JANUARY 1, 2019

I was sitting here, going through Facebook and just happened on a reminder of the very first serious book I ever read.  I'm not 100% sure, but I think its title is "John Rowand, Fur Trader; A Story of the Old Northwest". I can't find any images of its dust cover, so I can't verify if I'm correct or not.  At any rate, the book was a gift to me from my godmother aunt when I was about 11 or 12, along with a book of indigenous folk tales called "Rubaboo". The John Rowand book took me a long time to read, but in the end, I had an understanding of how Canada was first colonized and how difficult life was back then.  Rubaboo followed suit as the second book I had ever read. It told me legends and stories from many different native cultures. Written for kids the tales are lighthearted and funny, but it explained an underlying commitment to the land and the spirits that reside within it.

Thinking back now, I was so lucky to have been given this knowledge when I was so young.  I knew things about Canada that few kids my age did not know. What a rare gift my aunt had given me.  It's curious now, that she gave me those books in tandem with one another. It wasn't really acknowledged back then, in the late seventies, how intertwined these two histories actually are, how the fur trade effected indigenous culture and how indigenous culture is so ingrained in the Canadian identity.  My aunt was always a progressive thinker. She never married or even dated as far as anyone knows, always bought the latest models of cars (she once owned an AMC Gremlin!), and always dressed in the latest fashions of the times. She once told my sister that I would most likely become a writer or something creative because I always had a unique perspective on the world.  I think my aunt wanted to nurture that, and she saw it before anyone else, even before I did! I'm grateful to her for her gift of understanding.

Today I have a perspective on the Canadian identity.  It's always fundamental in my thoughts. I know the colonial view and I know the indigenous view.  I know both these views didn't grow in tandem with the other. I know that the colonial view overshadowed and very nearly eradicated the indigenous view.  But I know that they both exist side by side. Two solitudes in a large array of land and people. We can live together. I know we can. They live together in my mind, so I know it's possible.  It will take reconciliation, negotiation and co-operation, but it's possible. It will take education, and that will be the key. I hope to be a voice to bring concensus in the future, because I believe we can all live together.  We have to, because we all love this land and need to share it. Let's work on that, okay? Thanks, Tante Jo. Thanks, everybody.