I am seriously hoping that the National Indigenous orgs, and specifically the MNC is not the granting body for all Metis looking to access Indigenous Languages funding. That would be an absolute disaster for so many reasons. @HeritageCanada I hope you are paying attention. To that end, Heritage Canada should not be the one heading up the language legislation either. An independent body of language experts who have been working for decades on language revitalization and retention should be at the helm of this.

Traditional tattoos are deeply personal. @Alethea_Aggiuq made a film about the revitalization of Inuit tattoo and expressss her concern that non natives will misuse Inuit designs...and then @HeritageCanada uses a picture of the artist’s tattoos without her permission. Ffs. Just another reason in a long list of why @CanadianHeritage is the wrong department for handling Indigenous languages. We need our own granting department similar to the Canada Council for the Arts model, which despite limitations as a gov department, serves Arts & artists well.

Climate change isn’t hard to understand. I think most people don’t prioritize it because there is a certain amount of powerlessness we feel as individuals that it’s not within our control. ie. that individual consumer choices we make won’t change the trajectory. I agree. The power of individual choice is made moot by a world monetary system and corporations who are shadow governments. The transition to green tech could happen sooner, swifter, and at a fever pitch if governments, like Canada, didn’t kowtow to the will of big oil and gas.

At a motel in Minnesota. East Indian couple owners with their little baby. The man checks me in. The mom is speaking her language to her little baby as they watch a cartoon in her language. I feel happy for her but sad because in our own lands Indigenous people don’t have this. I am in Anishinaabeg territory. Like almost everywhere on Turtle Island the kids aren’t spoken to in the language. The adults speak English to the kids. Many communities have only a few speakers left. Two generations is all it takes to lose a language.

My prediction on this “historic” agreement btwn the MNS and Canada: the issue of actual land will be tabled but money will be made available right away & increased for education, training and conferences for health...

As it has been with every new government since the 80’s...

https://twitter.com/junek/status/1020988224884289536

And let’s correct that headline shall we?

“The non profit registered corporation known as the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan has signed an MOU framework agreement to talk further with the Trudeau government putting any progress that may be made at jeopardy in the next election”

For anyone who has been following @TamaraMStory, Tamara asked me to let everyone know that her youngest boy has FINALLY come home after 10 years. CFS has not yet relinquished “crown ward” status on either of her two middle children. So the fight with the lawyers continues. If anyone wants to see an an example of criminal abuse of power by the child welfare system towards Indigenous families, go read @TamaraMStory about her 10 year fight to get her kids back.

Tens of thousands of dollars in debt in lawyers fees and untold anguish. Unbelievable.

My dad and Maria Campbell have known each other since before I was born. They consider each other brother and sister. When I was getting into a lot of trouble, my dad sent me to stay with her & we have been fast friends now for 20+years. Maria is one of the seminal influences of my life as an Auntie, Elder, Mentor and friend. Next month I will be taking a road trip with them. I'm hoping they let me record our conversations. I'm particularly interested in their memories about Indigenous movements from 60's-80's.

I briefly worked as the communications director for the Metis National Council from 1999-2000. In 2000 I quit and moved with my little daughter who was 3 at the time, and my then husband to his parents land and built a house on a mountain. I told him we needed to get out of the city for our daughters sake so she could be raised closer to the land. I wanted her to know the bush and the land of her Anishinaabe ancestors (since we weren’t going to move to Alberta to my territory).

All over the world, wherever Europeans colonized lands the results are the same. Claim all the lands, push Indigenous people off, teach their decedents false narratives that indigenous ppl chose or deserved it, position themselves as the victims if challenged. Astounding really.

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In order to continue the facade they also had to demonize Indigenous people. So not only were we apparently not living on all these empty lands, when it was proven we were, we then were labeled as either too unintelligent or lazy to have understood the great wealth of them.

These three young men all cousins aged out of child welfare after 8-9 years. Tonight we made banners for tomorrow’s #BringOurChildrenHome day of action in Winnipeg, Vancouver, Kelowna, a William’s Lake and Toronto. These is Tamara’s son Lee and his two cousins. All are lovely intelligent young men. They spoke to me at length about their experiences as wards of CFS and the trauma it caused. They talked about being moved around from hotels to foster homes. Each on average 9 times.

Just heard 2day of pregnant Indigenous women planning to give birth in secret out of fear of CFS apprehensions b/c they were wards as kids. I believe in midwifery and that restoring midwifery practices is one of the most important of all resurgence actions Indigenous ppl can take