Marninwarntikura - discovering healing, understanding trauma

This blog is titled after a quote from Alanis Obomsawin, a distinguished Indigenous director and maker of the documentary, ‘We Can’t Make the Same Mistake Twice’, along with many others. I watched this particular one in Winnipeg, but its attention was directed toward the inappropriate decisions made by the centre of the Canadian government in Ottawa. The film explores how First Nation reserves have seen decades of underfunded essential services, which has systematically silenced and disempowered communities, entrenching collective pain and trauma.  Alanis spoke after the film. She was an inspiring force, fierce and energetic in her late 80s, and enthused by her own reflections of decades of work and activism. Her belief: when we all see ourselves as government people we applaud success, rectify wrongs, and change ineffective systems for the betterment of all. https://www.nfb.ca/film/we_can_t_make_the_same_mistake_twice/ In Australia, the last week has been of serious ...

This week, Winnipeg has been a site of revealing and not so revealing stories, with many hidden meanings to unravel and learn in my own time. It is a city of murals, each one displaying an element of the city’s history and current cultural and economic status. As one Indian Residential School (more to come on this topic) Cultural Support Provider said to me, we are taught to see through such limited frames. They obscure history and lead to falsehoods in the national narrative, which further leads to discrimination and the marginalisation of people’s identities. But, when we put all the frames together the picture takes on a wholeness and can display the truth. His message of healing was grounded in a complete and holistic education (a diverse and complex story), an education that could teach colonial history for what it was/is and be followed by a re-teaching and engagement in spiritual and ceremonial practices. Here are a few of the frames from Winnipeg. Lo and behol...

Our brains. See explanation below Re-engaging the brain, see explanation below Welcome to Turtle Island (North America)! I am currently in Winnipeg the capital of the province of Manitoba. The National Human Rights Museum, right at the fork of two rivers Some fast facts about Winnipeg and Manitoba to pull you in. Winnipeg is the third coldest urban centre to live in in the world. I’m feeling the chill! It is at least 50 degrees warmer than its minimum of -40. It is the only province in Canada founded through an act of violence (debatable I am sure). The founder of Manitoba was Louis Riel, a Métis leader, leading a rebellion to form a republic. He was driven into exile by the British and the region became administered by the Anglo-Canadians. Following this, due to severe discrimination , many Métis people had to leave. Winnipeg has the largest urban Indigenous population in Canada, and the second-highest in North America after Anchorage. Alcohol is on...