Rounding the Rectangle

A few weeks ago, a friend told my partner that Midland was going to have a commemoration for Gord Downie who died on Oct. 17^th.  The big-hearted frontman of the Tragically Hip had spent the last year and a half of his life working on reconciliation, writing songs and sharing his love with his family, fans and friends. 

Gord Downie is honoured by the Assembly of First Nations (photo: CBC News)

The newspaper gave an itinerary of events for the day long commemoration and so we set off in the pouring rain to Little Lake Park to find the opening event.  Luckily it was held under a long rectangular picnic pavilion with lots of dry space.

Drummers from the Georgian Bay Native Friendship Centre set up near one end of the pavilion and sat in a circle around a large drum that they all played together.  We learned from the elder that the young men drumming had only been learning to drum for a few months but I couldn’t tell that they were beginners.  One man in traditional men’s regalia and a woman in jingle dress regalia danced in a circle around the drummers.

Meanwhile the spectators stood around the edge of the rectangular cement pad in straight lines.  I said to my partner that we should really be in a circle and he immediately got the idea to just move up and round off one of the corners.  Almost immediately, people on the other side rounded off their corner as well. 

The man in traditional men’s regalia spoke about his spirit name and the meaning of his regalia and passed around one of his beaded gauntlets that had flowers, a thunderbird, fire and shells on it.  We were invited to ask questions and people did – about their spirit names, about the regalia and one woman asked about how non-Indigenous people can help.  One of the drummers replied, “The best thing you can do is to learn about what really happened.  Learn about the history that they tried to hide because they know that there was wrongdoing.”  It was explained to us that the drum is for healing as is the jingle dress dance.  One of the drummers explained that this is how they were healing from the wrongdoing. The space between the spectators and the drummers still felt large to me even though the shape was better.  While the drummers and the drum and dancers were in a circle, we the spectators now formed a kind of oval.

Shortly after that, the elder drummer spoke about Gord Downie in a deep low voice that was hard to hear.  So my partner and I stepped closer and the rest of the spectators closed in so that we could all hear what he had to say. Now it felt like we were no longer two groups; onlookers and people conducting a ceremony.  I could feel how we were starting to connect, that we were becoming part of the ceremony.

photo: CBC News

The last dance was a travelling dance and we were all invited to dance in what was now a tight circle.  We danced together, elders, children, youth and adults, step by step and at the end with faced the centre and whooped together.

I imagined Gord Downie, Wicapi Omani (Lakota for Man Who Walks Amongst the Stars), smiling as we danced together. That is what the Downie Wenjak Fund, Gord’s legacy is all about – bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together.

I kept thinking about how the rectangle had become a circle.  I thought about how when we were children we were taught to stand in straight lines, to stay in our place.  I thought about how in our Western worldview time is linear and we move from here to there always “progressing” with unlimited growth.  I thought about how in Indigenous worldview, time is circular or cyclical and so the past is always available to the present and one always has to think about the next seven generations as well as the last seven generations in any decision made.  I thought about how the Western view of progress has brought so much environmental change that now threatens us and how we need to learn how to have a more circular sense of time.  I saw how people who were grieving the passing of Gord had found healing and solace in an ancient tradition because Gord came to value this way of being.  I saw how easily our rectangle became a circle with a little encouragement.  And I thought to myself, “This is the new story that we are writing with our feet, one step at a time.”

And then I took another step and went to thank the drummers and dancers for coming.  Some were happy to shake my hand.  The young boys looked shy and so I just smiled and thanked them.  When I got to the elder, I held out my hand but he opened his arms wide and we gave each other a hug.  The rectangle was rounded until it came down to heart to heart.

A few days later, I listened to an interview on CBC with Gord’s two brothers, Mike and Patrick.  They said that if people really wanted to honour Gord then they can get about the business of reconciliation.  We had taken some small steps in the park in Midland.  The steps we could take, the steps that were in front of us, knowing that they will lead to more steps in the days to come.