In the previous passage, we began with the practice of acknowledgment – grounding and calling us to the present moment, the acknowledgment is an opportunity to come into the ‘now’, feel the place upon which you stand, and offer thanks. I am reminded that if we are to rebuild a culture of care, it requires consistent practices like grounding and gratitude. So, I offer it again to you here, now, from my place in Secwepemcúl’ecw.
Let’s begin with our guiding question:
What is the role and responsibility of settlers on traditional territories? Once we’ve recognized the need for Truth and Reconciliation, what are the possible steps an individual can take to move towards change? How can we build a ComeUNITY of care that places value on all life?
Coming together for dialogue
Time on the land in mentorship grounded this story. The processes we engaged in, through my mentors’ Indigenous lenses, were informed by everything around us - the cycles of the natural world.
Processes that arise from questions about a settler’s role and responsibilities will be unique to you and your lived experiences. I am fortunate, privileged, and discovered access to funding (BC Arts Council) that supported formal mentorships with Indigenous people, but it is only one of the many directions I followed. Through individual and community engagement, local politics, arts and culture, academic study and ongoing conversations, many pathways have been opened in my life. Prioritizing this learning has prepared me for the growth, challenges, and fruits that come when you keep at it.
Throughout these writings, I’ll share specific resources that catalyzed paradigm shifts, and also personal insights from being in mentorship / relationship to my two menotrs: a local Indigenous elder and artist, Helen Sandy, from T’exelc or Williams Lake First Nation; and the second a contemporary musician, writer and artistic director, Meeka Morgan, from St’uxwtews/Bonaparte First Nation. Both have offered me the opportunity to understand their lived experiences. If I haven’t said it already, I am anchoring this work in love and consent, and at every step of this process I lift up my hands to the generosity and willingness of these two teachers to guide me towards significant understanding leading to action. Here, I am reminded by artist Carey Newman / Hayalthkin’geme, creator of The Witness Blanket: by receiving stories in the way that I have places upon me a responsibility to ‘bear witness’ and make a statement that I have seen and heard something of importance. With the tools that I have available to me, this writing exploration on Indigenous Relations serves as one of the ways I am engaging in action because of what I have been given through mentorship and research.
When the traveling exhibit of The Witness Blanket was on display in Williams Lake last December, we were able to receive the transmissions embedded in Carey Newman’s / Hayalthkin’geme’s work of installation art. Instructions about ‘bearing witness’ accompanied the exhibit, indicating that we had to be more than passive consumers of thestories built into its complex structure. As part of the Community Arts Council of Williams Lake’s arts-based Reconciliation event, ComeUNITY, we also invited Indian Residential School Survivor, Kukpi7 Fred Robbins of Esk’et First Nation, to speak about his lived experiences attending the St. Joseph’s Mission school, and the personal journey he took in his life processing the impacts of that experience. At this learning event, the artwork was brought to life in the space, and it was made deeply personal because of the candid and courageous sharing of one of our regions strongest advocates for the work needed if true Reconciliation is to take place in so-called Canada. After Kukpi7 Fred spoke in front of the Witness Blanket, we engaged in a practice called Listening Circles, where questions about our personal accountability and future actions could be explored with all of the information that was shared with us in that event.
‘Bearing witness’ means we learn and seek out understanding, but also strive to act upon learning the Truth about the treatment of Indigenous People in our Nation. It means we accept that there IS a responsibility in being a settler of Indigenous lands, and we must discover actions that impact society and its governance structures, which continue to privilege some above others.
For the land, for my mentors, for their confidence in me, I hope for these words to have some impact in the world. I look forward to getting to know you and your ideas on the topic as these chapters unfold. Until our next entry, stay curious.
Relating -
Generous, talented, renegade: Meeka Morgan empowers and amplifies Indigenous culture across Turtle Island. It has been a gift to walk alongside her, and to act upon the Truths she has shared with me.
At the end of each section, I’ll provide a list of links to works and people that have inspired this process we’re on:
More about Carey Newman, bearing witness, and his body of work.