27/09/2024
WE WERE INVITED BY THE CANADIAN HIGH COMMISSION TO MEET H.E. Brenda Wills THE NEW INCOMING INDIGENOUS MÉTIS AMBASSADOR (called a High Commissioner in Commonwealth countries) TODAY, AND MEET THE NEW INDIGENOUS US AMBASSADOR H.E Roger F. Nyhus - a member of the Chinook Tribal Nation in Washington State, Pacific Northwest USA), AND JOIN THEM IN THE FIRST EVER OFFICIAL JOINT OBSERVANCE & COMMEMORATION OF CANADA’S NATIONAL DAY FOR TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION BY AN INDIGENOUS CANADA & AN INDIGENOUS USA AMBASSADOR- ANYWHERE EVER .
The official day is September 30th, but today was the day we chose to observe it together in advance. On September 30th I will cut off my hair in and act of mourning for the thousands of indigenous children who died in the Residential School system in North America.
Myself, my wife, and our youngest child Laliwa were invited to represent the Eagle Clan of the Lokono-Arawak people - to meet the two new Indigenous Ambassadors and to say the closing prayer at the end of the ceremony in the garden, it was very emotional ( brought tears to both Ambassadors eyes as well as many in the audience) as we remembered the tens of thousands of Indigenous children who were forcibly removed from their families in tribal villages all over Canada (and the USA) and put into church run Residential Schools where mental, physical, and sexual abuse were rampant, and which killed thousands of those indigenous children - who’s families never saw them again. While the Indigenous experience in Guyana was not that tragic, my wife’s own parents both told me how they were beaten in school in Guyana in their own tribal village of Pakuri by non-indigenous teachers for speaking their own Lokono-Arawak language - because the teachers said it was ‘heathen’ and ‘savage’, so they could only speak the English language if they did not want to be beaten. So this racist colonial and neo colonial MIS education system inflicted pain and misery and injustice on the indigenous peoples of the entire Hemisphere, as I know of similar experiences in Central and South America and in the Caribbean islands.
One of the things I stated that seems to have resonated with most listeners was when I said:
“I am not saying to forget the past - because one does not learn by forgetting, however the past is a point of reference - not a place of residence, too many of us live in the past and carry the burden of all that pain and suffering and anger and resentment upon our shoulders, and it hinders us from moving forward productively in our present life and making the necessary constructive actions NOW in the present - to rectify the errors of the past - to ensure a better future “
And also:
“If you could see the bigger spiritual picture, you would not hate, persecute, or victimize anyone, for you would know that every human being is your spiritual sibling, you can hate the actions done and words spoken by another person, but you cannot hate the person, you do not know what happened in their life to cause the end result in their objectionable actions and words today, how were they raised? Who did something to them that damaged them in some way in their formative years? Or what occurred prior to them encountering you - that caused them to take out their frustration on you by accident? Be less eager to pass judgment, and more curious to find out why this person is they way they are - so that you gain a better understanding”.
Learn more about the Eagle Clan of the Lokono Arawaks here at:
www.eagleclanarawaks.com
