time in Canadian history that we're moving away from assimilation and mainstream, just demanding that we do it their way and building respectful relationships. Now, don't get me wrong, some groups are a lot further ahead than others. Some are still. I know some corporations that are still 100 assimilation. This is the way we do it. You want to work with us, do it this way. They're behind the curve. There are those late adopters, and there's others that are amazingly give me hope and encouragement. But as I mentioned in the opening, there's something else going on that is really slow slowing the reconciliation process. Not for those that have educated themselves and trained and really become engaged with this, but more for the people that are new to the process. So what am I talking about? Well, I don't know about you, and maybe this is my indigenous lens talking, and maybe it's because I was raised with humility that it wasn't about ego. Because forget handy dandy index card, I sent myself a whole flipping email on this one. I believe we're in the middle of what I call the ego era. And I don't know when this happened, I don't know why this happened, except all I can chalk it up to is ego. People's egos overpowering their common sense because common sense is not common and totally negating their lack of education or experience. So what I'm talking about is just watch the news. On any given topic, suddenly there is no experts or everyone's an expert. We are no longer listening to those that have decades of study or degrees in an area. All of a sudden, scientists and doctors are being. Are. Are questioned and everyday common people who have never studied medicine, never studied politics, never studied law, suddenly think that their opinion is as valuable as the opinion of those who have put in that time and dedicated their time, their life, their brain, their experiences to learning. We have all of these homegrown experts that popped up yesterday. Google experts spewing out about politics, about religion, about medicine, wtf. Like that is the equivalent of all those guys that want to tell me how to run a business who have never run a business a day in their lives. Or all of those people telling you that you should become an entrepreneur. And they're don't. They're not self employed. It is the pot calling the kettle black. It's ridiculous. I wrote down. It's insane. It's dangerous. And yes, I see it in my YouTube comments as an indigenous person commenting on indigenous issues. That kind of makes sense. I have lived this experience for 60 years. I have trained in this topic for decades. Yet some non indigenous person will share their opinion on what we should do or what they see at our powwows and think that it's equally as valuable. What? There are topics that every single person that I've ever encountered, I know I could learn so much from them and they know things about topics that I know nothing about. And I would bow to their wisdom any day of the week. But don't set yourself as an expert on something you have not spent any time studying. This is ridiculous. You know what? This is debweiwen Right. So the seven grandfather teachings, Truth or Debwe Win is one of her seven grandfather teachings. And the way it's defined is to speak only to the extent you know or have experienced. And there are so many people that are speaking half truths and trying to say it is truth and it's not even. I'm going to guess a few people are doing it intentionally, but okay. What they think they know, they think they know. But if you know you have spent no time educating yourself in this field, that you have no medical experience whatsoever and worse, that you're listening to someone that has no medical experience. Wtf? Bottom line, nowadays there is no respect for another person's wisdom, for their lived experience, for their educational value. Suddenly everyone thinks they're an expert on everything. You're not. You're not. Humility teaching. Oh my God. Maybe this is a rant. I should say so. Never managed a Covid outbreak. Shut up. I'm sorry if you have no idea. Now it is really in Canada where our politics are getting as nuts as in the US and holy moly's people love to hate on Justin. And I'm not saying I'm a fan, I'm just saying I don't know about you, but I sure wouldn't want to be the head of a country when that pandemic hit any country, nobody knew how bad it was going to be. Everyone was racing. You're trying to make decisions. And you know what? Canada ran up a heck of a deficit, but they made sure their people didn't starve. So you get my vote. Can't balance your own books, let alone a country. Then maybe you shouldn't be talking about what to do with the budget. Maybe we should be leaving that to the experts. Non Indigenous speaking on up on what indigenous should say or feel. Shut up. Humility teaching. I want to hear from you. I would love to learn from you on the topics you have experience in. Not something yet just learned on Google and decided you now have a master's in. How many years have you spent studying this? How many years have you spent mastering your craft? Tell me that and then I will listen. Because anyone can google anything and just because it's on Google doesn't mean it's true. So can we stop listening to people that have not put in the time and the effort and go back to respecting the people that have? Because when it comes to reconciliation, Indigenous know what Indigenous need and other people thinking they know what we need is exactly how we got into this nightmare in the first place. And people wonder why I don't celebrate Canada Day. Oy. I hope that made sense. I hope. I hope you're not one of those people. I hope you're still listening to the scientists that have mastered their craft, the teachers and the educators who have mastered their crafts, and even, yes, the politicians. Of course they're going to to campaign. But they know what it's like to try to run a country or balance a budget when everyone with opposing interests is screaming at them. Pick the one that you can live with. But don't. If you're not throwing your hat in the ring, then remember you're sitting in the cheap seats. Maybe your voice shouldn't be the loudest. If you want to be in the arena, then I want to hear from you. But if you're not throwing your hat in, maybe just shut up and be quiet. Sound like a plan? Sounds like a plan. Let's get this together because this infighting is stopping everything good from happening. We don't need thou this voice is winning. We need to listen to the people that have put in the time to learn what they're talking about. I hope that made sense. I love you. Take care. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye. Bye.