Author: kwetoday

21st Century Canada

21st Century Canada, Aboriginal, Family Leave a comment

Well, I have never been in a foster home or had a foster parent. I do not know what it is like to have been taken away from my family.

I do know what it is like to be denied my culture and its traditions. When I was 14 years old, I tried to commit suicide. I had a lot of pain inside me. Feelings that I could not deal with. I just wanted the pain to end. At the time, I was taken traditional Aboriginal medicines to help with some of the things I was going through. Medicines which included St. John’s Wart which is used or recommended for people with depression or sleeping problems. It helped somewhat.

I was in the hospital for quite some time. I remember the doctor had asked me about things that I was feeling all the time or things that I thought. Even if I had hear or seen things that weren’t really there. I just wanted the pain to end. I was angry. That’s all I would say. Then he would say I was depressed. And that was when I prescribed my first anti-depressant. My only anti-depressant. I was told that I had to take this medicine, go to counseling once a week and see a psychiatrist for my anti-depressant prescription renewal/monitoring. It sucked but you know what sucked even more than all of this being told that if I didn’t take this medication and stop taking the Aboriginal medicines, or stopped going to counseling, or stopped seeing the psychiatrist that the doctors and counselors were instructed to call CAS and that I would be taken away from my parents.

There was nothing wrong with my parents. They loved me. Me and my sisters got along like normal siblings would. Sure we fought, but that was normal.

When I was told all of this, I was scared, fearful. What’s worse than having intense feelings of pain or anger inside: being threatened to be taken away from your family, the ones that love you unconditionally.

So there at the age of 14, scared, angry, living in fear, threatened by hospitals, doctors, and counselors, and on top of it all being prescribed a drug (as opposed to allowed being able to take my traditional medicine) that is now supposedly only recommend to for people over the age 18 (and still they tell doctors to take caution when prescribing this pill to young adults, thats people who are 18-24).

Then when I was 15 year old, I was in a car accident. I don’t remember what happened. In fact, I don’t remember for about 2 days before the accident and drifting in and out of consciousness, maybe 2 days after the accident (that’s right before I went into a coma, approximately).

I remember being in the hospital, strangely, and I remember a relative helping me take some Aboriginal traditional medicines. Then… I woke up in Sudbury. I don’t really know what happened in between all of then but I remember my mom telling me that the hospital called the police on my parents and family because the hospital felt that my family tried to kill me. Police, detectives, CAS. So I was told. You know what, I believed it. There are 2 reasons why I believed what she told me:

  1. She is my mom and I trust her and love her.
  2. Look at what the hospital did to me only a year before

So, no I don’t know what it is like to be taken away from my family or live in foster homes with foster parents. I do know what it is like to live in fear at the age of 14 and I do know what it feels like to be denied my cultural rights and beliefs and its traditions, all because of institutions that exist right here in 21st Century Canada.

Inspiration for this post is found here:

CAS documentary on Twitter

Blakout.ca Voices Silenced by Fear

Social Leadership

Social Leadership Leave a comment

Social Leadership. This is an interesting read that was sent to me in an email. So I have decided to share.

You can read about social leadership HERE.

Submission
Oneness
Calling
Integral Education
Action
Liberty

So what does social leadership mean? Basically it means doing what one was set out “to do the most good for the most people using everything with which they have been blessed.” A social leader is born when one asks their own self:

What is the highest and best use of my talents and passions? What can I do that will have the most positive impact on society? How will the world be better because of my life and contribution? What was I born to become and accomplish?

I personally think that these questions are quite deep and cannot be relatively easy to answer. It took me a long time to figure out what it is that I wanted to do with my life. Presently, I know where I want to go and what it is that I want to do. I choose this route because I feel that I can positively contribute to society from my own experiences. I am thankful for all the experiences that I have in my life to this date, whether they are positive or negative. I have learned from both types of experience. I wouldn’t be honest if I said this is what I wanted to do with my life from the day I was born. My career goals and own personal goals have changed on a consistent basis. Now that I am where I am today, I feel as if I have a bit more control as to where I am heading in life. You can read my post titled “Untitled” to read about what I want to do with my life.

It is funny how I did not know what to call this post. It is funny because I don’t think there is any real title to what it is that I want to do. Perhaps maybe I can call it “victim advocate” of some sort (for both those that enter the justice system as an offender or victim to or both). I am taking those negative experiences and turning them into a positive experience for myself and hopefully allowing others to have a not-so-negative experience in similar situations that I once found myself in.

I recommend everyone who reads this post to read the article on Social Leadership. At least it will give you insight into a new form of leadership and the types of things that “social leaders” have or had done 😉

Again, click HERE to read about Social Leadership.

Untitled

Untitled Leave a comment

Well today I read an opinion piece on Harper’s lack of acknowledgement of the incarceration rates of Aboriginals. My last post titled, Criminal Pardons , I wrote about the new fees of proposed pardon fees. In an earlier post titled, Crime rates and Minimum Sentences, about the new “Truth in Sentencing Act” that would remove minimum sentences which could lead to increased numbers of individuals already in jail–like Aboriginals.

Reading opinion pieces like these that question the intentions or agenda of Harper make the work that I want to do mean that much more to me. I am presently studying criminology at The University of Western Ontario. People always ask me “So when you are finished you want to become a lawyer or a cop?” I almost always answer “I don’t know.” And it’s not that I don’t know what I want to do because I know exactly what it is that I want to do: I want to work with Aboriginal women who enter the justice system whether it be they are an offender to or a victim of (or both). Specifically, I want to be able to help policing or social service agencies to be able to better handle situations involving Aboriginal people. I just know that I don’t want to be a lawyer or a cop.

I had some very direct experiences with the both agencies: policing and social service agencies. When I was back home, I had lived in a women’s shelter for 3 months (that maximum time allowed for someone like my situation at the time). At the same time this occurred, I had come into contact with the local police force.

There were 2 Aboriginal court workers that were able to assist me. They also happened to be sisters and they also happened to know or have similar experiences. It saddened me when I think back to these experiences that I wasn’t able to see more help for Aboriginal people or services available for Aboriginal people who came into contact with the justice system. I had a lot of questions all the time and most of the time I didn’t even know what was going. This was almost 10 years ago.

Today, I plan to help my people and organizations who come into contact with Aboriginal people in those settings. I want them to be able to better understand why certain things happen. I want to be a voice for people, like Aboriginal women, who may feel like they don’t have a voice at certain times in their life. Especially if they become involved in the justice system. And given that the rates of incarcerated Aboriginal women are 1 in 3 in a federally run institution according to the opinion article titled The National Shame of Aboriginal Incarceration I think I am taking a positive step forward.

Criminal Pardons

Canada, Canadian Government, Criminal Pardons Leave a comment

Remember those posts that I wrote about earlier on Criminal Pardons? No, that’s okay 😉 You can view those posts HERE.

There I wrote about the idea that the Canadian Government raise the pardon application fee from $150 to $631. Can’t forget about that one-dollar…god forbid we forget about that one-dollar

During some browsing on the web through another task that I had to complete, I came across this consultation report titled “Consultation Report – Proposed Increase to the Pardon Application User Fee”.

There it discussed this new fee and the reasons for and reasons against the new fee. I just decided to write this post to highlight the fact that the difference between those that support it and those that do not support is HUGE!

The report reads

In terms of a breakdown of the responses received, 1,074 individuals/organizations did not support the proposed fee increase while 12 were supportive of the proposed increase

That is

1,074 who did not support

compared to the

12 who did support

the proposed fee increase.

In the end, a total of 16 complaints were also received because of this. Let me guess, all the 12 that supported the proposed fee were 12 of the 16 complaints?! Maybe…maybe not.

Since then, and in May 2011, an Independent Advisory Panel had been created. Don’t want your tax dollars going to process pardon applications? Idea: Why not have them go towards an IAP to make further recommendations either for or against the proposed fee! And if they suggest that the fee not be raised… more of the 12 individuals/organizations tax dollars have gone to waste 😉

I feel bad for those 12. Definitely a minority in this group.

Note: I don’t actually fee bad but for sake of this post…

Simplify Things

Chief Atleo, Gordon Waindubence, Grand Council Elder, Indian Act, True Roots Youth Gathering Leave a comment

Today, I watched a video that I received at the True Roots Youth Gathering. I was glad to have set some time aside to watch it. In the video at approximately 4:30, Gordon Waindubence, Grand Council Elder, Anishinabek Nation, speaks these words:

(approx 4:30) “There are so many gifts right in front of us. They are right here. Right here. But we are not picking those up. Maybe we don’t know how to pick those up. Because maybe our minds are clouded right now. By a system called the Indian Act. While I like to put things simple all the time me, maybe we should just reverse those words. Maybe not Indian Act maybe we should Act Indian **smiles** Maybe that would work. Then maybe we might be able to pick up that medicine to help our friends.” —Taken from the video “Niigan Ga-Zhaamin” created by Union of Ontario Indians.

I wanted to write a post in response to Chief Atleo’s announcement to scrap the “Indian Act” but I wasn’t sure how to approach this. After hearing these words, so simple. It has become clear to me that we should all listen to our Elders more and more for guidance and advice. They make things so simple & easy to understand 😉

Questions you shouldn’t ask a Native (woman)

Uncategorized Leave a comment

Questions I have been asked that for some of them I wish wasn’t asked

  1. So, what kind of Native are you? No problem answering this but it usually leads to a slew of questions like the following…
  2. Do you speak Native? Native is not a language.
  3. Are you a Native princess? Note: Does not work as a pick-up line.
  4. Does your family drink? Like, are they alcoholics? No my family does not drink.
  5. Hey baby, want some of THIS peace pipe? And the man asking this is usually grabbing his crotch as I walk by.
  6. Do you have a tax-card? Sure if you want to call it that.
  7. Can you take me shopping with your tax card? As long as you pay for my stuff too.
  8. Did you huff gas as a kid too? Nope. Why, did you?
  9. Do you have a spirit name? Yup it’s running-duck-with-no-wings-in-the-wind-wild-and-over-the-edge-every-time-I’m-asked-this-question.
  10. Do you know how to say your spirit name in your language? Yup it’s running-duck-with-no-wings-in-the-wind-wild-and-over-the-edge-every-time-I’m-asked-this-question.

#TheBlackKeys #JLCreviewer #ldnont

Cage The Elephant, JLCreviewer, John Labatt Centre, London ON, The Black Keys Leave a comment

Yesterday I had the opportunity to see The Black Keys play last night at the John Labatt Centre (JLC) here in London ON. For free. Well, it came with a little twist or should I say a few little tweets 😉

It all started out on twitter. Yup you heard it. Good things can actually come out of social media happenings. I only say this partially because my sister likes to poke fun at me about my “twits” even though they are called “tweets.”

Anyways, I ended up being one of the #JLCreviewer winners. I was super stoked and yes, I even did a little happy dance which for the record is probably more better than my regular dancing skills. It was a good day that day.

This was my first and will definitely not be my last concert at the JLC. Personally, I thought it was a good venue, bathrooms and all. Plus, dudes took care of the winners–we were able to meet Cage The Elephant (Second big thanks goes out to FM 96 Rocks. You can check out their own contest winners and pix of the band HERE.) Free t-shirt and disc as well. Pretty cool…

After the concert, we decided to head down to the Black Shire pub, totally unrelated to The Black Keys, and someone asked me, “So, what is your review going to be about?” All I could say was “Well, I learned that they were from Ohio tonight.” Sure enough, some laughed. No big deal–what did they think my review was going to be about? Perhaps the bands I had just seen with them 😉

Then one said, “You can’t talk about Ohio…that’s not even a negative or a positive!” Trust me after working in the Tourism industry one summer and dealing with people from Ohio (even ask my 2 sisters who worked at the “Duty Free” store) not everything good comes out of Ohio. And, The Black Keys ARE EVERYTHING GOOD And even more…. So if I want to talk about Ohio in my review, I can and I believe I just did 😉

For a 2-man-band-group, The Black Keys are amazing. I started liking them after I heard “Tighten Up” on the radio. No, I wasn’t always a long time fan, but after this experience most definitely signed up to be one. The opening band–Cage The Elephant–was a big hit in my books anyways!

I will admit this was my first time ever hearing of them or their music. That aside, I thought Cage The Elephant was a great choice for opening band for The Black Keys. They were able to rev up the crowd with their songs and body surfing that Matt did (Even though he said he wouldn’t after FM 96 asked if he would do… fooled ya **hehe**). You can check out Cage The Elephant website HERE.

As for the main attraction, The Black Keys, I would definitely see this band again. Even if they came again on a Tuesday night (Apparently some were complaining that it should have been on a weekend night. Sure if you want to drink, get drunk, and be hung over and not work the next day–but that’s not my style) As a huge live-music junkie, I would see them on a Sunday, a Monday, a Tuesday… and a….I am sure you get my point. They are just that good. They played the songs that almost everyone knew: “Tighten up” and “Howlin’ For You.” And another one of my favs “The Only One” and “Ten Cent Pistol.”

Okay, okay, not gonna lie, all their songs on their album “Brothers” (2010) are my fav but not gonna list all the songs they did play because

  1. You should just go see them for yourself or at least invest in some of their albums if not all.
  2. In the meantime, check out The Black Keys’ website HERE

Their encore was pretty sweet too. Lights that flashed “Black Keys” simultaneously caused the crowd to chant “Black….Keys.” They came out to play 2 more songs. Sinister Kid and I can’t remember the second one.

This was overall an amazing experience. Thanks to JLC (Chris Campbell), and FM96Rocks for this experience.

The only “bad” thing: I didn’t like Cage The Elephant’s interview (Not the live acoustic part because that was amazing…I just wasn’t a big fan of their responses or maybe it was the questions that they were asked?!) I could say they could brush up on their interview skills but they are musicians making music not musicians making interviews.

Oh and if you think me talking about Ohio in my review is bad. You should check out my joke about Ohio:
Question: What’s round on the outside and high in the middle? Answer: OHIO!
Hey, didn’t say I was a comedian 😉

Other reviews

Check out Phronk’s review HERE.
Check out Amanda’s review HERE.
Check out Laura’s review HERE.

Something has happened in Alberta today (and it doesn’t have anything to do with Harper)

Alberta, Ben Harper, Canada, Canadian Government, Hobemma, Honorary Chief Leave a comment

Did you read my last post titled PM Harper = Honorary Chief Harper?! No? Well, that’s okay.

This other event happened supposedly earlier this Monday morning. Like early 3 AM. According to CBC.

You can read that article titled “Boy, 5, fatally shot at Hobbema, Alta., reserve”

I found it quite odd that just after announcing his “Honorary Chief status” publicly all over his official site and on his twitter, that there was no message of condolences sent out to the family who lost a young child who is from another First Nation in the same province.

You can see below his twitter feed acknowledging his “Honorary Chief status” but no condolences for the family. Or am I missing something again? Screen Shot taken July 11, 2011 @ 7:06 PM.

Undermining one story. Highlighting another.

Do you think that Harper has the entire First Nations people in mind or do you think he is in it just for himself? Hmmmm…

Note: Condolences go out to the boy’s family. Definitely in my prayers. So young. So sad.