A New Way Forward Together

Kathryn Teneese, the Chair of the Ktunaxa Nation Council, in British Columbia, spoke at a gathering in the Columbia River Basin where she shared some of her ideas on reconciliation.  She said,

Chief Kathryn Teneese

 “I think that any movement forward has to come from a place of         acknowledgement and recognition.  Instead there is a notion of denial that continues to exist today.  We still have Supreme Court of Canada cases in which the premise of the government’s factums, which they table before the court action, are based on a denial of our existence…  This is the kind of narrative which has been accepted.  That it’s ok for the people in places of power to start a conversation by denying."

"Each and every one of us can do something about that. We can make the case and say to the people sitting in those positions of power: ‘That is unacceptable.  You cannot continue to do that on my behalf.’"

"I think one needs to find ways, small ways, the baby steps, because we didn’t get to the relationship we have here overnight.  We need to find the way that we can do things together that makes sense."

Quoted in John Ralston Saul (2014) The Comeback. Toronto: Penguin Books pp 259 – 262.

Groundwork for Change

Monique Woroniak

Librarian Monique Woroniak of Winnipeg, is a non-indigenous woman who was inspired by the Idle No More movement.  She decided to create a website with others that offers information and builds connections between indigenous and non-indigenous communities.  

Groundwork for Change has articles, videos, maps and links to help non-indigenous people learn about First Nations history, treaties, residential schools, the Sixties Scoop and language from indigenous perspectives.  Woroniak says, “I think these are Canadian issues – these issues belong to all of us.”

Michael Redhead Champagne

Indigenous community worker, Michael Redhead Champagne is quoted in a Sept. 2015  CBC article as saying, “The approach of Monique and the people at Groundwork for Change is one of ‘let’s respect indigenous sovereignty, indigenous knowledge, indigenous wisdom, indigenous leadership,’ and approach indigenous communities from the perspective of ‘I’m here to help and I’m here to learn.’”

Champagne goes on to say, “I think it’s important for indigenous and non-indigenous folks to be working together because we all share the same water, the same air, the same space and right now in Winnipeg I feel like people are looking for solutions.”

The Groundwork for Change website has a wealth of links that can be followed.  It is encouraging and inspiring to see the great work that many people are doing and one could spend hours reading.  You are not likely to encounter most of this on the evening news but there are good stories being told here.

RAVEN Trust

RAVEN stands for Respecting Aboriginal Values and Environmental Needs.  This seven-year-old organization based in Victoria, BC has a vision of a “country that embraces the ancestral laws of Indigenous Peoples and their equitable access to the justice system within a thriving natural habitat.” RAVEN Trust’s mission is “to raise legal defense funds to assist First Nations who enforce their rights and title to protect traditional territories.”

Last year RAVEN raised nearly one million dollars to support strategic legal challenges that tackle major environmental issues such as the Site C dam, the Tar Sands, the Northern Gateway Pipeline, the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Project and the New Prosperity Mine Project.  As the First Nations carry out these legal battles they are protecting lakes, river valleys and diverse ecosystems for all Canadians.

RAVEN feels that “Indigenous Peoples’ rights and titles are among the most powerful forces for environmental protection in Canada.”  These legal challenges are long and expensive especially when their opponents have very deep pockets. By partnering with these First Nations, non-indigenous people stand with the indigenous communities and can work towards protecting sustainable ecosystems for all life. This seems to me, to echo Kathryn Teneese’s call to find ways we can work together that makes sense and Michael Champagne’s words that we all share the same water and the same air.

Soccer Team Heading for Attawapiskat

After learning about the high number (50) of attempted suicides in the community of Attawapiskat this year, the members of the boys soccer team at Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton CSS in Toronto decided to travel there this summer for a week. They say that they use soccer as an outlet and a motivator and they want to share this with the youth in the remote community.

Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton Boys Soccer Team

 The students want to bring soccer supplies and run a soccer training camp for the youth in Attawapiskat.  The Toronto teens are raising money for their trip on a crowd funding site set up by their teacher, which includes a description of their project.  The team plans to sleep in the same gym in which the camp will take place as the community is already overcrowded.  The project has been developed in conjunction with Attawapiskat’s recreation coordinator.  

The Toronto students are hoping to make many such trips and hope to host kids from Attawapiskat as well.  They want to offer support, learn from each other and build bridges with their northern neighbours.  You can read more at cbc.ca.

Stories of reconciliation are emerging all over Canada.  These new narratives are starting from the place of acknowledgement and recognition, from listening and learning and then finding a new way forward together that respects all of life.  This is our new story.

Reflections in the Rain

Exploring the northern forest

To the music of spring rain falling,

Tapping on leaves, on my hood,

A complex universal rhythm that

Creates concentric circular geometry

On the lake’s surface

Dead reddy- brown pine needles

Decorate the forest floor and

Complement the new buds and

bright spring-green leaves.

Last year’s cattails dry brown

Interrupted by emerging green shoots,

Inspire me to let the old go

And let the new grow.

I ask the rain to wash away

The old, whatever that is

And to nurture the new

Whatever that may be.

The spongy forest floor of

Years and seasons of pine needles

Softly cushions my steps.

Gravity sinks me down

And the forest pushes me up

Encouraging me to proceed.

It is my birthday

and my birth mother is long gone.

Now every spongy step becomes

A reciprocal relationship

With my mother the Earth.

At times my partner and I

Climb up the wet bedrock

And carefully step between

Pine roots looking like the

Veins on the back of my hand

As they cling to the rocky earth.

I feel grounded and rooted

Solid, here on my home.

We are warm and dry

in our raincoats, rain pants and boots

And happy to be outside.

We hear voices behind us

and a dog, a black and white spaniel

Appears on the path behind us.

It happily escorts me along the trail

And I remember the joy

Of walking with my dogs in the fields

Of the farm. now all gone.

The perfect birthday gift brings

Tears that become one

With the raindrops on my face.

We carefully watch for the

Worn path, the blazed trail.

We consult the map

And then take detours

To avoid waterpools on the trail

And I think about my own path

In this new year of my life.

I resolve to find paths that nurture me,

And to create new ones when

The way is unsound.

Yet I walk over a rickety wooden plank

To cross a stream

Unwilling to avoid all risks.

And because it is day one

Of a my own new year,

I choose to believe

That I will be nurtured,

Protected and accompanied

As I venture forth.

Girls Rising Inspire Hope

“One girl with courage is a revolution,” beautifully sums up the message of the film Girl Rising (2013).  This film which started out as a project on world poverty by a group of journalists became a powerful collection of the stories of girls from developing countries who have overcome great obstacles in order to attend school and change their lives.  Nine girls were paired with writers from their own countries to tell their stories which are creatively portrayed by the girls themselves and narrated by actors such as Anne Hathaway, Salma Hayek and Meryl Streep. 

Actor Liam Neeson interjects the facts on educating girls based on 2011 data.  He tells us that “in spite of the fact that educating girls gives one of the best returns for investment, 66 million girls are not in school.”  “Girls are expected to work, fetch water, care for younger children and get jobs.”

The number one cause of death for girls 15 to 19 is child birth. But girls with 9 years of education are four times less likely to be married as children and putting every child in school could prevent 700,000 cases of HIV each year.  In addition, a child born to a literate mother is 50% more likely to survive past age 5 and educated mothers are twice as likely to send their children to school.  Neeson summarizes, “educating girls can break the cycle of poverty in just one generation.” It can create a “safer, healthier and more prosperous world for all.”

The girls the filmmakers met believed they were revolutionaries and they wanted to change the world. “Educated girls are a powerful force for change.  And this kind of change, it happens fast.”  You can learn how to a part of this change by visiting the Girl Rising website.

“One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world,” says Malala Yousafzai.  Born in Pakistan in 1997 and allowed to go to school by her father who was himself an educator, she became famous when the Taliban shot her in 2012 for standing up for this right.  She survived and now lives in England with her family. She has become a global advocate for the education of girls. In 2014 she won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work and donated the $1.1 million prize to build a secondary school for girls in Pakistan.  She spent her 18^th birthday at a school she has created in Lebanon for Syrian girls who live in refugee camps.  Her life story so far is told in the book My Name is Malala and in the film He Name Me Malala .

    

Malala and her father Ziauddin Yousafzai started the Malala Fund  to “raise girls’ voices and ensure every girl has access to 12 years of free, safe, quality primary and secondary education.”  You can join this courageous young woman by signing on-line petitions which she delivers to groups such as the United Nations, by sending letters of support to some of the girls and by donating funds.

A friend recently told me about a documentary she saw at the Hot Docs Festival in Toronto called What Tomorrow Brings  about 68 year old Razia Jan who founded a girl’s school, the Zabuli Education Centre in 2009 in a part of Afghanistan where girls have never been allowed to go to school before. “I have so much hope for these children,” she says.  

The compelling film tells the interconnected stories of girls, teachers and the community and shares the changes that education offer these girls as well as the threats that they face. You can watch a ten minute film on Razia and the Zabuli Education Centre on youtube.

Razia Jan and students of the Zabuku Education Centre

                               

Razia Jan was born in Afghanistan and came to the United States in 1970.  She has a long history of community work. Her foundation has a website Razia's Ray of Hope where you can go to learn more about this inspiring woman and to support her work.  The website offers a kids book on this story as well.

All three of these films use storytelling as drivers of change.  When you see these girls speak of their lives, their hopes and their determination to create new pathways you will be amazed at their courage and strength. They inspire hope.  I, like Razia have so much hope for these girls and in turn, they give me hope for change.  It becomes clear that changing their lives can change the world. 

The technology that we have, allows us to hear their voices, see their faces and feel the passion that they have for life.  That same technology allows us to reach out to them and make their dreams possible.  They say that it takes a village to raise a child.  What could a global village be capable of I wonder? What is this new story that we are creating?

Opened by Fire

The huge wildfire raging in Northern Alberta has forced the evacuation of 88,000 people from the city of Fort McMurray.  This is the largest emergency evacuation of a Canadian city in history and it seemed unbelievable to watch the exodus of cars leaving the burning city.

However, the stories of devastation are matched by the stories of support.  I spent time reading the stories of strangers, now neighbours, opening up their homes, sharing what they had and reaching out for those who were fleeing the destruction.

Nearby communities such as Fort McMurray First Nation and Grassland offered food and accommodation.  “It’s a sad situation and we just want to make sure people are safe and the families are together,” said Rose Mueller of Fort McMurray First Nation (CBC).

The city of Edmonton set up an emergency shelter for 5000 people at the Expo centre for the evacuees.  The university, a mosque and lodges are offering shelter as well.  Two facebook pages share offers of a spare bedroom or room for 40 trailers or tents and other creative ideas.  Some people are lending their RV’s to people for as long as they need them.  The facebook pages and other support websites list help that goes on and on.  Churches, mosques and Sikh temples are offering accommodation in spare bedrooms and suites.  Hotels are giving discounts to evacuees.

Edmonton has offered free admission to its swimming pools, gyms and attractions for these displaced families, some who have active children in need of diversion from the shock of the fire.  Taxi drivers are offering free trips. 

People in Calgary and other communities loaded up their cars with supplies and drove north to help out.  New Syrian refugees in Calgary organized support and personal care packages.  

Food and drinks were waiting at the airport for those evacuated by air.  Many restaurants are offering free meals to evacuees and the Edmonton Food Bank has extended its services to them as well.

On Mother’s Day, van loads of flowers were donated at various shelters so children could give their moms flowers and express how much they cared even in temporary housing.  Many evacuees expressed that they had lost things and were living in uncertainty but they knew that what mattered was that they were all safe and together.  Sadly two teenagers died in a car accident fleeing the fire but otherwise everyone got out safely.

One bride who had to leave her wedding dress behind was married this past weekend in a dress donated by a store in Toronto.  She received multiple offers for a dress on facebook.  Donations of clothing and personal care items were sorted and distributed by volunteers. Social media enabled quick organization and response of these things.

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 Support is being sent in from all over Canada.  Firefighters and equipment was sent from provinces that could spare them. The Red Cross had raised 44 million dollars by May 8^th which will be matched by the federal and the Alberta government.

Telus and Shaw are offering free services for evacuees. An auto shop is offering free tire repairs.  Free gas was supplied on route for the convoy of cars during the evacuation.  People drove up and down the convoy bringing supplies such as food and water. The list of support on the special CBC webpage goes on and on. 

Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose had trouble containing her emotions when she spoke in the House of Commons about the crisis in her home province.  Prime Minister Trudeau crossed the floor to embrace her.

Support is being organized to take care of the pets left behind in homes or vehicles.  Veterinary and pet shelter support is also available for free.  Lost pets can be registered on facebook. I read offers to take in dogs and cats for as long as necessary.

There are some species of trees who only release their seeds from their strong casings during the heat of a forest fire.  They need a forest fire to regenerate.  So many hearts and homes were opened up by this wildfire and the new friendships and community that will grow from this crisis will undoubtedly change all those who are involved.  How good it is too see people cross provincial lines, property lines, religious lines, cultural lines and even the floor of the House of Commons as we remember that it is our connections and our compassion that make us strong and resilient.