Remembering Our Responsibilities with Creativity and Courage

 

If you’re not actively engaged in creating change, you may not notice it when it happens.  And, if you are actively working to create a new way for us to move forward together, then evidence of this happening seems to jump out at you.  Well, that’s my observation from talking to people this summer.  So, here are some stories that have jumped out at me in the past few weeks.

The Treaty Land Sharing Network (TLSN) in Saskatchewan is a new story based on the older story of treaties and the ancient stories of the First Peoples.  This network of Saskatchewan farmers is welcoming Indigenous people to exercise their treaty rights to hunt, gather plants and medicines and hold ceremonies on the land.  It is a step towards honouring treaty rights and the intent of the treaties which is to share the land in a way that is safe for Indigenous people.

Saskatchewan Treaty Commissioner Mary Culbertson, left, and subsistence hunter Brad Desjarlais, with farmers Mary Smillie and Ian McCreary, right.  (Dayne Patterson/CBC)

After Colten Boushie, a young Indigenous man from Saskatchewan was fatally shot by Gerald Stanley who was found not-guilty of second degree murder or manslaughter, conversations about this network began.  After the shooting of Boushie, racism in Saskatchewan grew stronger according to the organizers of TLSN. In addition to this, between 2008 and 2020, the government of Saskatchewan has sold over one million acres of Crown Land on which Indigenous people have treaty rights. Turning Crown Land into private property in effect takes away these treaty rights.   And so this group of 20 landowners are trying to find a new way forward in which they acknowledge that they are treaty people and that treaties should be respected.

You can read more about this story here and here.

Also in Saskatchewan, the bishops of that province announced in early July 2021 that they would begin a fundraising campaign to support the survivors of Residential Schools.  This action is to make up for the failure of the Catholic Church to meet its 2005 promise to raise $25 million in the parishes of Canada to compensate survivors of Residential Schools run by the Catholic Church.  Only $3.9 was raised at that time and the Catholic Church went to court to get out of their promise.  At the time of the Saskatchewan bishop’s announcement no other provinces were following suit. (CBC News)

Archbishop Donald Bolen of the Archdiocese of Regina, travelled to Cote First Nation in mid July to spend a full day listening to Residential School survivors who shared their stories of those institutions.  Bolen was there to listen and to take action.  You can read more about this and heard Bolen speaking here.

In Midland, Ontario my friends and I began tying stuffed animals on the fence of the Martyr’s Shrine which honours six Catholic priests and 2 laypeople.  Many more items have been added since the 215 unmarked graves were discovered in Kamloops, BC.  We have drummed there three times so far wearing orange shirts.  The largest gathering was on Canada Day but each time we get many supportive honks from people in passing cars.

This past weekend, we met once again to drum and tie up a few more stuffed toys.  There are now shoes, moccasins, orange shirts, prayers, orange hearts, ribbons and flowers on the fence.  And in the midst of this, just under the original two animals was a large white form core sign.  It read, “Prayer Pledge Immaculate Conception, Port Perry.  I support Truth and Reconciliation, Hope, Healing and Action” and it was signed by roughly one hundred parishioners. 

Prayer Pledge attached to fence of Martyr's Shrine,
Midland, ON under the first 2 toys that were tied there.

My friend did some sleuthing and found Fr. Keith Wallace’s explanation of this sign on youtube.  This sign was part of the parish's celebration on the feast day of St. Kateri who is represented by a relic at the Martyr’s Shrine. In his homily, Fr. Wallace explains why this pledge is important and reports that it was sent to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, a representative of the Pope, and to Prime Minister Trudeau as well as being added to the fence at the Martyr’s Shrine in Midland.  He highlights the need to listen to the stories of survivors of the Residential Schools and admits that he had not read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report until recently.  You can hear him speak here: 

These are just a few stories of people who have the privilege of being a part of the dominant group, holding offices of leadership and having control over land and are finding creative ways to extend that privilege to Indigenous Peoples who have had it denied.  It takes courage to go against the current.  These change makers face ostracism and attack from their peers.  And yet they are breaking down the monolithic wall of resistance, not because they are especially altruistic, but because they know that their freedom in bound up with the freedom of everyone.  They are finding their place in the whole and meeting their responsibilities in creative ways.  And, they will inspire others to do the same and find new ways of moving forward together, in a good way. Sharing, listening, respecting, truthtelling and working together are qualities that we teach to children.  Perhaps the lost children are helping us to remember what we once learned and act from that place.

Metamorphosis and Lessons on Change

 

Female (white) and male (brown) Lymantria dispra dispar moths with brown egg mass.

Summer is the time of year that we enjoy being outside in nature and Mother Earth is a great teacher.  This spring and summer, I have been learning about Lymantria dispar dispar or the LDD moth.  Early in the spring people talked about ways to scrape the light brown egg masses off of the trunks of trees into buckets of soapy water.  It apparently takes 48 hours of this this treatment to render them lifeless.  Later in the spring, the caterpillars hatched and looked quite cute and innocuous at first.  As they feasted on the leaves of trees, they got bigger and fatter and the trees became bare in some areas.  People talked about picking the caterpillars off of tree trunks and giving them the same treatment as the egg masses.  Sitting under an Oak tree felt like being in a gentle rain, of black caterpillar droppings and walking through the forest meant carefully removing caterpillars from our legs, hats and sleeves.

There are some parasitic wasps that eat the outer eggs of the egg masses and some birds and mammals will also eat the caterpillars and moths.  If we had had a cool, wet spring, the entomophaga fungus that can infect LDD moth caterpillars or the Nucelopolyhedrosis virus could have killed many of the caterpillars.  But we had a hot dry spring which was perfect for them to flourish.  It was hard to watch the canopy become bare in June and July.

Dead caterpillars and two adults

However, at some point it all stopped as the caterpillars went into the pupal stage creating a strange time of quiet in the forest that only lasted one or two weeks until the adult moths appeared.  The adults don’t eat and only live a few weeks with the sole purpose of reproducing.  The larger white females sit on the bark of trees or sides of buildings while the smaller brown males fly about looking for them.  The males have feathery antennae to help in this search and they mate as many times as they can.  However, the female only lays one egg mass which can contain between 600 to 1000 eggs which won’t hatch until the following spring.

Empty pupae casings and adult LDD moths

Meanwhile, in the absence of caterpillars, the deciduous trees have now started to refoliate.  New leaves are appearing as if it is May once again.  The little moths flitting about with butterflies seem almost magical.  The forest is becoming shady once again. 

However, the bright unimpeded sunshine that has poured down thanks to the caterpillars has allowed the stumps of logged trees to send up suckers.  Some Ash suckers are now taller than me.  Maples and Poplars are about half as high.  The forest is regenerating from the food stored in its roots thanks to the recent rainfall. 

Most of my attention this summer though, has not been on the LDD moths.  It has been on the discovery of unmarked graves on the grounds of former Indian Residential Schools.  One piece of artwork including orange hand prints read, “They tried to bury us.  They didn’t know we were seeds that would awaken the world.” 

Artwork from N'kwala School in BC

As more and more graves are being discovered across Canada the constructed colonial account of these schools is being dismantled.  Priests and politicians have been repeating the false narrative saying that the architects of these schools believed they were doing the right thing, that they meant no harm.  Survivors and Indigenous leaders are reminding Canadians that the express intent of these institutions was to separate the children from their culture, language and families so that they would “assimilate” into settler culture and end what the government saw as the “Indian problem.”

I am having many conversations with non-Indigenous people who just want the discoveries to end.  Some are learning about the actual history of Canada and some don’t want to know.  As the version of history that they learned in school is eroded piece by piece, I see grieving, confusion and anger on peoples’ faces.  It feels like the canopy in the forest being eaten away and seeing bare branches in June.  It feels wrong and many feel unsettled and powerless.  People look to blame the government, the churches, and the RCMP who were the perpetrators.

However, none of these actions would have been possible if the settlers hadn’t wanted the land for themselves.  None of these actions would have seemed permissible without racism which said that white people deserved more than Indigenous Peoples.  And that is what has kept these lies going for so long. Yes, the truth was hidden, but in 2015 the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its findings and most Canadians did not listen.  But, now the lost children are speaking.  Their story which has been told for over a hundred years is finally being heard by those who believed the lies.  The trees of Canada’s story may look bare without the lies. 

New leaves emerge from the defoliated trees in July

Just like the trees in the forest that are growing new leaves, Canadians are learning a story that is old and yet new to them.  New initiatives and connections are sprouting up from the roots below.  As Canadians pay their respects to the children who died because of the Residential Institutions (they were not schools) and learn to respect Indigenous Peoples who have shown strength and resiliency in the face of racism, new leaves will grow and a new story will be told.

Maple shoots sucker from stump in the midst of art installation that shows
the interconnectedness of life with coloured wool and string.

Perhaps each new announcement of discovered graves will provide an opportunity for the metamorphosis of Canadians’ understanding of our actual history.  Our words and actions are like seeds or eggs that grow into a new reality.  Unlike the LDD moths that are bound by nature to lay the same eggs over and over, we humans can choose what seeds we plant.  Showing respect and recognizing the dignity of the children who are being found is like a tree growing new leaves.  Our oldest relations, the trees, are showing us how to do that.

Feeling the Support of Our Oldest Relations

 

Cluster of Heal-All plants, Simcoe Country Forest

Last summer, I encountered numerous groupings of Heal-All (Prunella vulgaris lanceolata) plants in the forest that I walk in.  Once they were flowering, I was surprised to find more and more clusters in a few areas of the forest.  I was delighted and formed a relationship with this plant, drying leaves and flowers for tea and making a flower essence.  My friend made even more flower essences and I have been using the Heal-All one daily for the past year to help deal with all the change that is going on as well as ancestral traumas rising.  Heal-All has become of my biggest supporters during these turbulent times.

And so, I looked forward to meeting the plants again this summer.  I watched carefully for the leaves to emerge and found plants that I hadn’t seen the previous year until I discovered that Wild Basil (Satureja vulgaris) had very similar leaves.  It wasn’t until they both flowered that I could tell the difference.  My disappointment didn’t last long because once the Heal-All went into full flower, I discovered hundreds of plants all over the forest at the edge of the trails where it is happiest.  Everywhere I walked, there they were, their beautiful purple flowers cheering me on and cheering me up.  I felt their support as I walked by. 

This made me think about the saying that “what we focus on gets magnified.”  I take this to mean that if we focus on negative things, then these take up more space in our minds.  We notice all the negative things around us, the world feels more and more dangerous and we feel more and more powerless.  Likewise, if we focus on positive things with a gratitude practice then our mind is filled with those things instead – they are magnified in our attention. 

So, what did it mean that this year, I am seeing Heal-All in more places?  Did I just not notice them last year?  Did they suddenly spread everywhere? Or has my relationship with them made me more aware of their presence?  And if that is true, then what other supports are all around me that I am not aware of?

As I learn more about healing ancestral or intergenerational traumas, I am finding out that paying attention to the body is important.  When my body tightens up, constricts for no apparent reason I am learning to soothe my nervous system by taking a deep breath, walking in the woods, singing or swimming in the lake.  When I look at the history of my ancestors and the fact that life was often very dangerous and uncertain, then it makes sense that my nervous system is highly attuned to anything different that could be threatening.  It makes sense that I am on alert even when there seems no reason to be that way.  And so, feeling the support of plant and trees may very well be a part of healing the intergenerational trauma that I carry.  As I am walking past the Heal-All plants that border the trail, I am trying to soften my body and feel their support.  I am learning about this kind of healing and the plants are my oldest relations.  They have been on Earth much longer than people and they know about adapting, healing and flourishing.  I am grateful for their teachings and support.

Healing Ceremonies Open to All

 

We moved together like a long orange snake undulating down the hill towards the lake.  Elders, adults, children and babies dressed in orange shirts and masks, socially distanced into groups but hearts beating together as the leader drummed his hand drum.  The hill had one switchback that created a moving curve in the orange speckled serpentine body.  I was near the back of the procession so I could view most of it from above.  

The snake of people became a curved line as we reached the shore of Little Lake.  The drummer led us into formation, standing side by side along the edge of the beach, facing the lake.  The sky was pigeon grey and the low misty clouds softly released tiny drops of rain.  After weeks of drought, it felt like the sky was crying.  The tears landing on us were somehow comforting as if the sky was wrapping itself around us.  The drummer and his child moved to the edge of the grey water.  Facing us, he sang and drummed.  The song was haunting, painful, and strong.  He sang for all of us, Indigenous and non-Indigenous.  He sang for the lost children who are being found in graveyards of Indian Residential Schools across Canada.  He sang for our hearts, broken, hurting yet strong as we stood side by side.

“We are Anishinaabe and we go through things together,” said one of the speakers before we started our silent walk to the water.  How gracious they were to allow we non-Indigenous people to join them and stand with them, we descendants of the perpetrators of genocide, to be part of the moving body of people.  How generous to share their hard gained knowledge of how to survive terrible times with we, the creators of terrible times.

We each held in our left hands a small Semaa tie, sacred tobacco tied in a square of orange cloth, the carrier of prayers to the Creator.  When the drummer finished, a woman stepped forward holding the hand of a young child.  She untied her Semaa tie and poured the tobacco onto the water.  Then we all stepped forward as one and did likewise.  Hundreds of prayers were offered and accepted by the lake and the Creator.  So powerful was this action that I expected to see a Thunderbird emerge from the low clouds.  I imagined what we must look like from the sky over the water -- a wave of orange stepping forward together.

And then, the snake broke into tiny groups that made their way back up the hill to the parking area and back to homes and families and the rest of life.  The ceremony was planned when 215 graves of children from the Residential School in Kamloops were found.  104 more were located in Brandon, Manitoba and then on the day of the ceremony 751 more at Cowessess First Nation, east of Regina, Saskatchewan.  We know that there are thousands more to come.

In Barrie, Jeff Monague, Elder and Knowledge Keeper from Beausoleil First Nation is holding a Sacred Fire every time an announcement of more unmarked graves is made.  The Sacred Fire is open to everyone to come and take part in this ceremony that last for hours and sometimes days.  People are coming.  Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people, people with children, somehow explaining to their children what this means and how we can begin to heal, together.  You can see it in the faces of the parents of young children.  Little imagination is needed for them to understand what losing a child, children, all the children in the community might mean.  

As more and more Canadians awaken to the truth that has always been known in Indigenous communities, we have a chance to face this truth together and make reparations, apologies, change our thinking, gain respect, earn trust and change how Indigenous people are treated here in Canada.  Ceremony offers a way to heal hearts that are hurting.  There is a place for all of us in this healing.  We all belong to this land and we all belong to this healing.  Each of us has something to contribute.  We are telling a new story, creating it as we go along.  We are the authors of this story.  It is up to us.