What IS YOUR INTENT on September 30th?

Simon Sinek says it starts with why. Chief Tony Alexis says it's all about intent. Today is September 30th. I'm wondering what you will do today and why. What is your intent? 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. And today is September 30th. Today is the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. And I have concerns about what this day is becoming. Last week I did a video about the orange shirts and how seeing a seeing of orange shirts today makes me want to scream out, where were you yesterday and where will you be today? That to wear the shirt is simply performative if you do nothing else. But I see another concern arising, another potential for mainstream to swallow up indigenous intent. To help me explain what I mean, think of Remembrance Day for a second. If I were to ask you what you do on Remembrance Day, what would you say? Or if I was to ask you why we have Remembrance Day and what you do on that day, what would you say? I'm hoping there's a good chance a lot of you would say nothing. Nowadays, it's totally different. I'm old enough to remember when you didn't go to school on Remembrance Day so that I could be home and. And watch the ceremonies from Ottawa on TV with my mom, largely in honor of my dad who fought in World War II. But Remembrance Day is about honoring the veterans. Whether you attend a ceremony at your local cenotaph or whether you just stop for that one minute at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, we honor the veterans on that day. Today, September 30th was meant to honor all of the children who never should have been taken to the residential schools and the survivors and all of those who didn't come home. But unfortunately, what I'm quickly seeing it become is either just a day off or an education day for mainstream. And that's where intense comes in. If you're learning today is going to help you honor those children, then it fits. But if this is just about you gaining more knowledge and understanding, if you make this about you and you are not a residential school survivor, the child of or grandchild of, then you're appropriating the day. Today is a day to remember the children, the children who are now adults and the children who never got to be so in line with that, to help you a little bit. Now, if I'm in Ontario, so if you're watching this from Ontario, the website national center for Truth and Reconciliation out of the University of Manitoba. I will put the link in the notes under the video. I simply went on Google and searched residential st schools near me. Residential schools, yes, near me. And it's so easy to do for people who say, well, I don't know the look it up. It is not that hard. You can look up a recipe, you can look up what show is playing at the local movie theater. You can do this. I want you bare minimum to know what happened in your area, to look at what happened in your area, to imagine what happened in your area. So I went on the website and I chose four residential schools that are relatively close to. I think they would all be within four hours, five hours of the city of Thunder Bay. So the first one is St. Margaret's which was the Fort Francis Residential School. And, and I chose that because my bloodline are the Jordan Fort Francis. That's the school that affected our bloodline. So it ran from 1906 to 1974. Get this, in 19. So it opened in 1906. In 1933 there were complaints about the conditions in the school and really there was a formal charge against the the school. It was formally documented, but really nothing happened. And it happened again in 1940. In 1960 it pretty much shifted its usage and it became, get this, a residence for indigenous students attending local schools. Did you catch that? A residence for indigenous students attending local schools, meaning they did not have the ability to attend this local school or attend a school living at home. This would be that modern day oppression. It ran from, as I said, 1906 to 1974, which means it ran for 60 years. If you think a generation is 20 years, that means three generations of a family could potentially have gone through that school. Child, parent, grandparent. What would that do to your family tree? Except we're not going to make this about you. We're going to remember all those kids. St. Joseph's was the residential school here in the city of Thunder Bay. There is now a public school sitting on that site. It opened in 1885 and closed in 1970. It started as a Roman Catholic orphanage out on Mission Island Road, which means it was right on Fort William First Nation, the reserve. In the 1880s it received federal funding and in 1895 there was a fire. But it was rebuilt the same year. Because the assimilation of indigenous children was a priority, it relocated to. It's the, the site we know in 1907 and it was known as the St. Joseph's Indian Industrial School. If that does not send a chill through your body, then maybe I need to remind you of Sir John A. MacDonald's quote. Here it is. And pause the video to read it. In the mid-1960s, St. Joseph's Indian Industrial School also became a residence for indigenous students attending local schools. Yet another group that can't stay home just to go to school. It operated for 80 years with the potential of four generations passing through its doors. McIntosh and Kenora Dryden. Kenora area was founded by Roman Catholic missionaries in 1925. In 1965, its main resident burnt and the kids were dispersed to other schools. They weren't sent home, just sent even further away. It closed in 1969. It operated for 40 years. Or the potential of two generations. I know a lot about Macintosh. I have powwowed on the grounds. Both of my elders had attended Macintosh. Yeah, and. And I've heard the stories. Pelican Lake. Pelican Falls School was located outside Sulaco. I was born and raised in Hudson, went to high school in Sulaco. We literally drove by the entrance to the residential school on our way to school. On the way to. What is it? High school, pre high school, whatever. Grade 7 and 8, junior high. That's what it's called. I can remember as a kid driving by that turn off and my mom getting nervous. I never knew why. Well, at least until I was an adult. Pelican Lake was established in 1926, and a portion of the land, even though it's on the Canadian Shield, which is rock, the students cleared a portion of the land for farming. It's kind of the education the residential school students got. They were responsible for running the schools, the cooking, the cleaning, the farming. The 1940s, like so many of the schools, there was severe overcrowding. And we know the overcrowding spread disease. That's one of the reasons many of the children didn't come home. In the 1950s, it became a residence for students. In 1969, the feds took over. 1978, it closed. It's on the site. It said at that point it was pretty much a hostel, but it's up and operational again. It actually is operated by nnec Northern Anishinaabe Education Council. It still. Well, it's an indigenous high school for students from remote communities. It operated from 1927 to 1978. So what is that, 51 years? If you can hear that and it doesn't make you sad or break your heart, then I don't know what's wrong. With you? I don't know. I know mainstream loves to stay in facts and not emotion, but today is a day of emotion. Children died. 50,000 children did not come home. If you think that number is an exaggeration, you need to do the research. 50,000 students didn't come home. And the ones that did had no support, no one to talk to. Most of them didn't want to talk about what they experienced. That's the intent of today, to honor the students. So make sure whatever you do, if you take part in some form of education today, make sure it's not about you. Make sure it's not about increasing your understanding. Make sure you do it so you are more equipped to remember the children. Now, I'm doing something special this year to honor this day, and I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you about it. My first book, Honorary Indian, came out in 2010. It was written in panic and grief. My mom had passed away, and in the midst of all the grief, I felt panic stricken. I was so scared that I was going to forget her teachings. Of course, now I know that wasn't possible. But at the time, excuse me, it was a very valid fear. So I sat down and I wrote. And I wrote every single day. And I wrote frantically, trying to remember everything she had taught me. I gathered up every note I had, every blog post I had written before. They were blog posts, little entries, and they became Honorary Indian because of my state when I wrote it. It's the only explanation I can come up with. That book proved to be so incredibly powerful. It became a bestseller within the first year. And over the years, I've had so many people come up to me and explain to me how it helped them grieve that women who have suffered domestic violence found comfort in the pages. I had one woman come up to me and thank me for her husband's sobriety. I mean, the book was absolutely powerful. And I knew that had nothing to do with me. That was creator and mom. But as I grew and my wisdom grew, I knew there were things in the book that had to change. Things that I didn't believe were true or things that should have never been in the book anyway. So a couple years ago, I pulled Honorary Indian off the shelves, determined to re edit it and to honor those that came before by helping those that come next. Honorary Indian Decolonized is now ready on my website. The same power, the same teachings, and why I'm releasing it today is because this book has helped so many people heal. And that's what today's about the people that need healing, the survivors that need someone who understands whether you're a survivor, the child is of a survivor or grandchild of a survivor. Today we focus on the healing. I hope every single indigenous person out there has the opportunity to stay home today to focus on their healing. We have so many indigenous out there that have been assimilated, who have been taught it's all about earning a living and you must focus on your career. And they've had zero time to focus on their healing. And you see it in the work performance. You see it in the lateral violence in the workplace. Today's the day. So if it would help, my book is available on my website. If it would help, my videos are always here and they're free. If it would help, just know I'm saying a prayer for you today because today is September 30th and today's all about the children, the ones that came home and the ones that didn't get to you until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye bye.