I feel like a survivor at times and there is good reason for that. As an Indigenous person living in this time and country, I have seen so much happen over the past four decades of my life. The sad reality is that I have lost many young and Elders close to me over the years through tragic situations.
Given the life expectancy in times past I might once have already been considered an Elder. Not so these days. But a few years back Matthew Coon Come said he met a people that had a category called junior Elders. Maybe I qualify for that category.
I spent the last two weeks in debilitating pain that demanded me to feel it. Not just my physical pain, but the emotional pain I’ve been carrying as well. Although I’ve been scared to face it, I had no choice but to do just that.
These past months, I couldn’t stop thinking about the impacts the forest fires have had on wildlife. Many of the animals we harvest have offspring during the summer and we haven’t been able to measure the losses these species suffered this season. With Moose Break fast approaching, I wonder how we’re going to collectively manage harvests in the near future.
Nearly every time I stepped outdoors over the past few days, there was a flock of geese flying by. I checked the calendar and discovered that it’s still August. Meanwhile, oodles of ripe berries drooping from the weight of their plumpness are begging to be picked and turned into some sort of jam.
I recently had another experience of being a medical escort for a family member. Being an escort means assisting a family member from the Cree communities of Eeyou Istchee who needs to travel outside their community for health care.
It’s been 14 years since the federal government’s apology to Indigenous people for residential schools. A decade ago, the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was published. This year, Ottawa finally stopped fighting to deny its blatant discrimination against Indigenous children in the social welfare system and agreed to a final settlement to compensate them and their families.
The school bus drives by with windows full of happy little faces, all going to school for the first time this fall. While it’s still officially summer, in the North the days are already getting shorter so technically it’s the start of fall, at least for the kids. For us older ones, who have either finished school or never went, it’s time for berry picking as it promises to be a bumper crop. As for me, it’s back to work.
It is the time of gatherings and festivals for my people across Turtle Island. Many Indigenous communities are making the most of summer after not being able to gather much since the Covid pandemic. There are powwows, traditional gatherings of all sorts, music and fun-time events and hundreds of non-Indigenous celebrations throughout Canada.
I have so much to say on the recent forest fires and how they’re a direct consequence of colonialism and imperialism, but I will spare you from another doomsday-flavoured column and pick something more lighthearted – aliens!
