Elders remind us who
we are and where we need to go.
The Spirit created
the universe by forming a circle from heart and mind. The circle is a fundamental concept of
Indigenous Intelligence, underscoring how everything is interrelated and life
operates in a circular pattern.
The name
Mississaugas derives from the Anishnaabemowin Missisakis, or "many river
mouths".
In Ojibwe and Cree
culture, leadership didn't mean power; it meant caring.
Before an
Anishinaabe women gives birth to a child, Elder Sam Achneepineskum tells me,
she sings to them. She speaks to them
when she is in a good place, and she thanks them for coming into the family's
life.
In Indigenous
cultures, family units go beyond the traditional nuclear family living together
in one house. Families are extensive
networks of strong, connective kinship; they are often entire communities.
Profound trauma
serves to isolate everyone from each other and everything they know, leaving
them in a state of disrepair, feeling lost and unknowing. The isolation, the loneliness of having no
belonging, is almost like a force field that surrounds you; you can't reach
out, and no one can reach in. You can't
talk to anyone or bring anyone into your world of grief, and the only time you
feel safe is when you are alone, when you are completely isolated and cut off
from everyone else. These feelings shatter any chance of creating healthy human
attachments.
Through the Indian
Act, the Canadian government controls nearly all health, education, and social
services for Indigenous people. A 2
percent funding cap put in place in 1996 as a temporary fiscal restraint has
never been lifted, even though the First Nations population has increased by
more than 25 percent.
Doing nothing is not
an option, yet Canada is the only G8 country without a national suicide
strategy.
"So far in this
country, we haven't seen any movement towards recognizing Indigenous rights as
human rights. Our rights to clean
drinking water, our rights to housing. They're not considered as human rights
in this country". Romeo Saganash
