YouTube video transcript in which Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt woman, Seine River First Nation) explains her decision to resume daily emails and videos to build relationships and support Indigenous Canadian reconciliation. She frames switching from daily to weekly emails as part of a decolonizing process, emphasizes the importance of regular, personal engagement to foster understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, and announces daily emails will resume.
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Hello, you super duper double delicious person, you. I could not wait to do this video. Which is why once again, we have more artificial light going on than natural light. Because it's almost 6:30 in the morning and it's Sunday of a long weekend, which means Anyone who works 9 to 5 now thinks I'm insane because I'm in my office in the middle of a long weekend. The entrepreneurs get it. And that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about today. Because today I made a decision. And to some non indigenous people, probably to some indigenous too, it might look wishy washy, it might look indecisive. The reality is, if you know me, I am anything but indecisive. I am fast with the decisions, but when it doesn't fit right when I'm decolonizing, when I'm trying to decide, does the mainstream way of doing things fit my intent, fit my focus, fit my vision? That means sometimes I made a decision and realized that doesn't work for me and I have to switch it back. That's what happened. It's not wishy washy, it's decolonizing. Let's talk about it. Bonjour. 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, Canada. And I run a business, duh. I am dedicated to Indigenous Canadian reconciliation. So for the last 15 years I've done a lot of keynotes and a lot of seminars and workshops. First just in First Nation communities for the first seven years of my, my journey. And then I realized I wasn't balancing the feather that Indigenous non, we need support on both sides. So I started working with non Indigenous people to help them understand, to give them the missing pieces of information that they needed. And it's been amazing. Now as part of that journey, when I'm not on the stage somewhere because most of my events are closed, it's only for the, the staff or management of that certain entity that brought me in. I started doing things, well ages ago. I worked with my email list and sent out a daily email. And then last year I started doing these daily videos, which by the way, I'm absolutely loving visiting with you every day. In case you didn't know that, now you know. But a week or so ago I decided, looking at the numbers, how many people are opening my daily emails? How many are reading them? The numbers didn't seem high enough. So I decided, you know what? I must be bothering people. They. Their inboxes are filling up. So I decided to pull back and only send out a weekly video. When the weekly video or weekly video only send out a weekly email, the email would only include the videos, the blog posts. They'd have to go to either my website or my Facebook page to see those. And I did that last week, and that doesn't work for me. And here's why. If you want to get better at Indigenous Canadian engagement, Indigenous non indigenous interactions, you have to actually get to know some indigenous people. You have to hear how they see things. Not to agree with it, but just to know that's how they see things. You need to develop a relationship, to laugh with them, to cry with them, to sit with them. And to me, that was the daily email. Then I'm sending it out to my friends. And you know what? I don't know about you, but my friendships aren't conditional. It's not conditional on, do you have enough time every single day to listen to my message? Probably not. There's some days I struggle to get out there. But when you do, I'm there like a friend should be. And if that means you catch up on the weekend or you only get to see one or two, I believe Creator, God, higher power of the universe, Dr. Phil, Oprah, I don't care who you follow. But the ones that you see are the ones that you're meant to see. Those are the videos you should be watching. Those are the blog posts you should be reading, the ones you reach out to when you think of it and have a moment. And some of you, that's every single morning. And I love you. I love you for that. So I was off sorts. I was like, something's not working. I can feel it. I've been on this planet long enough that I know when something's not working. And I felt like I was abandoning a friend. I felt like I wasn't there. I didn't have your back in the way that I want to. And that is not conditional on your interaction. So this week, starting today, if you're on my email list, you're going back to a daily email. And you know what? Create a folder in your, your YouTube, your whatever email program you got and just set me aside until you have time. Maybe we can hang out together on Saturday mornings. Obviously, I do this on Saturday mornings. Or maybe it's an evening, maybe. Whatever works for you. Boo you do you. But I'm going to be here for you. I'm going to be that friend that can help you understand that, friend. Like, I have people responding to my emails every single day and asking questions or commenting. I love that. I think that's called a relationship. I think that's called indigenous engagement. So sorry for the lapse in judgment. It wasn't a lapse in judgment. It was decolonizing. You got to try it on. Because decolonizing means for indigenous peoples doing what feels right in our spirit and not just what mainstream tells us we should do. And mainstream says an email a week. I don't limit myself to talking to my friends only once a week. I say hi every chance I can, and if they're not busy, they answer back. So we're back to daily emails to match the daily videos. I am a happy camper. Does that mean more work for me? Yes. Could care less why you're worth it. So I hope that made sense. I'd love to hear what you think. Did I sound loony or just someone figuring out their own way? Until tomorrow, my friend. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye.
