By Xavier Kataquapit
Windspeaker.com
I have been working in media as an Indigenous journalist, columnist and videographer for more than a quarter century at this point. This has been such an incredible experience and continues to be for so many reasons. Perhaps the biggest reason I love this work is because I continually learn from every story I must research and all of the amazing Elders, Chiefs, council members, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people that I interview.
This is not always an easy job and some issues are difficult as they deal with political realities, community issues that are sometimes tragic and historic racist and oppressing government policies. Still, most of the time it has to do with learning and getting an education on the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities far and wide.
I recall when I was first starting out that my mentor and partner Mike convinced me that people wanted to hear from an Indigenous writer and that I would find some success in working in media. I was intimidated at first when I was faced with having to call Chiefs, politicians, corporate heads and organization leads but Mike gave me a way to deal with that.
He reminded me that all the important people I was calling to interview had to visit the bathroom every day the same as everyone else. Of course, I found this humorous but it also made me realize that no matter how important we think people are or how we put them on pedestals they are all just human beings dealing with all the same issues, problems and daily needs we all have. I learned early on that everyone deserves respect no matter what their position in life.
Happily for me most of the important people I have written about over the years have been very good on many levels. I have come to realize that becoming a Chief, council member, politician, organization lead or some sort of leader is often a huge challenge. People in these positions have to deal with constant scrutiny and are open to criticism for any number of reasons and often simply because they are leaders.
In the past, Indigenous people were mostly ignored historically and had to deal with all kinds of terrible policies in being colonized. These days things are better but our leaders have to deal with powerful corporations and governments that do their best to lobby our organizations using divide and conquer strategies.
For the past few decades my people have really developed in terms of education and putting together many fantastic political, health, education and activist organizations, tribal councils, national councils and individual First Nations councils that are effective and successful at representing our people. Due to all of this we are now in more control of our resources and lands and now more than ever there is a trend by governments and resource developers to do their best to lobby and influence our leadership circles and organizations.
Our Chiefs and all of our leadership has to be constantly aware of what can become corrupt situations where our people, the land, the waters and the creatures are sold out. None of this is new as we see how things run in the political arenas all over the world where the very wealthy and huge corporations and special interest groups continually lobby politicians to get their way. It is up to all of us and in particular in the Indigenous community to seek the guidance and advice of our well-respected Elders. It is also up to us as citizens to make sure our leaders at all levels have our support and realize that we have their backs. We also need to encourage participation of all our people to be involved in decisions being made politically that could affect future generations.
Right now there are elections happening in Indigenous communities across the country and here in Northern Ontario. Currently, the Nishnawbe Aski Nation is holding elections and all of our Chiefs are meeting in Constance Lake First Nation. We congratulate them all for stepping forward during this election and we continue to remind them that we need them to be there for our future generations in helping them navigate through all the challenges of today and to provide them with a safer and healthy planet as we move along with all kinds of development.
I have also just returned from the 17th Annual Wabun Youth Gathering senior event at Beaverhouse First Nation and I hope that all of our leaders can remain strong and remain in solidarity to continue to provide these young people with cultural and traditional teachings as well as life skills. We need to stick together.