Gaining knowledge and education about Canada’s history is valuable as an intellectual exercise, but it’s important to be mindful that these historical events and concepts — good or bad — are not just limited to the history books. Real people and real families have lived through them, and sometimes, the people around us are involved in ways that we don’t even realize.
Re-remembrance
This is the case for Dianne Hildebrand concerning the history of Indigeneity in Canada. Hildebrand, who is a part of the Truth and Action Working Group of the Pembina Valley, strives to “re-remember” year-round, but especially for Truth and Reconciliation Day.
“For me, [it’s] a day to acknowledge the re-remembering that I continue to do. I grew up on a farm near Snowflake and went to school in Crystal City, and I had classmates in school and Sunday school who were children of the Sixties Scoop,” she says. “I had no idea.”
The Sixties Scoop is a period during the 1960s in which Indigenous children were removed from their homes and adopted by predominantly non-Indigenous families across Canada and the United States. The movement resulted in a loss of culture and an identity crisis for many community members. Whether the scoop is in living memory or a generational memory, its effects are still lasting today.
For Hildebrand, the weight of what she was witnessing was not apparent, but now, the practice's undertones are clearer.
“It's a process of re-remembering things with a new lens and recognizing [that] this is part of my life,” she says. “A lot of those children died young, and that's something that I wrestle with, too. Why is my life so different?”
Reconciliation as a group effort
While Hildebrand’s question is unanswerable, the line of thinking is something that many people can empathize with. It’s always difficult, but coming together as a community is one way to navigate this side of Reconciliation. On Truth and Reconciliation Day September 30th, there will be an opportunity to unite for this purpose.
Monday's event will feature a flag-raising, a ceremony, and a healing walk organized by the Truth and Action Working Group. There will also be a display by the Red Dress Project to spread awareness about and honour MMIWG (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada).
One of the speakers on Monday will be Marge Daniels, who is the kokum (a Cree term for “grandmother”) at Western School Division. Hildebrand says that she has been a “very helpful person” to have as a community partner. She will speak about the role she plays in the school division.
The event will begin outside the Access Event Centre in Morden at 10 a.m. with the flag-raising and a few short speeches before the healing walk.
“It's not a long walk. It's about eight blocks. We're going to go past the school in Morden as well,” says Hildebrand. “It's an opportunity to be together in our remembering and reconciling.”
Related stories:
- Cranberries and plum root: An Indigenous perspective on foraging in the Pembina Valley
- Orange shirt season: How a local group reckons with a troubled past (and present) together
- Bringing Oral History to Life: The Secret Treaty Tour and Book Launch
Growing through new perspectives
For Hildebrand, while she does not claim to have all the answers when it comes to how to conceptualize or think about difficult matters like the Sixties Scoop, residential schools, and other injustices perpetuated against Indigenous peoples in the country, it starts with listening.
“First of all, we have to learn from Indigenous people. That's where we have to learn, and that's the place to start,” she says, adding that it’s also a sensible starting point to ask oneself about where one’s knowledge of Indigenous matters has come from until this point.
“That's a good question to ask yourself,” she says. “From the lens that I would say I live with, I've really struggled to know how to think about this . . . . We can't go back, so how are we going to be now?”
Leaving guilt aside
On September 24th, Hildebrand attended a book tour event for Crossing the River: An Unsettling Memoir by Sandra Hayes-Gardiner, who grew up in The Pas, Manitoba.
“She talks about going back to work as a social worker and how she was part of apprehending children as part of her role in those years,” said Hildebrand of Hayes-Gardiner in an earlier interview. “She really talks about her own journey . . . learning about reality.”
At the event, Hildebrand says that an Elder in attendance gave some advice to Hayes-Gardiner that is applicable to anyone looking for ways to work through similar internal conflicts.
“He said, ‘take the guilt out of it.’ We need to tell the truth. We need to hear the truth, and hearing the truth will help us to understand things very differently.”
In Hildebrand’s view, while the Canadian or non-Indigenous perspective tends to be about how to “fix” the past and make what happened “okay,” those who listen to the Indigenous mindset will hear another story.
“From the Indigenous people's perspective and from the [Truth and] Reconciliation Commission itself, it's about establishing respectful relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people,” she says. “I think part of it too is that guilt immobilizes us. The hope is that understanding moves us into action.”
Hildebrand says that since it is the first year in Manitoba that most of the community will be out of the workplace on Monday, it’s the perfect opportunity to begin a new journey of empathy and understanding.
In the following days, keep an eye on pembinavalleyonline.com for Indigenous perspectives on Truth and Reconciliation Day, including a chat with Métis business owner Charllotte Guenther, and an interview with Swan Lake Elder David Scott on the role of action in Reconciliation and the importance of inter-community connections.
~With files from Ty Hildebrand and Jayme Giesbrecht~