 |
| Working with the Caribou I felt like I needed my own horns. |
Bear learns some new things and gets a name
Welcome round the fire. We have some new stories to tell.
Maybe you find something there – maybe not. That’s ok. There will be balance
overall – in the unfolding of time. This is one is a new story. So maybe
you gonna see where things been joined together. That’s ok. We can make it
better together.
So it must have been some time back as Bear was smaller and
it was afore questions even had answers. Same as everyday Bear went out
walking. The same path can brings new adventures if you find the right companion.
Well it was a very fine day of the kind that needed a fine companion. We was
bored and wanted new friends to taste and juggle questions with. We had played
with the winged ones but they got bored when we could not join their flying
games. We often frolicked with the four footed but we were too similar and the
games were getting boring. We looked to the ground, perhaps a small one? They
could see what we could not. They could
go where we could not.
But how to attract the company of such a relative? Our sizes
could make it difficult. Maybe we were too scary? Maybe they would not speak
Bear? Maybe they did not even like questions. As we sat to think we remembered
the teachings of the Grandmothers – we were all equal when we meet in respect. Luckily
we was prepared. Like Grandmas always said. Still sticky from an earlier
adventure we rescued honey stuck to the side of our nose and set it a little
away on a nice bit of soil – a respectful distance - to wait to see if our gift
would be accepted.
[2] a female bear, a mother bear ᓅᓭᒪᐢᑲᐧ nôsemaskwa
[3] large
snake, serpent ᒥᓯ ᑭᓀᐱᐠ misi-kinêpik [NA]
[4] “The
snake cannot be captured, it cannot be tied, it cannot be tortutred or hung or
crucified” – Shane McGowen
 |
| First Bear Pin |
Tansi, I am writing a lot for the next phase of Bear work and not all of it is for the paper but I don't want it to get lost either so I will post these here as I am working through my files. This is the first thing I wrote after the Grandmothers Dream. This is my conversation with Medicine Bear.
***********
I have to tell all the stories. We is too full. Been too much since time began. In math language ∞ is everything. But that’s us Bear. The people of ∞. We was “half Indian, half white, half devil.” We even got a family curse – perfect memory. But lately, a cousin came to town and they remember – you know all the way to the gristle and bones. And then they joined to Grandmothers[2] whispers in the dream time “What if…” And They gifted us knowledge of how we could remember more than perfect. Ninanaskomowin Cuz.
So now I see the patterns in the stories. We see how to reclaim
our stories.
But Bear we’re not like you – Medicine Bundle Holder,
Holder of Big Names, Carrier of old stories. We’re Data Bear. We like to play
with numbers. We have a superhero cape and math world tattoos. Parts of our
head don’t work right. I can’t even right their words write. Remember
Kindergarten when they told us we was STOOPID! Remember grad school? The
Meathead/Method moment? And we came pretty fare given all that before stuff,
but let me tumble in the number meadows. This bear is tired. Find a better,
younger, smarter bear.
Pause as Medicine Bear breathes.
We wait for his response and it must have been a looooong time
because I got bored. I went eye-ball juggling with Nanabush, got into trouble
with Wiitigo, stacked letters high into some of them stone circles. I got so
bored of all that fun so I came back to watch Bear breathe.
Drum beat…∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Went to hibernate and give the mountains time to grow up.
So here we are now. In a time where we can speak. We are Data Bear who holds many stories, because sometimes we listened, we watched, we read, we saw patterns, we found cousins and we REMEMBER it all.
[1] An
extra, in excess.
[2] This
Grandmother
dream was written out and is shared under the direction of Elder Barb Brant
(Mohawk, Turtle Clan)
Florence Nightingale (English), nurse and inventor of the pie chart produced an analysis of the death rates of children in government run schools across the British Empire. This report was published in 1863 and reported a mortality rate for Indigenous children that was twice that of English children of the same age.
Charles Alexander Eastman (Dakota) was the first Indigenous person to become a Dr in the US and he was later a writer and reformer. He was a Dr for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and cared for the Indigenous peoples there after the Wounded Knee Massacre. From the paper I read about him, these deaths deeply impacted him and his subsequent reform work.
Laura Cornelius Kellogg (Oneida) pursued land claims and developed the “Lolomi Plan” an alternative to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This plans focused on building self-sufficiency for Indigenous people based on cooperative labour, connection to indigeneity and traditional knowledge. Her vision was one of successful economies for Indigenous peoples that drew on the strengths of the communities and traditions. She was a longtime advocate for her peoples.
Jean Cuthand Goodwill (Cree) was one of the first Indigenous registered nurses in Canada who later became a public servant. She was active at the same time as my great uncle Jim Brady (Métis) who worked to support Métis and Indigenous peoples. He also held a number of positions for the government. His mother, my great grandmother, Philomena Archange Garneau, was Alberta’s first Métis registered nurse.
Do you have any civil service ancestors? Share in the comments.
I did not know that responsibility for Indigenous peoples was under Mining at one point.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Blair
Here is the wiki page about the Canadian Civil service history where I learnt that they formally restricted the employment of married women and fired married women who were already working for the government. This rule was in place until 1955.
