[Music]
afternoon I’m an indigenous woman from
Winnipeg Manitoba I’m a band member of
TC Coonan first nation and my spirit
name is Mangano Gidget Okwe which means
wool for your woman in the yugi-boy
language many of you might not know what
a spirit name is because it sometimes
sounds mythical I think the first time
that I heard of a spirit name was
probably through a joke and it was being
phrased Indian name the truth of
indigenous people was not always taken
seriously this is how we’re taught to
think of indigenous people the same
reason that when I saw chief in a
headdress that I didn’t understand what
it meant to be a chief in a headdress or
what it meant to be an indigenous woman
I grew up in one of the poorest areas in
our city and when it pegs North End and
in my neighborhood when I was young
grown men would expose themselves to me
and my friends and men would stop in
their cars and ask if we wanted to go
for a ride I have a story of a guy that
I had a crush on when I was 16 hold a
knife to my throat and tell me that now
I belong to him but those are not the
stories that I’m here to tell you today
this is what I want to share with you
there was a time when I was 27 years old
that was a mother of two and I had a day
off of work and so I did what any other
mom would do on her day off of work I
took the kids to daycare and did errands
on that afternoon I stopped by my mom’s
house my mom my grandma and my aunt were
chatting in the kitchen and my aunt was
sharing that she heard that the police
had shot a young man a few blocks down
that afternoon and so my mom my grandma
and my aunt were accounting for all of
the men in our family cousins brothers
and uncles and the only person that
wasn’t accounted for at that time was my
brother math
who was 18 years old and I thought mom’s
worry so much why do they think that has
anything to do with us later that
evening feeling pretty accomplished
because I got my kids into bed by 9:00
p.m. I was folding laundry by the light
of the lamp and the phone rang and I
called display so I could see that it
was my mom and I answered the phone I
said hello but the sound that came from
the phone I didn’t recognize I was
trying to figure out if she was laughing
what is that sound
eventually after she took a deep breath
she let out the words that was your
brother and I knew what she was telling
me in that moment that that cold winter
afternoon that the police killed my
little brother this was not the first
time that we had tragedy in her family
but it was the first time that it was on
the front page of the news four days and
it was the first time that it was on the
6 o’clock in 10 o’clock news and it was
only after that which was the first time
that I attended a Chiefs summit and I
was told to stand for the grand entry
this is the first time that I saw a
chief in a headdress and I thought a
chief in a headdress I thought that was
almost fictional a fairy tale or a
legend and I didn’t know why I didn’t
know this and I was embarrassed that I
didn’t know this and I didn’t tell
anybody but I started asking questions
and just observing different things that
were going on something else that was
new from the community was that for the
first time the community was embracing
us in a new way that I had never
experienced me and my family were
receiving gifts of sweetgrass
eagle feathers and honor songs and again
I didn’t know what any of those things
meant but they were giving it to us with
so much love so obviously my life
changed my work changed I wanted to do
something
that I felt was more meaningful for me
and this was the first time that I
started working with Aboriginal people I
was working in an Aboriginal
organization and the people that I was
working with were a lot like me and
their families were a lot like mine and
for the first time I started to feel
like I belonged and I didn’t even know
that I was missing that but my identity
of who I was was coming clearer these
are the gifts that my brother Matthew
gave to me was the awakening of learning
who I really am
with a desire to really succeed because
Matthew didn’t have that chance I help
our nation
indigenous and non-indigenous learn
about the history of the relationships
between indigenous people and the
government and I help them understand as
I learn why some things are the way that
they are you see government created
specific policies and they tried their
best to prevent me from ever knowing
about my relatives my spirit name and my
connection to everything they use
federal strategies like banning
traditional practices which sometimes
meant destroying communities and they
forced residential schools we’re
starting in 1883 families were
threatened and forced to send their kids
to kill the Indian in the child and when
these kids grew up it happened to their
children and when their kids grew up it
happened to their children and their
children and their children for
generations this ended in 1996 I was
still today indigenous children through
education health and justice are greatly
discriminated our jails have the highest
indigenous rates and so does the child
and failed and family system our
populations are young and growing and
some improvements have been made but
there’s still so much work that needs to
be done in our communities
and in our everyday discussions much of
the work is education because a strong
country knows their history good and bad
and I’m so thankful for the work that I
do because again it’s so meaningful to
me but at the end of a session when
people are asking me questions like why
didn’t I know this how do I share this
and what can I do now losing my brother
to a police shooting could have cost me
caused me to hate government hate law
enforcement but instead I was open to
asking and learning why why were things
the way that they were why were
indigenous people treated so badly and
why did law enforcement have to be so
extreme and so final I wanted to be part
of the solution because I still believe
in a better way I didn’t want this to
happen to anyone else’s brother or
cousin or relatives losing a loved one
is one of the hardest things that you’ll
ever have to face loss can bring you
down and hold you down in pain I
actually explored joining the police
academy and attending the RCMP Depot was
probably one of the most fascinating
days of my life
I held a fake gun in a gun simulator but
I could never imagine myself aiming that
at another human being
policing just wasn’t for me but I have
some very special people in my life that
are in law enforcement you know what
some of the most meaningful experiences
for me in this journey has been is
listening to people’s stories is taking
time to really listen not judging people
but really listening for the sake of
their healthy expression because when we
hear people’s stories we begin to care
we begin to understand and that’s how
you build community
that’s how you can strengthen a nation
it was after my brother’s death that I
also found the power and advocacy I
learned that when you’re helping others
you learn it’s okay for you to ask for
help and you learn that you’re not the
only one suffering because we’re
stronger together our country is in a
time of reconciliation and everyone
wants to know what is the answer to
reconciliation what is the solution or
how will we know when we’ve been
reconciled one thing I know for sure is
that it’s not an event it’s not a
conclusion or a project but it’s about
relationships it’s when we can all be
open to new answers and everyone can
have knowledge safety and autonomy in
their own identity thank you [Applause]
afternoon I’m an indigenous woman from
Winnipeg Manitoba I’m a band member of
TC Coonan first nation and my spirit
name is Mangano Gidget Okwe which means
wool for your woman in the yugi-boy
language many of you might not know what
a spirit name is because it sometimes
sounds mythical I think the first time
that I heard of a spirit name was
probably through a joke and it was being
phrased Indian name the truth of
indigenous people was not always taken
seriously this is how we’re taught to
think of indigenous people the same
reason that when I saw chief in a
headdress that I didn’t understand what
it meant to be a chief in a headdress or
what it meant to be an indigenous woman
I grew up in one of the poorest areas in
our city and when it pegs North End and
in my neighborhood when I was young
grown men would expose themselves to me
and my friends and men would stop in
their cars and ask if we wanted to go
for a ride I have a story of a guy that
I had a crush on when I was 16 hold a
knife to my throat and tell me that now
I belong to him but those are not the
stories that I’m here to tell you today
this is what I want to share with you
there was a time when I was 27 years old
that was a mother of two and I had a day
off of work and so I did what any other
mom would do on her day off of work I
took the kids to daycare and did errands
on that afternoon I stopped by my mom’s
house my mom my grandma and my aunt were
chatting in the kitchen and my aunt was
sharing that she heard that the police
had shot a young man a few blocks down
that afternoon and so my mom my grandma
and my aunt were accounting for all of
the men in our family cousins brothers
and uncles and the only person that
wasn’t accounted for at that time was my
brother math
who was 18 years old and I thought mom’s
worry so much why do they think that has
anything to do with us later that
evening feeling pretty accomplished
because I got my kids into bed by 9:00
p.m. I was folding laundry by the light
of the lamp and the phone rang and I
called display so I could see that it
was my mom and I answered the phone I
said hello but the sound that came from
the phone I didn’t recognize I was
trying to figure out if she was laughing
what is that sound
eventually after she took a deep breath
she let out the words that was your
brother and I knew what she was telling
me in that moment that that cold winter
afternoon that the police killed my
little brother this was not the first
time that we had tragedy in her family
but it was the first time that it was on
the front page of the news four days and
it was the first time that it was on the
6 o’clock in 10 o’clock news and it was
only after that which was the first time
that I attended a Chiefs summit and I
was told to stand for the grand entry
this is the first time that I saw a
chief in a headdress and I thought a
chief in a headdress I thought that was
almost fictional a fairy tale or a
legend and I didn’t know why I didn’t
know this and I was embarrassed that I
didn’t know this and I didn’t tell
anybody but I started asking questions
and just observing different things that
were going on something else that was
new from the community was that for the
first time the community was embracing
us in a new way that I had never
experienced me and my family were
receiving gifts of sweetgrass
eagle feathers and honor songs and again
I didn’t know what any of those things
meant but they were giving it to us with
so much love so obviously my life
changed my work changed I wanted to do
something
that I felt was more meaningful for me
and this was the first time that I
started working with Aboriginal people I
was working in an Aboriginal
organization and the people that I was
working with were a lot like me and
their families were a lot like mine and
for the first time I started to feel
like I belonged and I didn’t even know
that I was missing that but my identity
of who I was was coming clearer these
are the gifts that my brother Matthew
gave to me was the awakening of learning
who I really am
with a desire to really succeed because
Matthew didn’t have that chance I help
our nation
indigenous and non-indigenous learn
about the history of the relationships
between indigenous people and the
government and I help them understand as
I learn why some things are the way that
they are you see government created
specific policies and they tried their
best to prevent me from ever knowing
about my relatives my spirit name and my
connection to everything they use
federal strategies like banning
traditional practices which sometimes
meant destroying communities and they
forced residential schools we’re
starting in 1883 families were
threatened and forced to send their kids
to kill the Indian in the child and when
these kids grew up it happened to their
children and when their kids grew up it
happened to their children and their
children and their children for
generations this ended in 1996 I was
still today indigenous children through
education health and justice are greatly
discriminated our jails have the highest
indigenous rates and so does the child
and failed and family system our
populations are young and growing and
some improvements have been made but
there’s still so much work that needs to
be done in our communities
and in our everyday discussions much of
the work is education because a strong
country knows their history good and bad
and I’m so thankful for the work that I
do because again it’s so meaningful to
me but at the end of a session when
people are asking me questions like why
didn’t I know this how do I share this
and what can I do now losing my brother
to a police shooting could have cost me
caused me to hate government hate law
enforcement but instead I was open to
asking and learning why why were things
the way that they were why were
indigenous people treated so badly and
why did law enforcement have to be so
extreme and so final I wanted to be part
of the solution because I still believe
in a better way I didn’t want this to
happen to anyone else’s brother or
cousin or relatives losing a loved one
is one of the hardest things that you’ll
ever have to face loss can bring you
down and hold you down in pain I
actually explored joining the police
academy and attending the RCMP Depot was
probably one of the most fascinating
days of my life
I held a fake gun in a gun simulator but
I could never imagine myself aiming that
at another human being
policing just wasn’t for me but I have
some very special people in my life that
are in law enforcement you know what
some of the most meaningful experiences
for me in this journey has been is
listening to people’s stories is taking
time to really listen not judging people
but really listening for the sake of
their healthy expression because when we
hear people’s stories we begin to care
we begin to understand and that’s how
you build community
that’s how you can strengthen a nation
it was after my brother’s death that I
also found the power and advocacy I
learned that when you’re helping others
you learn it’s okay for you to ask for
help and you learn that you’re not the
only one suffering because we’re
stronger together our country is in a
time of reconciliation and everyone
wants to know what is the answer to
reconciliation what is the solution or
how will we know when we’ve been
reconciled one thing I know for sure is
that it’s not an event it’s not a
conclusion or a project but it’s about
relationships it’s when we can all be
open to new answers and everyone can
have knowledge safety and autonomy in
their own identity thank you [Applause]
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