"The Four
Foundational Principles of Indigenous Traditional Practice are presented in a
four-directional framework; Kindness in the east, Honesty in the south, Sharing
in the west, Strength in the north.
Development and growth unfold in a circular manner. Kindness is the first movement, honesty the
second, sharing the third, and strength the fourth. Each movement moves into the other."
Banakonda Kennedy-Kish (Bell)
"The
Anishinaabe believe that the human being was the last to be created and
therefore the youngest relative in creation.
We are dependent on the rest of creation for life, and therefore charged
to learn co-operation, experience our mutuality, our interdependence, and
practice co-existence." Banakonda Kennedy-Kish (Bell)
"Kindness is
foundational: valued for itself and unconditional." Banakonda Kennedy-Kish
(Bell)
"Humility is at
the core of gratitude and the ability to restore ourselves, to realign and find
balance." Banakonda Kennedy-Kish (Bell)
Settlers came to
Canada to escape oppression and after coming to Canada they simply changed
places and became the oppressors. The very behaviors that they evaded from their home countries came with them when
they settled in Canada. Oppression is
in-built into the very fabric of the Americas.
In 2012 the top 10
per cent of wealthy Canadians owned 48 per cent of all the wealth in Canada,
while the bottom 30 per cent of people account for less than 1 per cent of all
wealth.
Colonial privilege
is present when those of us in mainstream are able to carry on with our daily
lives as if these ongoing incursions on Indigenous lands and people were not
happening.
"In teaching
Indigenous social work, the very first principle of good practice is
kindness. Kindness is not a value in
itself, it is inseparable from belief, location, and belonging, to land and
creation. Kindness is a way of seeing
and being in the world". Banakonda Kennedy-Kish (Bell)
"We experience
self and the other simultaneously. The principle of honesty emerges in that
experience and in self-expression." Banakonda Kennedy-Kish (Bell)
"There is a
knowing that emerges from experience, that leads to understanding…. When we
don't experience or express kindness, our knowing and understanding is about
the lack of kindness."Banakonda Kennedy-Kish (Bell)
"Kindness is
not charity, is not welfare. Sharing
strives for balance and harmony through kind honesty. It is rooted in a belief
that creation cares, is kind, and unconditionally sharing." Banakonda
Kennedy-Kish (Bell)
Today, there are
large numbers of Aboriginal children in the child welfare system: even more
than in residential schools at any one time.
Lateral violence is
a term for the misdirection of rage and frustration stemming from oppression.
