The Teachings of Lori Campbell & Riley Yesno, the First Nation/Metis Clash & a Pair of Earrings

Hello, you absolutely amazing person, you, and welcome back to my YouTube channel. My name is Sandy Bouget, and I have dedicated my life to getting Indigenous and non Indigenous to be working together in a respectful way. So much of that is shattering stereotypes, whether it's shattering them for Indigenous people like me or shattering them for non Indigenous Canadians. But whatever the case, I come on here every week to share some information to try to help you understand just a little bit more. And today I have many, many things to share with you. Once again, this is definitely life through Indigenous eyes. So 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 you're going to be watching this on April 21st. So before I say anything else, I just wanted to wish a heavenly birthday to the father of my amazing children. Uh, today would have been his birthday. He passed on a couple of years ago and he has missed terribly by his family. And I couldn't see the date and not acknowledge that. So I hope you don't mind if I took a few seconds to do just that. Now, one of the things I do in my career, I do a lot of work with non Indigenous Canadians. And I love that they want to learn and they want to understand. But I'm also all about balancing the feather, as you've heard me say. I do just as much in just as much work in First Nation communities supporting their healing, their education, their empowerment, because I believe there's work to be done on both sides of the metaphorical feather. One of the ways I give back to first nations is I am see a lot of events for local First Nation entities here in the city of Thunder Bay where I live. And I love that because I am seeing I end up attending these amazing conferences that I wouldn't otherwise attend. And I get all this new information shared by experts in the field and I get to share it with you. So a couple of things I wanted to pass on to you today. Just some things that really resonated with me from the Nishnaw Biaski Nation Best Practices Education Forum that took place recently. So on the very first, it was a two day seminar, two day conference, I should say. On the very first day, Lori Campbell spoke. And she was on one of those race shows like the Great Whatever Race Across Canada and all the challenges and whatever. She's amazing. She's Metis, she's indigique, she's, I believe From Saskatchewan, if I remember correctly. And one of the things right now, you may not be aware of this, but right now, indigenous language revitalization is huge. It's an effort that many, many, many communities are taking part in trying to get our language back. Like imagine having to say that, that because of colonialism or some historical event, that you had lost your mother language. So many first nations are working and have different initiatives to get the language back and to ensure the children have the language. But if you've ever attempted a new language, mispronunciation is a big thing and it can be embarrassing and a lot of people harass you about it. And she shared her name in her language. And first she apologized for potentially mispronouncing it. But then she was quick to, to point out and to remind us that the shame that we may feel around not knowing our languages is not our shame to carry because it was not our choice to lose our language. And I just think that's so incredibly powerful. There are people out there that will condemn or judge you for not having your language. That means you're not indigenous, and how freaking convenient is that? But anyone who is out there either trying to learn their mother language or struggling and have been harassed by it, you know, the person who's doing the harassing, that says a whole lot about them and nothing about you. You keep trying. It's not your shame to carry. Another point, talking about shame. Her grandmother was a residential school survivor. And I'll never forget the way Laurie put this. It was so powerful. Like so many residential school survivors, she said that her grandmother really didn't talk about that time very much. But the quote was. But her silence said enough. How many of you just thought as someone when you heard that phrase? I think personally that we all gotta get better at hearing the silence. Because I can think of so many loved ones in their moments of the worst pain was when they sat silent. And that silence was loud for those that cared to hear it. So just because someone's not screaming their pain from the rooftop or willing to share their trauma story on stage does not mean they're not telling their story. I think that's something we have to keep in mind. Now this was mind blowing for my followers. I have mentioned the Sixties Scoop before. So started I believe in 1958 and went into the 1980s. This was like the next version of the residential schools. Assimilation was still the goal. Now indigenous children were being adopted out into white homes far from their communities. And they were encouraged to ensure that none of the indigenous cultural identity, culture or identity remain that to encourage these children to be white. For lack of a better way of putting it, Lori is a sixties scoop survivor. She was adopted out and I believe at the age of five, if I remember correctly. But what I do remember most definitely is the ad, the description that was that. Well, I shouldn't say the ad, the description of what her adoptive parents were looking for, the type of child they were looking for, very specific. And Lori happened to fit the requirements. So they were looking for a girl for sure. They were looking for a child that was no longer in diapers and one that could blend in. One that was fair enough so they wouldn't have to admit she was indigenous. That one resonated deep with me. And I've shared this story before because my mom was a beautiful brown skinned in a snob way and my dad was French and obviously my tone, my skin tone, I take after my dad more. And my mom knew I was an indigenous woman living within Canadian borders. That is physically dangerous. And she was trying to keep me safe. Imagine, imagine as a mom saying with all your heart to protect your child, telling them, don't tell people about me, tell them that you're your father's daughter. My second book is called Her Mother's Daughter because that was not anything I was ever going to do. I was never going to deny the existence of my mom. And personally I didn't care what price I would pay for that. And I have had people say, well, you tell people you're Anishinaabe, why don't you tell them you're French? Well, for one, my dad didn't raise me. My dad was in the house, but my dad earned an income. He wasn't involved with the child rearing. That was their agreement. My mom took care of that. I was raised in line with my mom, mom's culture. And on top of that, you know what? My dad's French. His culture doesn't need defending. No one's attacking my dad for being French, attacking my mom. If you don't understand why it's important for us to be strong in aab, then you got some education to do. Last but not least, this was just words resonate with me. I'm an author. Of course. The one of the last things Lori said, she asked that we commit to being a good ancestor. I just love that because as an Anishinaabe, I so I think of my ancestors all the time. My mom is my ancestor. She's passed on my grandmother, who I never got to meet. Who passed on five months before I was born to my elder brother. Just. And I know for settler descendants, often there might be some uneasiness when they think back to what their settler, what their ancestors had done, and. And they're not sure how to handle that. But talk about how amazing is that to. You know what? I want to focus on being a good ancestor. That's totally within your control, so I can encourage you to do that. Now, I just saw the time that this video, I guess, is going to be in three parts. So the first part is now done, and I have a meeting to get to, so I will come back and shoot the second and third as soon as I can. So talk to you soon in the next segment. And I am back. We're same day, different outfit, had an event in between. It's all good. We're gonna ignore the mess behind me and we're gonna continue on. And actually, before I go back to my handy dandy index cards, I wanted to share a story with you, which I think I want to do more often or as part of future videos, because that is how so many indigenous nations educated their children rather than teacher student hierarchy. It was sharing a story. And in the story was the information the child needed. And it's just such a beautiful way to teach without centering anyone out or causing stress. It's just sharing a story. So I'm sharing the story because of the earrings I'm wearing. And for indigenous people watching this, you might have thought, oh, wow, that's a very traditional style. And that's because these earrings are over 50 years old. They belong to my mom. And I remember the day she was gifted them. My mom did not do traditional beadworks. We were on the main street of our tiny hometown, and Laxual First Nation was across the lake. And often they would come in by boats to shop for groceries, whatever the case may be. Now there's road access. There wasn't at that time. And I remember there were two or three indigenous women, same age, same shade as my mom. I don't know where they were going or what they were doing, but they saw my mom and they said hi to her and she smiled at them. And one of the women said that she had something for my mom, which my mom was really super surprised. And she gifted her these earrings and went as far as saying it was because of my dad. And my dad is always so super friendly to them and welcoming and always made them smile with how friendly he was. And as a thank you, they wanted to gift mom These earrings that they had made. And I remember thinking this was such a beautiful exchange. But I also picked up on something else which so totally plays into my modern day work. One of the women, there was three of them. So one that was doing the talking, another one that was standing next to her very enthusiastically smiling, and a third one that was a little further back. And just the way she looked at my mom. Now, my mom would have been dressed nicely, not extravagantly, we didn't have money, but always dressed nicely. And these women were dressed more, I want to say, more traditionally for an unreserved community. She looked like she felt sorry for my mom. That's what I picked up on. And I pick up on those kind of things. And at the time, it didn't make sense to me. But now I think my mom would have looked very colonized. Beautiful, but beautiful by my standards any day of the week. I don't care what she was wearing, but she definitely was dressed more like a settler than an indigenous person living in a community. And I believe that part of the reason of gifting her earrings was allowing her to celebrate that she was indigenous. And it took years, not only for my mom to be proud and comfortable with being indigenous, but to wear the earrings. So when she passed, I was thrilled to inherit them and wear them with pride. Just wanted to share that with you. On to the next section. Okay. So in the first section, I shared about Lori Campbell, the first keynote speaker at the Nan Nishnobay Aski Nation Best Practices Education forum. On the second day, Riley Yesno spoke. And if you ever have a chance to listen to this keynote, I highly suggest you do, highly recommend that you do. Now. Language was becoming a thing at this forum and the revitalization of Indigenous language. And Riley was talking about the shame that is such a large part of the Indigenous experience. The shame for the color of your skin, the shame for your postal code, the shame for your poverty, the shame for your children, the shame for your experiences, your behavior, your family's experiences or behavior, everything we do, almost. Shame for taking a breath. And Riley commented on how for so many Indigenous people, there is a shame because they're not good at doing something, whatever it is. Not good at public speaking, not good at explaining themselves, not good at, you know, dressing up for an office environment, not good at speaking up at a staff meeting, whatever it is, not good at a skill. And what Riley pointed out, which I had never thought about one of those things, you know, but you never consciously thought about that. So often Indigenous people carry shame because they're not good at doing some white thing. They're not good at some white requirement, some skill or mode of action or behavior that assimilation requires. And what she warned us of was that now, on top of not being good at white things, Indigenous people were feeling shame and not being good at their own language. And that's how disruptive, remember the Great Disruption. That's how disruptive colonization and assimilation has been for Indigenous people. And they wonder why we're not healthy. Now Riley teaches. Riley's going for her PhD and she teaches, I think at TMU Toronto Metropolitan University. I might be wrong in that, but she teaches at a university and has Indigenous students. And often she focuses on the transference of knowledge, not rules. So often a student will come to them and share, or come to her and share that they need an extra day, that their grandmother passed away or their child's been sick or whatever it is. And Riley's response, and always her response, which it surprises her that people keep asking, is of course, of course, take the next day. Because as she put it, I care about you as a whole person, not just a student. Yet that is not the case in mainstream. So often people think of us as just an employee, just a student, just the maid, just the waitress, and not a whole person. And you know what came to my mind when I was thinking about that? I have. This is random, but that's how the puzzle pieces connect. I have an ergonomic vegetable peeler. It has a fairly big, a lot bigger handler handle than the standard metal ones used to. And it's very easy to use. And I remember watching a documentary and it was a man that made day to day gadgets and utensils that were ergonomic and easier for people to use if they had mobility issues. And what that person pointed out, and obviously I never forgot it, I watched this years ago, was that he had designed the ergonomic vegetable peeler and it was selling like crazy to non challenged people, just to everyday people that did not have mobility or gripping issues. And what he discovered is if you create something that works for the challenged, it works for everybody. And that's what I was thinking about when Riley said thinking about someone as a whole person, not just as a student, employee, whatever, yes, that would be a huge benefit for indigenous people. But this is one of those times I'm going to say it would be a benefit for everyone. And I think that so applies. Yet people push back largely because a lot of people believe the stereotypes and actually think indigenous people already get too Much support. We get underfunded compared to municipalities, so that doesn't even make sense. Now, another thing Riley touched on, I always tease Riley. I've heard her speak a few times now. I always speak that we're sisters from another mother because our paths are so, so similar. And she mentioned that when she was younger, she believed university was for smart kids and that like really smart kids. And that that wasn't even an option for her, that high school and maybe college was about it. And I almost fell out of my chair when she said that. For a couple of reasons. For. When I talk about internalized oppression on this channel, I talk about the voice in your head. I talk about the voices of others. I talk about the hum, that constant playing over and over, a message that tells indigenous people, you can't. You can't be successful. You won't be able to do that. Can't. Not in. You're not allowed. But not capable of. Because, of course, indigenous are less than, which is that underlying message. And that resonated with me. And I share this, not because I'm bragging, but to make a point. I was a straight A student my entire educational journey. I got an award. My public school went up to grade six. When I finished grade six, I received an award for having the highest mark every year from kindergarten to grade six six. I graduated with a 98% right out of high school. I was 4.0 in college. So. But you notice I didn't mention university because in my mind I wasn't smart enough to go to university. That was for very intelligent, rich white kids. That's what the internalized oppression was telling me. And trust me, I considered going, even at my age. Last but not least, from Riley, I don't know if you noticed, I shared four things from Lori's keynote. Now I'm sharing four from Riley. The observant would notice that she shared something that had me laughing. And again, our journeys were just identical. She shared how, I'm not sure who it was in her family, but someone, they were talking about success and what success looks like. And they told her that she was doing so well she could, quote, unquote, be prime minister one day. And she laughed because she said she thought it was funny that success in their mind was defined as being the head of the colonial state. I laughed because I had never heard anyone else say that. But my father used to always tell me that I was so smart that I could be prime minister one day. No, thank you. Hard pass on that one. So that brings us to the end of the third section. The fourth section is going to get you thinking because I've been doing some thinking. So let's talk about it. Last but not least, I shared an article. Did I share it in my Facebook or my YouTube community? Not sure. Definitely showed it on my Facebook business page, which by the way, I once again have a Facebook business page. I think I have 50 followers when I used to have 16,000. So working on building that up again. But I shared an article There has been an ongoing disagreement between Metis and First nations people forever. Now often I talk about the original locations of Indigenous people and after the settlers arrived because obviously Metis didn't exist before the settlers arrived. But there are historical Metis settlements. I am not disagreeing with that. But what first nations have noticed for over a decade now is every single time Canada does the census, the number of Metis people is going up astronomically. And the number of first nations people is growing as well, but not at that level. In case you didn't know it, funding for an Indigenous community or a Metis community is based on membership. How many people live in your First Nation community? Or how many people are on your Metis rolls? And this is what was bothering me. You may not know it, but for a status Indigenous person. So according to Canada, we're Indigenous, we got the little card. But if you marry or have children with a non Indigenous person. Now Indigenous women used to lose their status as soon as that happened. But nowadays you don't lose your status. But it only goes for two more generations and now there it gets gray. There's a whole bunch of different scenarios, but the point is it eventually ends that your indigeneity is no longer recognized. It always amazed me back when you did lose status if you married a non Indigenous person. It always amazed me that your culture could switch by who you slept with. And there's so many women out there who gain status because they married an Indigenous person who are walking around given teachings in the whole nine yards like they've had the Indigenous experience. And that's another video. But that's the key point for this discussion that with Indigenous people, unless you're marrying and having children with another Indigenous person, that status lineage is going to end. Now I shared in another video the three well, that was quite a while ago. But there are three criteria for being Metis. Three official check marks you have to get. So the first is you have to prove that your bloodline ties you to one of those original Metis settlements. Contrary to popular belief, it is not just an Indigenous person and A non indigenous person having a baby. That baby is, is not necessarily Metis unless one of them can trace their bloodline back to an original Metis settlement. That is the pool of Metis bloodline. Two, they have to practice their Metis culture. And three, which is a very distinct culture. I am not Metis, even though people love to assume that when they find out my dad was French. And three, they have to be recognized as a part of a Metis community, which is those membership roles in Metis Nation of Ontario or Metis Nation of Manitoba or whatever it is now. In Ontario, the Metis numbers have been growing ridiculously and have been for years. And other Metis nations in other provinces have even gone as far as no longer recognizing some of the Metis entities in Ontario because they say they are too lax with the criteria. I'm basically giving anyone a Metis card now. Why would that happen? Well, the larger the membership, more funding. But there's one pot of dollars for indigenous people. Part goes to Inuit, part goes to First Nation, parts goes to Inuit. These Metis people primarily live in urban settings. So it's not the lack of services that first nations people experience in a reserve. It's not lack of health services, mental health services, policing, everything Internet, like. I mean there's so many challenges, but those dollars are split. Did you hear the three criteria? As long as you can trace your bloodline back to the original Metis settlement, you will always be able to do that. There is no cutoff. Which is why we have Metis people who are setting themselves up as leaders and teachers because they do have the lineage, but they've just picked up on their mate culture or they haven't at all. And often they are speaking for all indigenous people. I never speak for Metis people. I'm not Metis. That's my humility. Teaching that is not my lane. But do you see the problem? The recognition, the system that decides if you're matey or First Nations. One ends and one doesn't. And there's a lot of indigenous people that would say that's because Metis part of that heritage is colonial, is settler. And they're easier to work with because their part settler. That's way easier than building a bridge with indigenous people speaking their language and practicing their traditions and having not been assimilated. And trust me, there's a difference. I had a meeting recently with another indigenous woman. She was raised in community. It took us a half second to recognize each other. And I don't mean knowing our faces and our names, recognizing our indigeneity. So Canada, wtf? What's going on like between Pushing self determination, self government, which some communities are ready for, some aren't. I think that's up to us to meet the criteria that we feel we need for self governance. And then this, this is insane because again we got the whole pretending and descendian thing and it. You know what, if you're keeping quiet in your house. I've said it a hundred times. I'm talking about people that go for the jobs or go for the funding. If you, the indigenous influence in your family was generations ago, then you should not be bidding for an indigenous job because you didn't have an indigenous influence. There's no indigenous life experience. Maybe you felt some shame for hiding it. The indigenous people that those jobs and that funding were set aside for are the ones that can't hide that they're Indigenous, that never had the choice or the opportunity, if you would call it that, to blend in. That's who those positions are for. So they can bring true lived experience to the conversation. But that would take some serious collaboration and patience and empathy and real reconciliation work on behalf of the employers that are hiring those positions. It's way easier to hire someone that's more colonial. Now I'm not coming to a conclusion on that. I have a lot more to think on. But Canada, I'm not impressed that one system slowly eliminates first nations and one ensures May will never go instinct. I'm not saying I want either to go instinct. I just think there's something wrong with the systems. Once again, I hope you enjoyed this. Four sections, four different topics. Life through Indigenous eyes. Which part resonated with you? Let me know in the comments. I love you. Take care. Bye bye.