I can not speak for all.
What I do know about TRUTH…
TRUTH is based on perspective.
TRUTH carries a weight.
TRUTH carries a responsibility.
TRUTH is I am a First Generation Indian Residential School Survivor.
A heaviness within a soul that many will have to carry for the duration of their lifetime.
and others will never have to.
That is the difference between me and you.
My story is layered and long.
For the one willing to sit with me.
Please, get some water or tea and have a seat.
Deep breath.
It is a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
But, can we talk TRUTH first?
Just for some clarity when I say “we”, I mean the First Peoples of Canada.
Truth, I connect to no other word.
Truth starts with placing ourselves within Canadian History — as the FIRST PEOPLES OF CANADA.
The First Peoples of Canada carry deeply intertwined layers of deep levels of hate, racism, realities of genocide, unequivocal injustices and more pronounced a silenced history of our power and presence in Canadian history that is interconnected and interwoven that spreads out across the Great Plains, from coast to coast of
genocide
displacement
forced assimilation
generational violence of Indian Residential Schools
unimagineable rates of suicide
the severity and the realities of our murdered and missing women, men, girls and boys and Two Spirit.
forced sterilization
starlight tours
unquantifiable violence
denialism of Indian Residential Schools
high rates of mental unwellness and addictions
homelessness
forced migration
higher risk for human trafficking
Calls for Action, Calls for Answers with no Action and no Answers.
living in a world where there is NO JUSTICE! NO PEACE!
systemic racism
water insecurity within our communities
profound power imbalances
inadequate access to health care
forced land dispossession
aggressive exploitation
disproportionate rates of imprisonment
cultural genocide
unclean water
culture vultures
mass apprehensions of our children
60s & 70s scoop
a magnitude of death
socioeconomic disparities
exploitation of our Elders knowledge
our beautiful native women who have been discarded in landfills
Stolen Land.
centuries of the suppressing and undermining our traditional knowledge
and the silenced history of our worth to research, our institutions, this country and the world.
now the threat of stealing our inherent identity through pretendianism and race shifting.
These are disturbing realities that show up unwantedly and unexpectedly upon our doorsteps of our homes and our communities.
So, talking about TRUTH of the First Peoples of Canada is complex, far reaching and multi-layered for many to understand because to understand it you would have to absorb and recognize that Canadian history is steeped in centuries of racism and violence of the First Peoples. Despite significant progress even within our own institution there is still explicit racism and microaggressions that exist that are heavily based on the myths of a nation.
These realities may never cross your mind but swarm ours. Some may see this as a deficit model within research.
I will always call it TRUTH TELLINGS and WHY TELLINGS of our Nation.
Do you know of the genocide of the First Peoples of Canada?
Do you know of the cultural genocide of the First Peoples of Canada?
Do you know why we acknowledge the land and Territory on which you live?
Do you know why there is a National Day of Truth and Reconciliation?
Do you know of the 94 actionable policy recommendations that were brought about by The Truth and Reconciliation Commission?
Do you know why there are 231 Calls for Justice that were formulated by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered First Nation, Métis and Inuit Women and Girls?
Maybe it's now time to learn.
So that we can create a world for future generations where the violence toward the First Peoples ceases to exist and ultimately never happens again.
Whether you have been here your whole life, or you have just arrived here to live or study.
Now is the time.
There are oceans filled with hate that seep into every crevice from coast to coast.
This hate lies within classrooms to landfills to jail cells.
These are headlines in your socials and web feeds. Yet do you;
hear the cries of the little brown pêpîsis (babies) in mass graves alongside Indian Residential Schools?
hear the screams of our beautiful iskwew (women) who lay within landfills?
I do.
Our hate is based on the race of the First Peoples of Canada.
The First Peoples have lived on the fringes of society and learned to live on the fault lines of Canada.
This is where some layers become heavier than others…
How can I separate one TRUTH from another?
They interweave into one another like old dirt Rez roads.
Like an orb-weaver spider's elaborate web.
Like our Ancestral connection to okâwîmâw askiy (Mother Earth).
Like the roots of a pinus flexilis (limber pine).
I simply cannot separate the TRUTH from my work and work from my life — it all intersects.
We commemorate the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation to honor and uplift the voices and lives of Indian Residential School survivors.
On any given day we are green and gold yet on October 1 —
WE ARE ORANGE.
This is not simply about Indian Residential School survivors, this is about honoring the ones we have lived alongside and have loved our whole life; our dads, moms, kokums, mosums, aunties, uncles and grandparents.
The heaviness this carries is more than a day of reconciliation.
It is a day of love.
It's in the beating of our hearts.
It runs through our veins.
It's in our DNA.
As we commemorate the National Day of Action for Missing and Murdered First Nation, Métis and Inuit Women, Girls & Gender Diverse People.
On any given day we are green and gold yet on October 4th —
WE ARE RED.
The ones who are missing or have been murdered are not just faces on posters; these are our sisters, brothers, moms, dads, aunties, uncles, cousins, extended family, community members.
On any given day we sit with layers of grief and joy simultaneously.
Grief for the ones we have lost on this journey through intergenerational trauma and violence and then joy that there are still so many of us still here to share our TRUTH TELLINGS.
The First People of Canada are powerful beyond measure.
We are still here.
We will continue to use our voice.
We will start with TRUTH first.
We will continue to love.
Our survival and service within colonial institutions is decolonization.
We are Decolonization.
Our humour is how we get through our pain or does it merely mask the deepest of it.
Our laughter can fill a room to numb ourselves for a moment in time or does it merely subside it.
We are here not simply for us but our impact to the next seven generations.
Every day that I am gifted on okâwîmâw askiy (Mother Earth) I will continue to pour all of sâkihitowin (love) into our First Nation, Métis and Inuit students so that the sâkihitowin (love) is so boundless that it is felt for generations to come. Why such a copious amount of love? It is so that I can balance it with the love lost. That loss stems from the never ending compounding atrocities of colonial violence.
To acknowledge the TRUTH is to recognize the deepest history of these lands, you MUST hold the good and the bad — simultaneously.
You don't just get the good parts.
