The Heart Grows

This journey of decolonization has been long. Longer than I expected as I reflect. This journey has felt isolating. In many of my circles, few people were at this place, at least that was my impression. In the recent years, as I have become more vocal about decolonization and taking simple steps of justice and love, I have found many others. There have been certain people and incidents that have spurred deeper reflection and journey. I have to tell you that one of the communities that has helped me quite a bit is NAIITS--an indigenous learning community.  Though I myself have just been on the periphery of this group until recently, some good friends have journeyed in this circle for quite a while. I attended the recent NAIITS symposium this past June in Wolfville, NS. They have many of their lectures available to watch on their Facebook Page . The breakout groups and beers with peers afterwards were certainly my personal highlight. There are people who are thinking about this s...

"My heart breaks." That short sentence seems to repeat in me often this past year. There has been a lot of grief this year that has affected my family. My heart breaks. Injustice rages in our neighbour country. My heart breaks. Our Canadian government is not holding to its promises. My heart breaks. So much happens and my heart breaks. It is difficult to not become overwhelmed. Do you ever find yourself talking about something deeply and passionately that feels like a deep matter of life and those around you give you 'The Look' or its verbal cousin 'The Tone?' There are those already on the way of decolonization. There are those indigenous people that have lived and led and carried this way. Then there are those who look at me like I am crazy. They look at me with betrayal, like I am an enemy who used to be a friend. They look at me like how I would assume they look at indigenous people. My heart breaks. Relationships have been broken because of my decol...