YouTube video by Sandi L Boucher (Andy Boucher) reflecting on stereotypes about Indigenous women and motherhood. The speaker shares personal experiences as a single Indigenous mother, recounting public assumptions about family size, and highlights a powerful quote—"Creation is the opposite of genocide"—to reframe Indigenous childbearing as an act of survival and hope.
Chapters
Okay, I'm actually excited to do this video. Maybe you've heard the stereotype, how way too many people like to comment on how many children indigenous women tend to have in their opinion. And worse, they start guessing about how many baby daddies are involved. I heard a quote recently that speaks to that stereotype. I keep hitting my microphone stand here. It speaks to that stereotype and it does it in the most powerful mic drop way. And I just had to share it with you. So let's talk about it. 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 trust me, I've heard the stereotypes. I, I have two children and I heard the stereotypes. People. Now, keeping in mind in my younger days I was darker skinned. Maybe I can find a picture to post here. But even when I was out with my children, people, people, problematic people, would make the assumption that I had two kids with me, there must be five at home, like, what, what, what, what? And yes, I was in my early 20s with my children, which plays into that stereotype as well. And I've heard it for all the years of my career. You know, why do they have so many children? I love quotes. They're lightning bolts to me. And you see them everywhere, whether it's on a T shirt or on a billboard or on a monument or on Facebook. And I happen to be cruising Facebook the other night and on my personal page, not my business page and just seeing what my friends are up to, you know, enjoying their Thanksgiving pictures. And my girlfriend had written a long post. Now this woman is flipping amazing. She is so beautiful. And I'm, I'm, she's physically beautiful, but I mean as a human being, her spirit is so beautiful. And she's in the midst of the most amazing healing self awareness journey. I just love every time she posts. It is often not comfortable. Some of her posts are incredibly painful, but her authenticity is so incredibly beautiful. Powerhouse already and definitely a powerhouse in the making. So I was reading one of her blog posts and I can't even remember the, the point of her post because the quote just knocked me on my butt that efficiently. The quote was, creation is the opposite of genocide. Creation is the opposite of genocide. How incredibly powerful is that? And I couldn't help thinking, you know what, when I was a struggling single mom and I had a two and a four year old, I was working full time for the federal government and still couldn't make ends meet was working in or living in a low rent housing project. And no it's not because I was blowing money on anything. I was counting Penn and raising kids is expensive but when the world got to be too much I would go for a walk with my 2 and a 4 year old and look at the world through their eyes. I would marvel at the grasshopper or laugh at how much fun it was to try to skip a rock in the little stream by our house. Our kids give us hope. Our laughter cures anything that is bothering us. They are literally the future. Like I mentioned last week, if you want to see the future look at the children. Creation is the opposite of genocide. So the next time you see an indigenous mom and you're tempted to comment on how many children she has instead remind yourself that what you're seeing is willpower to survive. Don't crucify us for choosing to survive until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye bye.
