Sandi L. Boucher responds to complaints about Canada's new passport design replacing Terry Fox with animals. She argues this outrage reflects privilege when Indigenous communities face missing women, children in care, and failing justice systems.
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Foreign? No. Damn. Hello, everybody. It's Sandy Boucher here once again. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine river first nation in Treaty 3 territory, Northern Ontario. And yes, I'm still sunburned because I'm shooting these all at once. But. But I am here with the next why? Video for May 23, 2023, and this one's called Passport Privilege. So what was I talking about this time? Well, this actually happened at one of my seminars. It was during a break time, and you definitely have to be Canadian to get this. If you're from watching this from somewhere else, this may get a little confusing, but Canadians are going to get it. One of my participants came up to me and asked me what I thought of the new passport changes. And I have to honestly say I had no idea what she was talking about. That was not in my news radar. And she explained her response was, quote, unquote, Terry Fox had been replaced by animals. And I was like, what? Terry Fox? I live in the city of Thunder Bay. Terry Fox, this is where his journey of hope ended. There's a huge monument to him outside of the city. So that was a big thing. Very localized view. So I thought, you know what? No comment. Definitely something I have to look into. So I went and I did my review, and I found out that. That they had taken out the historical references and put in more images of what you might see if you visit here in Canada. So beavers and deer and things like that, and also a lot of increased security features and the whole bit. So I get it. I totally get it. But what resonated more, and this is that Indigenous worldview again. So for Indigenous people watching, I'd be willing to bet you recognize this and understand this. For non Indigenous, hearing this, here's a glimpse into how things look from our side of the feather. I heard, like, read all this and did this research. And I was like, I wish that was the biggest problem on my list, really. I wish that things were going so well for Indigenous people in Canada that we had the time or the energy or the interest in getting upset over a new passport format because Indigenous women are still going missing or way worse, way too many Indigenous children are still being taken into care. We're still dealing with the justice system. That does not work for us. We're dealing with the imposition of Canadian policy onto us. The assimilation continues. We have much bigger issues. So if you got up in arms over the new passport, fine. Own your privilege. Realize that if you have the time and space to do that. Count your blessings because you're obviously walking a really good path. And for all of us who didn't have time, I hear you. I see you. I'm one of you. I hope that made sense. I'm seeing now how these wide videos are going to turn into like little mini seminars and I'm totally down for that. Love to see your comments. Feel free to comment below the full blog post. The original blog post is posted below and information on how you can get your hands on even more blog posts until tomorrow's why video. You take care. I love you. Bye Bye.
