SAY Magazine, Holistic Health, Indigenous Lifestyle

CONTEMPORARY INDIGENOUS MAGAZINE

MOVEMENT AS MEDICINE A Journey of Healing LATERAL KINDNESS Become a Warrior of Positive Change STORIES OF TRIUMPH

Wellness and More Inside ISSUE 118 HOLISTIC HEALTH DISPLAY UNTIL MAR. 1, 2023

PM 43436539 PRINTED IN CANADA $8.99

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SINCE 2002

6 What Is a Lateral Kindness Warrior and How Can You Become One? Human Resource Professional Kent Brown Explains

CONTENTS

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ISSUE 118 HOLISTIC HEALTH

SAY MAGAZINE Volume 21, Issue 6 SAY Magazine is a bi-monthly publication that publishes six issues a year—one issue every eight weeks.

SAY Magazine assumes no responsibility for statements made by advertisers or in submitted material.

SAY Magazine is published by Spirit of Youth Enterprises Inc.

Graphics, photographs, editorial content and other printed material that are created by SAY Magazine are the property of Spirit of Youth Enterprises Inc. and may not be used without written permission from the publishers.

Mailing Address: Kildonan Place, RPO Box 43084 Winnipeg, MB Canada R2C 5G7 E: info@saymag.com www.saymag.com Publishers: Dominick Blais and Kent Brown Editor-in-Chief: Danielle Vienneau editor@saymag.com Editorial Team: Sarah Ritchie sarah@saymag.com Theresa Peters theresa@saymag.com Art Director: Orli Gelfat - Orli G. Design Sales Team: Megan Henry megan@saymag.com Dominick Blais sales@saymag.com Website and Social Media Sphere Media Agency info@spheremediaagency.com

A Major Lifestyle Change and the Support for Indigenous Students at RRC Polytech Have Given Culinary Student Waylon McKay Roulette a New Outlook on his Future

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Printed in Canada

Cover Story: University Student Tréchelle Bunn is Promoting Healing for her Community by Encouraging Us All to Run for Those Who Never Got the Chance

ISSN: 1707-3049 GST: 856627534RT0001 This project has been made possible [in part] by the Government of Canada

SAY Magazine acknowledges that we publish in Treaty One Territory, at the crossroads of the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene Nations, and at the heart of the Métis Nation homeland.

As a diverse team of both Indigenous and ally collaborators, we strive to embrace, embody and live the truth that we are all Treaty people. All our relations!

Submissions are welcome.

Articles, letters, queries, etc. should be sent by email to the editor at editor@saymag.com.

SAY Magazine assumes no responsibility for submitted material.

Connect with us: www.facebook.com/saymagazine www.twitter.com/SAYMagazine www.instagram.com/say_magazine www.pinterest.ca/SAYMagazine www.linkedin.com/company/say-magazine

18 Literature:

Teacher, Take Care

19 A Holistic View of Wellness 21 Restoring the Circle Self24 Indigenous Determination 26 A Holistic Way of Life Rise: 28 Grandmothers Reclaiming Space and Power

Our Differences 30 Music: Make Us Stronger while Living with 33 Succes Kidney Failure 34 Advertiser Index

Women Entrepreneurs: Restore the Mind and Soul with Catia Carter and Feel a Renewed Sense of Self with Nutrition and Fitness Specialist Britt Nygaard

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EDITOR’S MESSAGE

“Looking behind I am filled with gratitude.

Looking forward I am filled with vision.

Looking upward I am filled with strength.

Looking within I discover peace.” ~ Quero Apache Prayer

Welcome to SAY Magazine’s last publication of 2022!

W

is something we can all strive for, for personal fulfillment and overall well-being, considering the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual elements, each requiring equal attention. When we neglect one, we may start to feel out of balance, negatively impacting the other elements and our ability to live our best lives.

e are in the midst of the holiday season and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the chaos of it all. The holidays are supposed to be a joyous time; however, for many, it can be a very stressful time of year, whether it is social, financial or otherwise. If you are anything like me, finding balance at this time of year, or at any time of year for that matter, can be a challenge with all of the roles, responsibilities and moving parts of life.

As we look ahead to 2023, I hope you are inspired by the expertise and personal triumphs of those who have so bravely contributed to this issue. As always, we welcome your submissions as we strive to include a diversity of voices and contemporary Indigenous lifestyles in each and every issue.

That is why the timing of this issue is so important.

With inspiring stories layered throughout this Holistic Health publication of SAY Magazine, we are reminded of what is most important. Living in a holistic way

To you and yours, may the new year bring you peace, abundance, good health and many happy new beginnings. ~ Danielle Vienneau, Editor-in-Chief

2023 Upcoming Issues Issue Name

Issue #

Theme

Space Reservation

Material Deadline

Publication Date

Special Edition

119

Business & Economics

Jan. 4

Jan. 8

Feb. 15

Spring 2023

120

Environment

Mar. 1

Mar. 8

Apr. 15

Summer 2023

121

Entertainment

May 1

May 8

Jun. 15

Special Edition

122

Leadership

Jul. 1

Jul. 8

Aug. 15

Fall

123

Education & Training

Sept. 1

Sept. 8

Oct. 15

Special Edition

124

Fine Arts & Crafts

Nov. 1

Nov. 8

Dec. 15

Advertise with us! Contact sales@saymag.com. I Order your subscription today. Visit saymag.com/subscribe.

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2023 JAN 23-25

Cannexus23: National Career Development Conference The 17th annual Cannexus Conference by CERIC is a hybrid conference that will examine the impact of career development on education, the economy and social justice.

The in-person portion to be held at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa, Ontario. cannexus.ceric.ca

FEB 14-16

AFOA Canada: 21st National Conference – The Indigenous Economy of Tomorrow A must-attend event for Indigenous management, finance and government professionals focusing on building capacity and creating wealth in Indigenous communities.

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada afoa.ca/events/conferences/21st

FEB 14-16

SHARE Investor Summit 2023 Join investment decision-makers in exploring opportunities for coordinated and impactful investor action in the context of environmental, social and governance pathways. events.share.ca

MAR 3-5

AISES in Canada National Gathering Themed Reclaiming Our Wisdom, this event brings together Indigenous STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) students and professionals over three days.

Vancouver, British Columbia aises.ca

MAR 8-10

International Indigenous Tourism Conference (IITC) Join industry leaders and innovators for three days of inspiration and learning, including breakout sessions on marketing, pricing strategies, pitching your story and more.

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada indigenoustourismconference.com

MAR 22-25

Gathering Our Voices: Indigenous Youth Leadership Training Event A four-day gathering, bringing delegates from across Canada to participate in ceremonies, workshops and engaging educational experiences.

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada gatheringourvoices.ca/registration

APR 24-25

Annual First Nations Major Projects Coalition Industry Engagement Event The Values-Driven Economy Conference: Defining Our Sustainable Future Westin Bayshore, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada fnmpcindustryevent.com

MAY 17-18

2023 Vision Quest Conference & Trade Show Annual event focused on Indigenous business, community and economic development.

RBC Convention Centre Winnipeg Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada vqconference.com

SAY Magazine makes every effort to ensure our calendar of events is up to date; however, we encourage you to check event websites regularly for more information.

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MINDFULNESS

Becoming a Lateral Kindness Warrior (Okihtcitaw)

By Kent Brown, Senior Human Resources Consultant, Legacy Bowes

A Lateral Kindness Warrior is a person who fights for kindness. It is a person who chooses to be kind even when people and the world can be unkind, someone who always keeps the sacred teaching of Love in their forethought. They always care about others and are ferociously compassionate. A Lateral Kindness Warrior never tolerates lateral violence, intimidation or disrespect, and always stands up for those who don’t have a voice.

I

don’t know about you, but that sounds like somebody I’d definitely want in my corner.

Better yet, that sounds like someone I want to be. While the idea is straightforward, earning the honour of “Lateral Kindness Warrior” is not a simple journey; it involves reflection and introspection, as well as dedication to being kind. Before becoming a Lateral Kindness Warrior, we must first understand what lateral violence is and learn how to deal with it.

Many of our people know of or have experienced lateral violence in our workplaces, within our families and

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in our communities. If you are not familiar with the concept of lateral violence, let me explain: all of the trauma Indigenous Peoples have experienced has resulted in ongoing generational trauma, pent-up anger and resentment (and many other emotions). In turn, we take it out on each other.

This trauma comes as a direct result of colonialism, residential and day schools, cultural genocide, the child welfare system and Canada’s Justice System, as well as injustices against Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

Brown (right) with Boxing Champion Grace Fanbulleh

(MMIWG) and members of the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community. This trauma has expressed itself amongst our communities in various ways, such as bullying, shaming, blaming, demeaning, abusing physically and verbally, excluding, undermining, acting passive-aggressively, spreading

MINDFULNESS

rumours, gossiping, withholding information, breaking confidences, creating chaos, and the list goes on.

remorse because he then called me over, handed me five bucks, and said, “I am sorry, my boy.”

Does any of this sound familiar? If so, you may have been witnessing lateral violence without even knowing it.

Our relationship from that day forever changed, and we became very close.

Plus, five bucks to a nine-year-old back in the ’70s was a lot of money!

Well, I am here to share with you a bit of my story on how lateral violence has affected me and how I changed the narrative to become a “Lateral Kindness Warrior.”

My Earliest Experience with Lateral Violence

I want to paint a picture for you: When I was around eight or nine years old, I remember a big family gathering with many cousins, aunties, uncles and great ones too, including my grandpa, mother and brother.

It could have been my age but it felt like a huge gathering, and we were all sitting around a fire in the yard, listening to laughter, stories and the noise of cousins playing.

Out of nowhere, one of my elder relatives speaks up, points at me and says, “I don’t like this one.” Even though I am a very proud band member of Fisher River Cree Nation (Ochekwi-Sipi), it’s important to note that I am fair-skinned with blue eyes.

I do not look like most of my family members, and I am sure this was the reason my relative pointed me out in this way. It’s a moment I remember as clear as day, and those words made me feel worthless and unwanted.

As I got up, tears pouring out my eyes, ready to run and hide, my eldest auntie stood up and scolded my relative.

“How can you say that to a young boy?” I remember her saying. “That was not nice and you better apologize.”

I felt vindicated, and it warmed my heart because it must have taken a lot for her to stand up to her elder. What she said must have really tugged at his heartstrings and made him feel

This is just one example of lateral violence from my childhood. I could fill pages with the laundry list of examples that I have encountered in my life since then. But instead of allowing lateral violence to define my story, I flipped it on its head and pursued becoming a Lateral Kindness Warrior instead.

What Is Lateral Kindness?

Instead of coming from a place of trauma, lateral kindness is based on one of our Seven Sacred Teachings: love. One of my best memories of this teaching of love happened when I was a young boy. I was spending the summer at my granny’s place on the reserve for the first time with

my cousins, and I remember feeling scared of staying somewhere strange.

My granny had such a kind and loving soul. She was also a wellknown baker in the community, which definitely had its perks as a youngster spending my summer with her. A couple of days into summer, I recall sitting in my granny’s kitchen while she was baking some goodies.

“Come over here, my boy,” she called me over from the kitchen table, motioning like she wanted to whisper something into my ear. Leaning over, she said, “You are my favourite.” Well, boy, did that ever change my mood knowing that I was her favourite over my other cousins! I didn’t realize it then, but I recall my cousins also walked a bit taller and more confidently the rest of our time there.

I bet she said the same thing to them!

In that moment, my granny was showing us all kindness, the same kindness that has been in our First Nations communities since

Indigenous Peoples have that blood memory of love—that kindness to give that can help heal our hurt and get rid of the lateral violence that holds us back.

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MINDFULNESS time immemorial because of our teachings. Even though our people have been through so much trauma, hurt and pain, this kindness has made us resilient and is why I believe we can change lateral violence into lateral kindness!

This innate kindness helped me on my healing journey and is why my granny visited me in a dream, pointed at me and said, “Okihtcitaw (Warrior)” when I was on a fasting/vision quest.

It was after this experience about 18 months ago that I decided to leave my position as director of human resources and join the team at Legacy Bowes. Through the meaningful work I do now, including facilitating the “Lateral Violence to Lateral Kindness” workshop, I have answered my calling.

I have always enjoyed coaching others and facilitating, but it was not until I started researching the kindness part of this course in particular and the science behind it that I really embraced my mission—changing the narrative to get back to that place of kindness (love) in all of us. THIS is why my granny was pointing at me and saying warrior!

Kindness is FREE. You can’t buy it or sell it.

Kindness comes from the heart—a place of love for us to give freely without requiring something in return. other ailments. It also reduces anxiety and depression, and it helps us live healthier lives overall.

Muhammad Ali once said, “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”

When we genuinely give kindness, not only do we benefit from Oxytocin, but that act of kindness passes along that same chemical reaction in the other person’s body. Furthermore, because this person has that “love” hormone flooding in their body too, they are more likely to pass that kindness on to another person.

Kindness is FREE. You can’t buy it or sell it. Kindness comes from the heart—a place of love for us to give freely without requiring something in return.

Similar to how negativity creates negativity in the lateral violence cycle, love creates love in the lateral kindness cycle, but we’re all a bit better off in this case.

Here is the crazy thing about kindness, we DO get something back—the love hormone called Oxytocin. When the Oxytocin hormone is released in our system, it makes us feel happy, joyful and fulfilled, and provides us with a sense of love. This hormone is like a vaccine for our body, and in return, we have less headaches, colds and

How to Become a Lateral Kindness Warrior

The Benefits of Kindness

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Now that you understand what a Lateral Kindness Warrior is, I have a challenge for you: set a kindness

okihtcitaw

goal for each day that you are here on Earth for the rest of your life. I can hear you saying, “Are you crazy, Kent?!” I can assure you that I am not! In fact, since I have been doing this work, I have set a kindness goal for myself each and every day. Trust me, once you start, it gets easier and easier, and once it becomes a habit, it becomes part of your daily life. Once you make that daily commitment to kindness, you will be able to proudly call yourself a Lateral Kindness Warrior.

I know, I know, it’s easier said than done, and we all have bad days. But even then, I still do it knowing that bad days are temporary and the return on kindness is priceless.

So how do you incorporate it into your daily life? Kindness can present itself in many ways—it doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are some examples of what this could look like: giving your spare change to the person who is asking for it on the corner, opening the door for someone, smiling at a passerby, starting a conversation

MINDFULNESS with someone in the grocery store, shoveling snow for your elderly neighbour or telling someone they are doing a great job. Also, simply picking up the phone to connect with that person you have been thinking about or texting a nice message to a friend or family member has the power to turn someone’s day around.

Try not complaining for a 24-hour period, donating to a local charity, or giving up your seat on the bus or your place in line. Have you ever gone through a drive-through and as you went to pay for your order you found out that the person in the car in front of you paid for your coffee?

If yes, how did that make you feel?

If not, consider being that person.

Volunteering is another rewarding way to spread kindness, whether at a food bank or homeless shelter or as a volunteer coach.

This all sounds like a lot, but including a single action in your day could easily become a habit and could mean the world to someone else.

Our Nations, our communities and our people are in desperate need of lateral kindness, and I know we, as Indigenous Peoples, have that blood memory of love—that kindness to give that can help heal our hurt and get rid of the lateral violence that holds us back.

Next Steps

Looking for some ideas on how to incorporate acts of kindness into your day? Check out some resources on the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation’s website: randomactsofkindness.org.

If you’re looking for a deeper dive into where lateral violence comes from and how your community or organization

can remove lateral violence from your organization and turn it into lateral kindness, let’s talk. Legacy Bowes facilitates a Lateral Violence to Lateral Kindness program and would love the opportunity to work with you in your journey toward becoming a Lateral Kindness Warrior. Check out the program today: legacybowes.com/ourservices/leadership-development/ training-development.

Kent Brown is a proud member of the Fisher River Cree Nation in Manitoba. He is a senior human resource professional with 25 years of HR experience, much of which was spent working in Indigenous social services. He specializes in a number of areas, including coaching, policy development, labour relations, facilitation, conflict resolution and performance management. A proud husband and father of four, Brown takes pride in bringing a First Nations view to every area of his life, in his profession, as a seasoned motivational speaker and as an accomplished elite boxing coach.

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Tréchelle Bunn Promoting Healing One Step at a Time

By Danielle Vienneau

Tréchelle Bunn is the founder and race director of the Reconciliation Run, Canada’s first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Half-Marathon, which took place on September 30, 2022. The starting point was on the ruins of what was once the Birtle Indian Residential School, and the finish line in Bunn’s home community.

J

ust shy of her 23rd birthday, Bunn has developed quite an impressive resume. Not only is she an advocate for Indigenous Peoples but she is a motivational speaker, a full-time university student and a competitive hockey player. As a positive role model for youth, she draws her strength from her family and community—a proud Dakota Winyan from Chan Kagha Otina Dakhóta Oyáte (Birdtail Sioux Dakota Nation).

Bunn grew up in the small town of Wampum in Southeastern Manitoba, Canada, located along the Minnesota border and was introduced to sports and physical activity at a very young age. She has since used the skills she developed as an athlete to excel in all aspects of her life, including her education.

Currently living in Winnipeg, Bunn is earning a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Manitoba (UofM), studying Criminology with a minor in Indigenous Studies, with the goal of attending the Juris Doctor Program at Robson Hall (Faculty of Law). She is a Dean’s Honour List student and a three-time Academic All-Canadian.

At the UofM, Bunn is a member of the student leadership group, the Indigenous Circle of Empowerment and a member of the Bison Women’s Hockey team, competing at the

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USPORTS level. She has connected her love for sport and leadership through her work with the Bison Sports Indigenous Engagement Program where she serves as an Indigenous role Tréchelle Bunn model in sport. Through the Indigenous Engagement program, Bunn will be applying for Law Bunn has spent a lot of time and School this winter in anticipation effort ensuring that other Indigenous of graduating in the spring. In youth see themselves represented in the future, she looks forward to sports. “That saying ‘see it, believe promoting change within Canada it, achieve it’ is really important. and within the criminal justice If youth can see other Indigenous system. “Breaking into that field and people occupying these [elite sport continuing to follow in the steps and education] spaces then it allows of other Indigenous lawyers and them to visualize themselves in those trailblazers like Murray Sinclair is environments. It’s really critical to have really important to me,” says Bunn. that representation,” says Bunn.

In the future, she also hopes to put her name forward to run for Chief Bunn has been recognized for her in her community of Birdtail Sioux exceptional leadership as the 2022 Dakota Nation. recipient of the prestigious University of Manitoba Indigenous Award of SAY Magazine recently spoke Excellence for Community Building, with Bunn about her life and her as well as the 2022 recipient of the efforts to provide physical outlets University of Manitoba UMSU for healing for her community by Award for Indigenous Community drawing on her belief of ‘movement Leaders. Most recently she was as medicine’. Find out more about honoured by the Nellie McClung her endeavours, including the Foundation as an Inspiring Young 26 km Healing Walk that gained Woman. When she is not playing national attention and Canada’s first hockey or organizing national events, Reconciliation Run. Bunn also speaks to youth as the Turn to page 14 for SAY Magazine’s Indigenous Network Representative one-on-one interview with Tréchelle and mental health advocate for the Bunn.

Canadian non-profit Jack.org.

Photo credit: University of Manitoba Photography

COVER STORY

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COVER STORY

Movement as Medicine SAY: How did you get involved in sports?

Bunn: I was just three years old the first time my dad put me on skates.

He built a rink in our backyard in Wampum and, ever since then, I fell in love with the game of hockey. Coming up on 20 years of playing hockey in March, it’s definitely been a critical part of my life, and it’s shaped me into who I am today. It’s also given me a platform to use my voice, share my story and bring awareness to different Indigenous issues. That is one of the things I’m most grateful to the sport for, is having the opportunity to talk about my family and my community.

Photo credit: University of Manitoba Bisons Photography

SAY: Tell us more about where you grew up.

Bunn: Growing up I spent a lot of time in my home community of Birdtail Sioux Dakota Nation, especially during the summers with my Kunshi (grandmother) Pauline and my Unkan (grandfather) Terry who live there. It’s a really pretty First Nation, and right behind my grandparent’s house is a big valley and there’s a river running right through it.

My cousins and I would spend a lot of time racing up and down the hills, having different competitions with each other to see who could make it up the fastest.

That also ties into my connection with sport and being active—it was just always a part of my life, my community and my family.

SAY: How do you practise holistic health?

Bunn: Movement for me is really important. It is a way to stay balanced and feel connected to my culture—that traditional way of life where Indigenous Peoples were always physically active, whether it was for dancing or ceremony or for hunting and gathering.

I think sport as a whole has a way of

I’ve always lived by ‘movement as medicine.’ Physical activity and movement, whether that’s playing hockey or running up the hills behind my grandparent’s house, has been my way of staying physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually well, like using those teachings of the medicine wheel.

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Interview with

Tréchelle Bunn

bringing people together that is really powerful. I believe people want to move their bodies and do things in a good way. I organized a Healing Walk in July 2021, and then the Reconciliation Run in September, because walking and/or running is something that most people can do, and it really brings people together. I think holistic health is doing what is accessible to you—doing things in a good way and trusting yourself, your body and your instincts, and having that self-reflection time to determine what your body needs to be your best self.

SAY: Tell us about the Healing Walk you organized for your community in 2021.

Bunn: The healing walk took place on July 1st, soon after hearing about the 215 recoveries in Kamloops. That news obviously hit our communities in a different way than it hit the rest of Canada and the rest of the world. It’s unfortunate that my story isn’t really unique when it comes to the Indigenous community—the stories of children being buried at residential schools, and unmarked graves, aren’t something new to the Indigenous community for a lot of us. Those are the stories that

COVER STORY our grandparents told us, our parents told us. This reopened a lot of trauma and caused more pain. It was gutwrenching.

For a lot of survivors, this was the first time that people acknowledged what they’d been saying for years. I knew I wanted to provide a way for healing to take place for my family and my community. The idea of doing a walk came from my family, my Unkan Donald, a Birtle residential school survivor. He would tell me that when he was at the school, he wanted nothing more than to run away and go home. He never did make the attempt though because he witnessed the consequences his classmates endured when they did try to run. It’s something that always stuck in the back of my mind. I wanted to have meaning behind this walk—I wanted to walk home for my Unkan and all the children who never got to run or walk home on their own terms.

Once I made a post on Facebook, people started sharing it, and it picked up a lot of traction very quickly.

SAY: What was the most impactful part of the Healing Walk?

Bunn: For me, the most impactful part of the whole thing was when we all gathered on the front lawn of the former Birtle residential school.

Before the walk began, Terry Wasteste, an Elder from my community and a residential school survivor, shared his story and talked about how he did try to run away from the school but was unsuccessful and faced very serious consequences for doing so. It was a beautiful and emotional moment because he has so much hope for the future. One of my favourite things about Terry is his outlook on life—how he’s healed and is no longer angry, and how he believes reconciliation is achievable if we all work together. I think that caught the attention of not only people from my community, and not only Indigenous people, but I think it hit home for a lot of non-Indigenous people. His speech

and the pipe ceremony that followed were so poignant—it still gives me chills just talking about it—knowing that he performed a crucial part of our culture on the front lawn of the very institution that tried to eradicate us. It was definitely a reclamation of that space not only for him but for all the elders and survivors who were there that day.

SAY: How did the Healing Walk evolve into the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Run? Bunn: I was really inspired by the Healing Walk experience, so I knew I wanted to do something recurring in order to continue the healing process and education. The walk was 26 kilometres and a half marathon is 21.1 kilometres, so we decided to turn it into a half marathon. So Canada’s first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Half Marathon— the Reconciliation Run—took place on September 30th of this year and started on the former grounds of the Birtle residential school.

Even the non-Indigenous community showed that they wanted to be involved. It was an inclusive

event that was easy to be a part of—a tangible way to show support and move toward reconciliation. The run provided people with education, reflection and learning, and I think that was the most important thing to me.

SAY: Were there any special moments from the Reconciliation Run that stand out in your mind?

Bunn: What stands out most for me from the 21.1 kilometre Reconciliation Run was one woman who said her legs hurt and she was so tired—it was the first half marathon she had ever participated in—but she kept going because she knew that so many children would have given anything to have kept running.

People kept going in honour of those children who never got the chance to. There are no words to describe the interconnectedness that was felt during the run and during the feast that followed. I think it was an overall beautiful event, and I’m looking forward to seeing it grow and helping it grow in the coming years.

For more information and to get involved in the 2023 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Half Marathon, please visit reconciliationrun.ca.

Danielle Vienneau, Editor-in-Chief of SAY Magazine, believes in the power of sharing stories to inspire greatness in others. To submit your story, email editor@saymag.com.

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ENTREPRENEURSHIP

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ENTREPRENEURSHIP

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LITERATURE

Teacher, Take Care

A Guide to Well-Being and Workplace Wellness for Educators

E

veryone knows a teacher, and chances are if you’ve spent enough time in a classroom setting, you have a pretty good idea of how stressful the job can be. A good teacher must be an educator, counsellor, entertainer, creator, day nurse and so many other roles in a work environment of increasingly lean resources and higher expectations. And that was all before the pandemic necessitated an entirely new way of teaching and thinking about being in a classroom setting.

The need for effective strategies to cope with increasing levels of stress is paramount.

The stories in Teacher, Take Care offer strategies for teachers to use for their personal wellness. These have been shared by fellow educators in the hope that other teachers can learn from their wellness journeys and perhaps apply the thinking and techniques to their own lives.

Additionally, each chapter offers valuable concepts that originate from an Indigenous worldview. These come from Elder Stanley Kipling and Knowledge Keeper North Star, who are members of Anishinaabe communities that reside in the Treaty 1 territory in what is now Manitoba. In each chapter, Elder Stan and Knowledge Keeper North Star share messages connecting Indigenous perspectives of wellness with the ideas explored in that chapter.

The concepts they share suggest ways in which teachers can make deeper connections for a healthy life. In Anishinaabemowin, they call this Mino Pimatisiwin, which means “living a good life.”

About the Authors

Teacher, Take Care is a comprehensive guide created in consultation with Métis educator Lisa Neufeld, Elder Stanley Kipling and Knowledge Keeper Richelle North Star Scott who provided Indigenous perspectives on the wellness strategies outlined in each chapter, and who also contributed their own chapters to the book. The book is also guided by the principles of the Sacred Hoop (and its variations)—a common theme, as represented in the Sacred Hoop by the Four Directions, is that wellness involves the whole person—their Physical, Emotional, Mental and Spiritual selves.

Jennifer E. Lawson

Elder Stanley Kipling

Richelle North Star Scott

Lisa Dumas Neufeld

Senior author Jennifer E. Lawson, Ph.D., is a former classroom teacher, resource and special education teacher, consultant, and principal. Lawson writes and teaches in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba, and is a local school board trustee.

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WELLNESS

A Holistic View of Wellness Messages from Knowledge Keeper North Star and Elder Stan Kipling Excerpt adapted with permission from Teacher, Take Care.

Copyright 2022, Portage & Main Press.

“Mino Pimatisiwin ‘Living a good life’ can mean different things to each individual. As Indigenous People, we understand each person has the right to direct their own life without interference. When we gather for healing ceremonies, we are told stories shared by Elders and Knowledge Keepers, which we call teachings.

Yet it is understood that everyone will take a different personal meaning from each teaching and that we can only take that which we are ready for. Each time we hear a story, even if it is the same story, we may have a different understanding of the teaching than we did before.” ~ Knowledge Keeper North Star

The Sacred Hoop

The Sacred Hoop is a representation of how some Indigenous Peoples view the world. It is also known by other names, such as Cosmological Circle, Circle Teachings, Hoop Teachings, Medicine Wheel, or Wheel Teachings.

(Many Indigenous communities are trying to break free from using references to the Medicine Wheel and Wheel Teachings, as these are colonial terms.)

There are many different perspectives on the Sacred Hoop, depending on Nation, territory, and personal

interpretations. A common theme, as represented in the Sacred Hoop by the Four Directions, is that wellness involves the whole person—their Physical, Emotional, Mental, and Spiritual selves.

We each have our own definition of wellness, whether we have articulated it or not. One understanding of holistic health and harmony is reflected in the Sacred Hoop. ~ Jennifer E. Lawson

When we began planning [Teacher, Take Care], Leah Fontaine shared her idea of structuring it around the Sacred Hoop teachings as a means of infusing Indigenous Knowledge throughout the book. The Sacred Hoop shown here is the one that Elder Kipling and North Star were DECEMBER DECEMBER 2022 2022 ll HOLISTIC HOLISTIC HEALTH HEALTH || 19 19

WELLNESS

most familiar with. It supports their thoughts and ideas and has shaped the teachings they have received throughout their lives.

In the Sacred Hoop, the Physical dimension is represented by babies and children, as their physical bodies do much growing and learning when they are new to this world.

The Golden Eagle sits in the East as a teacher of unconditional love for our children. The colour yellow represents the rising sun and the gift of a brand-new day.

Nourishing a healthy body through exercise, nutrition, and sleep are ways to promote physical wellness.

The Emotional dimension is represented by teenagers, who experience a wide range of emotions during a time of hormone changes in their lives. The Wolf sits in the South as a teacher of humility. As true leaders, wolves are humble.

Although often misrepresented as wild and dangerous animals by settlers, they care for the pack even if it means their needs are not met.

The colour red represents the red-hot emotions we may have during this life stage. We are teaching emotional wellness when we allow ourselves and others to experience feelings in a safe environment. Expressing emotions is a natural way to bring ourselves back into balance.

The Mental dimension is represented by adults, who often overthink and then worry about the decisions they have to make or the consequences of the decisions they have already made.

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The Black Bear sits in the West as a teacher of courage, as it takes courage to go deep within our minds and learn about patterns that no longer serve us. The colour black represents our minds and the introspection it takes to journey through our lives.

Being engaged in the world through learning, problem-solving, and creativity can improve our mental

wellness. Learning is an ongoing, ever-evolving, lifelong process. It keeps us forever moving and growing and prevents us from getting stuck or becoming stagnant.

The Spiritual dimension is represented

by Elders because they have great knowledge, having travelled the path around the entire Sacred Hoop. The White Buffalo sits in the North as a teacher who teaches us about facing the toughest of challenges head-on.

Because of this, both the Elders and the White Buffalo deserve much respect.

The colour white represents the harsh weather we must face and the wisdom our Elders have gained, often turning their hair white in the process.

“The Spiritual is that which fills us up. For some, Spirituality means connecting to our higher power, whether we call it Creator, God, Buddha, or Allah. For others, it means something different. The Spiritual also means the fire within us—our pursuits that fill us up when we feel empty.

These can be dancing, singing, attending ceremonies, or painting—things that make us feel whole again. As we go deeper within ourselves, committing to another walk around the Sacred Hoop, spirituality keeps us grounded, creative, and inspired.” ~ North Star

“Spiritual work is essential to healing. It means being on the land, talking to Mother Earth, and harvesting the gifts from the land, as when preparing hides, feathers, bones, and plants. This is spiritual medicine.” ~ Elder Kipling

In using the Sacred Hoop as a framework for Teacher, Take Care, our purpose is also to address the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action, by celebrating and prioritizing Indigenous voices in the connection and transfer of knowledge, history, the legacy of Indigenous Peoples, and issues related to intercultural competency (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015).

WELLNESS

Restoring the Circle

One Indigenous Perspective on

WELLNESS

By Lisa Dumas Neufeld Excerpt adapted with permission from Teacher, Take Care. “Chapter 4: Restoring the Circle One Indigenous Perspective on Wellness” by Lisa Dumas Neufeld. Copyright 2022, Portage & Main Press.

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here must have been a time, way back, when my father’s family was well and their Sacred Circles overflowed with light and joy and wholeness.

But by the time I got here, alongside the resilience and beauty they embodied, there was unprocessed intergenerational trauma that had ravaged and wrecked them—leading to mental illness, poverty, physical disease, addiction, and abuse. Still, I know in my bones that there was a time when health, harmony, and Métis pride reigned, a time when their Circles were full and fruitful.

By the time I was a teenager, I had followed in certain familial footsteps and found myself disconnected, ill, and destructive. I was living a transient life, shuffling from foster home to group home with my belongings in garbage bags and my dignity discarded. I was unwell in every way. My Circle was fragmented.

I had dropped out of school several times and was hunting for comfort wherever I could find it. My world, internally and externally, was fraught with turbulence. I became a young mother. I was unrooted, unstable, and focused mostly on survival. I was living within what I call the Realm of Risk: where a high-risk individual is

so embedded within a subculture of risk that it becomes the norm.

Walking out of that lifestyle has been a two-decade journey for me.

With the support of many mentors, and by making some tough, positive decisions, I was able to change the trajectory of my life, “little by slow.”

I will share details of my journey throughout this chapter, but the short story is that I eventually went back to school and became a teacher. I now work with young adults, many of whom are dealing with the same challenges that I experienced in my early life. Still, the quest for wellness is far from complete. I’ve slowly been moving toward naming, reclaiming, and healing. I’ve been walking toward an inner reconciliation and a deep restoration. I would like to share the story of how I healed and the ways I have been able to help others do the same for themselves.

My people come from The Pas, by way of the Red River Settlement and St Laurent. I am a descendant of the Ducharme, Lavallee, and Roulette families from St Laurent, and the Dumas family from The Pas. I grew up in Winnipeg and only learned I was Métis when I was in university.

As I grew up, my father was absent.

My mother would share bits of stories

Lisa Dumas Neufeld

that she’d heard from him. I’m still trying to gather up the pieces, dust them off, and put them together. I’ve learned that my family was a very musical, resilient group of people.

Yet their culture was blunted by trauma and racism. As a young boy, my father witnessed his father’s death by suicide. I can’t imagine what it was like for him, his siblings, and my grandmother in a shattered Circle.

My grandmother’s untreated mental DECEMBER DECEMBER 2022 2022 ll HOLISTIC HOLISTIC HEALTH HEALTH || 21 21

WELLNESS

Wahkootowin is a multifaceted concept that represents both our relationship with others and Creation and the way we should interact within those relationships. Thus, our path of wellness becomes a sacred responsibility, integrated with the path of the servantleader. health issues were amplified as she tried to learn English and raise her nine surviving children alone. Two of her eleven children had passed away before her husband died.

Around this time, my father was sent to Sacred Heart, the Roman Catholic day school in The Pas. Day schools for First Nations people were part of the Canadian government’s Indigenous assimilation policy.

However, because it wasn’t clear which level of government was responsible for educational funding for my people, as we were without a treaty, many Métis day schools were run by religious institutions with only some government involvement. These schools were operated by many of the same groups that ran the residential schools. Although my father and other Métis did not live at the schools, they suffered from many of the same traumas as residential school Survivors, including physical, emotional, sexual, and cultural abuse. My father would share stories with my mom about the abuse that he suffered at the hands 22 | HOLISTIC HEALTH l DECEMBER 2022

of priests and nuns because of his heritage. At the time, if you could pass as French Canadian, you did.

So, while ideally, “the shared history of a people is remembered and passed on to future generations,” that wasn’t a reality for my family. There was a lot of secrecy and confusion about my family’s history and identity, so I have experienced some serious insecurity about this. I share this story hoping that it helps another struggling person courageously begin to gather the pieces of their own identity. There have been times when I didn’t feel “Métis enough” or felt that I didn’t fit anywhere. There have been other times when I’d sit full of goosebumps and tears, listening to an Elder’s hushed prayer, not intellectually understanding the words said, but physically-spiritually—in my bones— understanding something deep and whole and well.

When I first saw the word pakiiwew in an online Michif dictionary, tears streamed down my face. Pakiiwew means “to return home.” My perspective is that of an urban Métis woman, once disconnected from a healthy community, now finding her way back home. My stories and teachings were not gathered over cups of tea with aunties or while walking along the creek with grandparents.

They come from a variety of people who showed up along my path, and I’m beyond grateful. I gathered the teachings like berries, learning from a lovely Anishinaabe grandmother and from neighbours, friends, and students of all ages. I’ve learned from students’ parents and from colleagues, from people in recovery rooms, from speakers such as North Star and Gramma Shingoose, and leaders such as Leah Gazan and Métis Elder Barbara Bruce. I’ve also been blessed and nourished by Elders and Knowledge Keepers who have shared their stories and teachings through writing and film.

My thankfulness for the helpers and teachers who have shown up along my path is immeasurable. You’ve given me life.

What Is Wellness?

When I think of wellness, I think of health. The root of health is hāl, which means “to make whole.” It is out of a harmonious whole that sacred qualities and gifts can begin to emerge to be shared with the community.

Wellness, then, isn’t just personal.

What may begin as an individual pursuit becomes a noble way of being and living when it is developed to help the community.

Wellness, just like disease, affects everything around us. According to a Navajo Elder interviewed by Rupert Ross, all our actions are either hozhooji (moving toward harmony) or hashkeeji (moving toward disharmony). Notice that there is no third option, no suggestion that we can slide along in neutral, affecting nothing. Instead, the understanding is that whatever we do or say has an impact on everything around us, in one direction or another.

Métis Elder Barbara Bruce remembers, when she was a child, people supporting each other in the community in a variety of ways, from physical labour, to planting medicine, to meeting basic needs. When I asked if there was a Michif word that conveyed this concept of supporting community well-being, she said it wasn’t something that was discussed; it was just the way things were.

Métis writer Maria Campbell mirrors this notion: “Family [to our old people] meant sharing all things: wealth, knowledge, happiness and pain. It meant ... loving and caring enough about each other to be honest, and from that honesty, gathering strength to change those things which would hurt us all.”

WELLNESS Elder Bruce offered the Cree/Michif word wahkootowin. Wahkootowin is a multifaceted concept that represents both our relationship with others and Creation and the way we should interact within those relationships. Thus, our path of wellness becomes a sacred responsibility, integrated with the path of the servant-leader. We honour this responsibility by becoming aware, and then taking action and making sacrifices so that we can work with and help others in a good way.

Closing Thoughts

This journey to wellness—to Integrated Reconciliation—is a messy, sacred responsibility. It’s for all people, regardless of ethnicity, age, religion, lack of religion, gender, socioeconomic status, or job title. This is wahkootowin.

I’m walking this journey home. I’m coming home as a whole, healthy,

proud Métis woman. I’m doing the work to move toward my highest and cleanest potential. I’m walking toward a peaceful, generous, harmonious way of living. This internal work will show up externally, healing, changing, and balancing all aspects of my life and relations. This is where I can give and share from, a full and fruitful Circle, as it was for my people way, way back.

This is wahkootowin.

I believe that if enough of us do this work individually, our homes, our communities, and ultimately our nation will move toward Truth and Reconciliation. It’s just a matter of time. I invite you, fellow traveller, to step into your Sacred Circle, respectfully, resiliently, and valiantly.

See what’s there. Muck around.

Change what you can. Release what you can’t. And then repeat. Restore your Circle.

This journey to wellness— to Integrated Reconciliation— is a messy, sacred responsibility.

It’s for all people, regardless of ethnicity, age, religion, lack of religion, gender, socioeconomic status, or job title. This is wahkootowin.

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SELF-DETERMINATION

Part 1:

Indigenous Self-Determination: A Shared Value

By Rauna Kuokkanen

Conceptualizing Indigenous selfdetermination as a value involves a deep desire to restructure relations of politics in ways that allow upholding individual integrity, in part defined as bodily integrity and body sovereignty, and in part expressed through processes of gaining an understanding of who you are as an individual and what your commitments are in relation to others.

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In this four-part article series, Research Professor Rauna Kuokkanen shares the key findings of her research that has been published as the book Restructuring Relations: Indigenous Self-Determination, Governance and Gender (Oxford University Press, 2019). For her comparative study, she interviewed over 70 Indigenous individuals from Sápmi, Greenland and Canada, the majority of whom were women. She wishes to share her findings as a means to increase awareness and empower Indigenous Peoples across the globe.

S

elf-determination is a right in which international law belongs to peoples. It is not a right vested in states. Since the 1970s, many Indigenous Peoples in the world have advanced an interpretation that differs from states’ understanding of self-determination.

While states view self-determination as a right to independence and the formation of new states, Indigenous Peoples stress that nation-state is only one way of implementing self-determination. “We want to control our own lives, not an independent state” is a common way of explaining Indigenous Peoples’ political ambitions with regard to self-determination. Most Indigenous Peoples seek to practise selfdetermination through broad, internal political autonomy, which promotes prospects of remaining and living as distinct peoples and allows people to advance their own societal structures and traditions.

A Right and a Shared Value

In Indigenous politics, selfdetermination usually means a collective right of a people to decide

on their own affairs and to govern certain territories. The applicability of this right to Indigenous Peoples has been specifically confirmed in the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP. The collective right to self-determination is very important for Indigenous Peoples, most of whom lack the ability to make decisions over their own affairs at the collective level.

Yet it is too limiting to consider self-determination only as a right in relation to the state. Selfdetermination for Indigenous Peoples consists of many other relations. Self-determination goes beyond state-based rights frameworks to include relationships with their lands or with one another, for example. Self-determination also has an individual dimension.

When asked about the meaning of self-determination, Indigenous women I talked to discussed values informing their understanding: relationality, the importance of land and freedom from oppression. They talked about individual and personal integrity,

SELF-DETERMINATION as well as the integrity of traditional territories. An essential feature of personal integrity is bodily integrity, or freedom from violence and harm.

When we expand the definition of self-determination beyond the rights framework, it turns into a shared value considered necessary for individual and collective well-being.

Collective and Individual SelfDetermination: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Indigenous Peoples commonly discuss collective self-determination and prospects of being in control of their future, without which they do not survive as distinct Peoples. But self-determination also has another dimension, personal autonomy. Many consider individual self-determination as a precondition for collective selfdetermination. If a person is not self-determining at the individual level, they do not have the capacity or ability to participate in advancing collective self-determination in their community.

Without an understanding of the significance of this relationality—that everyone is related and everyone is needed as part of a whole—it is difficult to take responsibility for the collective well-being.

In Indigenous politics, the question of individual self-determination has sometimes been challenged and considered unnecessary. Individual self-determination has, however, historically been highly valued among many Indigenous Peoples. In some cases, personal autonomy was so extensive that missionaries considered it an obstacle to colonization.

In Indigenous worldviews, personal autonomy stresses the principle of responsibility: the ability of a person to take responsibility for themselves and other living beings in the world.

Part of this is to take responsibility, both individually and collectively, for the existing violence in Indigenous communities. Many Indigenous women pointed out that experiencing

Coquitlam, BC, Canada - May 29, 2021: Local indigenous elder plays their drum at the “Water is Life” demonstration in opposition of the TMX pipeline

violence or living in violent circumstances radically compromises an individual’s ability to function as full members of their communities and that losing individuals to violence undermines the collective effort of Indigenous self-determination.

As one woman expressed it, “Selfgovernance, land claims and treaties are meaningless if our families are beaten up and bruised and unhealthy.

What kind of nation-building is that?

We need to look at our own health and the violence in the communities in order to go anywhere.”

Individual integrity also takes the form of responsibility and concern for the next generation. Some Indigenous women discussed the challenge of raising self-determining children who, once grown up, would assume and act upon their responsibilities toward their relations and who would be able and willing to do their share for “the big political self-determination.”

Others reflected their individual responsibility in actively contributing to a better world in which the next generation will grow up, as well as the role of family members in carefully choosing what values and teachings to transmit to future generations.

Many Indigenous women held that implementation and exercise of collective political self-determination are premised on respecting and upholding the bodily integrity of all members of a society. To make this

a reality requires including nonviolence as a key norm in Indigenous self-determination. The role of Indigenous men in creating new norms of non-violence is critical.

Indigenous Peoples’ individual selfdetermination is relational. This means that a person becomes who they are through relationships with others, both human and other-than-human beings.

Individual self-determination emerges from intergenerational relationships, as well as a person’s obligations toward their family, community and society.

Without individual self-determination, there is no future for Indigenous communities or nations, and thus no basis for collective self-determination.

Conceptualizing Indigenous selfdetermination as a value involves a deep desire to restructure relations of politics in ways that allow upholding individual integrity, in part defined as bodily integrity and body sovereignty, and in part expressed through processes of gaining an understanding of who you are as an individual and what your commitments are in relation to others.

Rauna Kuokkanen (Sámi) is a Professor of Arctic Indigenous Studies at the University of Lapland (Finland), Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto, and a 20212023 Fulbright Arctic Initiative Fellow. She previously lived and worked in Canada for nearly 20 years. Kuokkanen is a long-time advocate for the protection of Sámi sacred sites, particularly Suttesája, a sacred Sámi spring in Northern Finland. Currently, she leads the Siida School project, a communitydriven renewal of Sámi Siida system.

DECEMBER 2022 l HOLISTIC HEALTH | 25

Photo credit: Alyssa Katherine Faoro

WORKPLACE

Tracey King Tracey King (Miigis Kwe) is Ojibway and Pottawatomi, a citizen of Wasauksing First Nation. She is the Indigenous human resources lead, (recruitment and retention) at the Toronto Metropolitan University.

She is the founding chair of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit Community Group, a member of the Truth Reconciliation and Commission Working Group, an executive member of the Aboriginal Education Council, and a juror of the Progressive Aboriginal Relations Awards for the Canadian Council of Aboriginal Business. King also supports the work of Workforce Warriors, a national team working for the advancement of Indigenous communities and peoples across Canada, providing sustainable solutions through innovative Indigenous projects.

King recognizes that Indigenous culture and perspectives are very diverse, and this article is a personal account written based on her opinions, teachings and experiences.

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An Indigenous Perspective:

A Holistic Way of Life

By Tracey King

Years ago, a Cree Traditional Counsellor explained to me how our society is experiencing “holistic poverty.” This thought resonated with me. I have been an Indigenous Counsellor for most of my working life (since 1990), and I could recognize elements of this concept in workplaces.

I

want to share with you what a holistic workplace means from an Indigenous perspective. This was taught to me by the teachings of the Medicine Wheel. For those of us who try to live in the traditional way, holistic living is a way of life that emphasizes balance, harmony and respect for all living things. It is also applicable to an individual’s health and well-being, which includes four elements: physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual. Each of these elements requires equal attention; if one of the elements is at a deficit or harmed, it will impact the other elements as well.

For example, the last few generations of my family have experienced thyroid conditions. When I sought treatment from a Traditional Healer, or Medicine Person, he told me that this condition often stems from many of our people’s inability to communicate or from being silenced.

It’s also apparently caused by past historical events of colonization (i.e., residential school) and is often referred to as one of the health outcomes of intergenerational trauma.

Coincidentally, a few generations of my family went to residential schools.

Here, I’ve provided a brief summary to show some of the connections

WORKPLACE

between traditional teachings and creating a holistic workplace.

Every Individual Has the Ability to Heal In the workplace, a manager or coworker has the ability to help others heal. This may involve listening and providing support. In some cases, it may be more appropriate to refer employees to a professional service, like the Employment Assistance Program, their family physician or a community health service.

Historically, in the traditional lifestyle of many Indigenous cultures, people knew about plant medicines and sought Traditional Healing to treat or cure sickness.

This knowledge empowered them to

heal themselves. A holistic workplace is an organization where, each day, every leader and employee supports each other to take time to care for themselves.

Every Individual Is Sacred and Has a Spirit

Every individual is a sacred Spirit, and all things are interconnected. Every individual is said to live in a Sacred Circle of Life, which encompasses the mind, body, spirit and emotions (heart). We need to strive for balance and harmony in the four elements of the Medicine Wheel. We come to work to care for the Spirit in ourselves and each other. The care outlined above is only possible if every individual recognizes the importance

of the Spirit and welcomes support.

We each have to be responsible and take care of ourselves too.

I want to conclude here by sharing that our Elders, Traditional Healers and Counsellors are held in high esteem because they teach us who we are, where we belong, where we are going and where we come from. This is not only vital and integral to our way of life, but it also encapsulates our resiliency to progress in today’s diverse workplaces.

For anyone who may be living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is looking for a great resource for traditional teachings, the Anishnawbe Health Clinic in Toronto is an ideal place to start.

This article originally appeared in a previous employee newsletter from Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) Human Resources in 2014 and was recently updated by King.

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EMPOWERMENT

Grandmothers Rise: Reclaiming Space and Power

By Rebecca Chartrand

At the age of 88, Elder Mae Louise is still fighting to restore the balance of power once held by Indigenous women. More than half the age of Manitoba, she is not only a significant matriarch in this province but one of the most beautiful women I have met. Mae Louise has witnessed the brutalities lodged against Indigenous women over decades, and has dedicated her life to healing and empowering Indigenous women.

H

er resilience and strength are in her bloodline, passed down through the generations to her daughter Jamie Goulet. Together they are a vibrant mother-daughter team who has helped thousands of women and girls deal with multi-generational trauma for over two decades. They are the co-founders of the Clan Mother Healing Village and Knowledge Centre which seeks to provide mid- to long-term support and educational opportunities to victims of multigenerational sexual violence and human trafficking. Their formula for change is simple: “You heal a mother, you heal a generation of children.”

They are working to “re-establish the long-lasting Indigenous matrilineal models of governance and healing that, although have been oppressed, have not been lost,” says Goulet.

Their unique land-based healing model will use Indigenous healing methodologies, community living, and community healing to support at-risk women. They hope to be less independent of government funding and therefore look to social enterprise models to develop programs, products and services that would be revenue-generating for the Healing Village and for the women.

“There has always been something missing in these Western systems

28 | HOLISTIC HEALTH l DECEMBER 2022

for us and that is the leadership of and support for Indigenous women,” says Elder Mae Louise. Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls reveals a deliberate gender-based genocide against Indigenous women with roots in Canada’s historical and political beginnings.

Statistically, Manitoba has failed Indigenous women and children. We have the highest number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in this country, in addition to having the highest number of children in care. “It is time, we must show them (government and Western institutions) the way, they must follow our lead,” says Elder Mae Louise, “because their way has stripped us of our power and has been the root of this destruction.”

Historically, European men held power over women, which was not the case in North America/Turtle Island.

Indigenous women were central leaders within our Nations and major decision-makers in our families and communities. Nothing happened without the consent and approval of the women, says Writer/Storyteller Duncan Mercredi. “When we started to ignore our women, that is when everything went to sh–,” he says, speaking up at the Grandmothers Rise

Jamie Goulet and her mother Elder Mae Louise

Speaking about these truths will continue to illuminate the challenges we face.

We must believe we can create change within Western systems and within community. It starts by telling our truth, sharing our stories and charting our own paths, as is the case with the Clan Mothers Healing Village.

Gathering held February 24, 2020, at the North End Women’s Resource Centre in Winnipeg.

European imperialism set in motion intentional efforts to undermine the power and influence of Indigenous women. “Our women want to do well and be well, but we must work that much harder to reclaim our sense of place, our belonging, reverence

EMPOWERMENT and leadership within our own communities,” says Goulet. “We must also work that much harder to protect our young women and each other from these ongoing attacks. The fact remains that when our women suffer, we all suffer, especially the children.”

Upon personal reflection, I realize how difficult this writing process has been for me. It brought many unresolved feelings to the surface about my own brushes against these issues. Growing up in Winnipeg’s North End with a high population of Indigenous Peoples made me a prime target for potential exploitation. I recall walking to school daily over a mile stretch between Mountain Avenue and Flora Avenue, and many times over those four years a car would pull up, sometimes asking for directions: “I’m lost, if you could only show me the way for a couple bucks.”

By the age of 15, I had my own stalker.

A white male in a dark blue vehicle driving around watching me from a distance. Was he really watching me, I wondered? After leaving a party at a downtown location, there he was again. Making my way home, we ended up walking through the Greygoose bus station… and there he was again.

He opened his long jacket to reveal himself. Shocked and scared, I ran into the women’s washroom to hide from him. I peeked out of the washroom and there he was sitting on a chair nearby. I stayed in that washroom until morning and walked over the Slaw Rebchuck bridge to my home in the North End. Not long after, my good friend Glenda Morrisseau went missing, and two weeks later, was found murdered. She was last seen walking over that same bridge.

If my parents knew any of what I had dodged, they would have grounded me forever, but they didn’t have to because I grounded myself. I fell into a depression, started going to

ceremony and put myself on a path to address some of these issues, like co-founding a play with Red Roots Theatre called Those Damn Squaws which would highlight the racism and exploitation Indigenous women were experiencing. At the time, I didn’t recognize these experiences as attempts of sexual exploitation, stalking or the beginnings of what could have been human trafficking, or worse. For some, this is simply how it begins or ends.

Personally, I hate having to tell my daughter and nieces to be cautious out there because of the simple fact they are Indigenous females. This impacts their well-being and their ability to feel at ease in their own skins within their own homelands, and we should be mad as hell about this. This violence doesn’t just happen on our streets. It continues in our schools, on social media, in the workplace and at corporate levels. In 2013, Cindy Blackstock revealed surveillance, privacy and safety issues for activists and changemakers working within systems. Yes, there are consequences for changemakers, but hope is not lost because we are strengthening and can now celebrate the efforts of our changemakers, like Cindy Blackstock and Elder Mae Louise and Jamie Goulet. Despite efforts to undermine the strength, resilience and leadership of Indigenous women, we are still standing strong, and we continue to have strong Indigenous grandmothers showing us the way.

Speaking about these truths will continue to illuminate the challenges we face. We must believe we can create change within Western systems and within community. It starts by telling our truth, sharing our stories and charting our own paths, as is the case with the Clan Mothers Healing Village. But we cannot do it alone. We need our allies and the rest of Canada

Elder Mae Louise and Rebecca Chartrand

at our side. Under the banner of Truth and Reconciliation, getting behind this vision is one tangible way to impact change.

In closing a big thank you to all our sisters, mothers, aunties and daughters, and Elders like Elder Mae Louise Campbell and Jamie Goulet. Your efforts create space to heal, be nurtured, and grow from a place of care, strength, and dignity. Collectively our strength and numbers are growing, and we can now stop to notice and celebrate each other as we share in the work of revitalization. I look forward to contributing to and through an empowered Indigenous Canada and look forward to celebrating other Indigenous women locally and across Canada. This article honors your work and we are grateful for all that you do to restore wellness and the empowerment of Indigenous women.

Rebecca Chartrand, Anishinaabe, is the President and CEO of Indigenous Strategy Alliance. She is a purpose-driven and recognized educational leader with 25 years of experience advancing Indigenous achievement through education, arts, advocacy, and public service.

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MUSIC

S R E U C O N E R E F DIF E US

K R A E M ONG R T S

W

e are all multi-faceted human beings; we do not fit into tidy racial boxes, or genre boxes, or any other type of box. It is fighting this boxing—this division-creating mentality—that makes music so powerful. Artists bring all their unique elements together to create their art. Their family history and cultural identity, their experiences and passions, and their talents and dreams are all packaged in an ever-changing and growing production of them as a whole. As listeners, we are overwhelmed by the beauty and strength that comes from embracing these fragments. It is by championing our brothers and sisters who are unlike us and welcoming all the pieces of our own histories that we find peace and a wealth of truth. It is in these differences that we find our strength.

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“But aren’t you African-American? I thought you were Yup’ik? What are you?” Truthfully, none of us have only one heritage. Pamyua (pronounced bum yo-ah) is an Inuit word meaning “encore” or “do it again”. Not only does this band’s name leave us anticipating a crowd of people dancing during encores but it also brings forth a revival of traditional drum dancing and songs of the Yup’ik blended with African-American influences like gospel, R&B, jazz and funk to create a brand-new style that Native People Magazine calls a “blizzard of interlocking harmonies”. Pamyua is recalling the traditional songs and doing the old again by dancing in a new style of encore!

MUSIC Pamyua will make its mark on the world, leaving its unique tribal funk and Inuit soul stamp.

Pamyua began its life as a musical group in 1995, and soon after Aassanaaq “Ossie” Kairaiuak (Yup’ik sculptor, artist and follower of the Old Ways) and Karina Moeller (InuitDanish heritage from Greenland) joined the group. Music comes from our own diverse experiences, and each member brings their own heritage collage, personal voice and style. By

embracing all musical pathways— old and new—Pamyua finds its true strength. The band believes music and dance create unity, and together they interpret Inuit traditions, becoming a symbol of pride for Alaska’s Indigenous Peoples.

Pamyua has been a wild success both at home and abroad. They have been invited to provide a music video and oral history for the Library of Congress’s special Homegrown Concert Series in their American Folklife Center.

They are also bringing the Indigenous sounds of Alaska to television, having performed live on the new ABC-TV hit series Alaska Daily and scored original music for episodes of Nat Geo’s Emmy-winning docuseries Life Below Zero: First Alaska. In the near future, they will tour the Midwest USA. As a group,

Photo credit: Joy Demmert

Pamyua founders and brothers Phillip and Stephen Blanchett grew up in Yukon/Kuskokwim River Delta region in South-Western Alaska, home of the Yup’ik people. Many children lack even one supportive community, but these brothers were fortunate enough to have been born into two cultural worlds. Their mother shared her Yup’ik family heritage with them, creating a cocoon of Inuit culture, while their African-American father introduced them to another family to which they belonged through the nearby African-American church, making them doubly loved. It is out of these places of cultural inclusion that Pamyua was born.

Each member has their own aspirations, and for one member in particular, Pamyua has become a springboard. Qacung (Stephen Qacung Blanchett) is a performing artist in his own right, as well as a culture-bearer, art and culture educator, and advocate for equity and inclusion. Qacung attributes his mixed heritage as the impetus to bring him into the world of performance art. As the son of a strong traditional Yup’ik mother and a proud African-American father, he learned to blend his life and cultures in a way that was true to his own personal style and his personal passion to fight for his traditions and heritage. The soloperforming artist Qacung was born!

His self-titled album Qacung Miu was released in 2021. Not content only on the stage, Qacung teaches songs and dances of his culture, serves in leadership roles with the Alaska Native Heritage Center and runs the Aak’w Rock Indigenous Music Festival. This talented global citizen is sure to leave a tribal awakening in his contrail.

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The fight for awareness and cultural identity is not left only to men. Raye Zaragoza has found her voice as a woman of colour. As a young woman of Japanese-American, Mexican and Indigenous heritage, she lives at an intersection of many cultural identities, all of which have pushed her to throw off insecurities about societal images. The confidence that came from embracing her own identity and discovering the power of each of them has allowed her to succeed not as a woman, not as a Japanese-American, not as a Mexican and not as an Indigenous person, but as a multifaceted person.

Media has attempted to label her in one way or another, and the most common is by calling her a protest artist. Zaragoza was shocked into action when she saw footage of the treatment of protesters at the Dakota Access Pipeline protests—footage that she saw mainstream media was refusing to publicize. It was this event that drove her to write “The River” in 2006, which became an instant hit, with her album Fight For You debuting soon after.

She learned to celebrate what made her different and support those with similar struggles to do the same. Her confidence radiates across the album Woman In Color, which encourages people everywhere to find power in

embracing their own personal identities. But Zaragoza is not to be kept in a tidy, political activist box. Her album offers an intimate exploration of coming into her own and finding purpose in her existence. Her most recent adventure has been with the Netflix children’s show Spirit Rangers, which premiered on Indigenous Peoples’ Day and features all Native American writers and cast; she has written over 45 songs for the show!

Driven by her multiple cultural heritages to find her purpose, Zaragoza is a reminder to celebrate and fight for your identity.

In a world that wants to either make everyone the same or separate us with labels, music is a theatre in which diversity breeds creativity. We all become stronger as

Photo credit: Kristen Drum

MUSIC

we come to understand, accept and celebrate the light that shines through the multi-faceted sides of each artist’s works.

Jan 2 | Qacung Jan 9 | Raye Zaragoza Jan 16 | Pamyua 32 | HOLISTIC HEALTH l DECEMBER 2022

Visit us at IndigenousinMusic.com

HEALING

Success while Living with Kidney Failure Alex Starblanket is a motivational speaker, certified mentor coach and small business owner. He is a successful entrepreneur who found his purpose after experiencing kidney failure caused by severe alcohol abuse.

He now shares his story publicly in hopes of helping others who may be dealing with similar struggles. Starblanket speaks from the heart, from experience and on behalf of the next generation to help build a healthier future for everyone. This is his story.

S

tarblanket grew up in Ahtahkakoop First Nation, a small community north of Prince Albert in Saskatchewan, Canada. Sadly, the beginning of his life story depicts a familiar narrative— the effects of intergenerational trauma caused by colonial oppression and residential schooling.

“Growing up, our community didn’t have many role models or motivational speakers to keep us motivated and away from trouble,” says Starblanket. “In my youth I did drugs and drank alcohol, basically harming my body, and no one told me it was wrong in the first place.”

In and out of foster care for most of his childhood, Starblanket often felt isolated and depressed. He and his sisters entered the foster care system when he was just five years old—taken from his home by social services because of his parents’ alcohol abuse. They were eventually found and taken in by their grandparents, with whom they stayed until they turned 18.

“I grew up not really knowing my mother, her life or the love of, and for, a parent,” explains Starblanket.

“I grew up with this feeling of not being complete as a family, and so I lost hope during my childhood and turned to drinking to ease my pain from being away from my mother.”

Starblanket started drinking heavily and drifting away from family at the age of 21, living on the same reserve as his mother but lacking the courage to face her. He continued to drink, trading in beers for hard vodka drinks and coolers that made his blood pressure jump sky high.

“I continually drank while living on the rez, which is what we did for excitement and to socialize with one another,” says Starblanket. “I did this for several years without any treatment for high blood pressure, and then everything changed.”

In 2016, Starblanket moved away from his community to start fresh in British Columbia, to find himself and begin healing. But the life he left behind soon caught up to him. “I was worse than I was back home,” he explains.

“I was drinking on my work days and on weekends. I had to have two shots before work and continued to drink after work.” After several months, he began to feel strange. His body felt weak, and he was functioning at a lower capacity than he was used to. He sought medical help and soon found out that his heart was beginning to fail.

“With the amount of alcohol I was drinking, it had caused a blockage in my artery, slowing down the pumping of the blood in the left side of my heart,” says Starblanket. “I stopped drinking for five months then started

Through his public speaking engagements and his SACRED BLANKET clothing line, Starblanket hopes to inspire others, demonstrating that anything is possible. up again thinking I was cured and healthy again.”

His health quickly began to decline, his body failing him again. He became weak and gained a lot of fluid in his legs and lungs. After a visit to the doctor, Starblanket was diagnosed with kidney failure.

“I was sitting in the waiting room crying when the doctor walked up to me and told me my kidneys were DECEMBER 2022 l HOLISTIC HEALTH | 33

HEALING to the Creator. I had accepted my punishment. I had to either die or live with it,” he says. “I made the choice to live with it, and now I’m on dialysis until I find a donor.”

shot, not even working to produce any urine. My kidneys were functioning at an insanely low percentage, and somehow I was still alive!”

Since his diagnosis, Starblanket has made several significant positive changes in his life, including becoming a men’s fancy dancer, participating in the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program, competing in several pitch competitions and pursuing his mentorship coach certification with award-winning entrepreneur Kendal Netmaker.

BLANKET clothing line, Starblanket hopes to inspire others, demonstrating that anything is possible. Having recently celebrated his 39th birthday, he is continuing to pursue every opportunity possible. He is earning his Arts and Design Certificate while taking a digital marketing course at the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies (SIIT). Starblanket is also in the process of developing a two-day workshop to help other aspiring entrepreneurs build their businesses, and he has started writing a book about his life.

Starblanket was transferred to a hospital in Kamloops to be treated and has been on dialysis since 2018.

“I live my life on the red road of sobriety,” says Starblanket. “Even though we are in our toughest struggle in life, we can still accomplish so much.”

He recognizes and thanks all those who have supported him on his healing journey thus far, “Hiy Hiy”.

“As I sat in the hospital, I held my phone to my chest and began to pray

Through his public speaking engagements and his SACRED

Story submitted by Alex Starblankert and adapted by SAY Magazine Editor-in-Chief, Danielle Vienneau.

34 | HOLISTIC HEALTH l DECEMBER 2022

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