Teachings and stories combined with listening = Good Living
Kwey-kwey ni-dji8endagok! Tedigo ni-minendam e-biindigi8deyik!
Hello to all my relations! I'm happy you've come by for a visit!!
This site continues to be a work in progress and I'm excited to share that it remains the future home of the "Awwe-some Series". It will be home for "Awwe-some Family Stories", resources dedicated to reclaiming Indigenous ways of knowing for the purpose of reclaiming the heart and soul (spirit).
It will feature "Parenting with the Awwe-some Family" (inspiration born from a personal dream of mine I had over 4 years ago in which a Kokom [Grandmother] directed me toward this path - that it would be for all our children).
I hope this site will work in helping others reclaim Indigenous Parenting and Indigenous Family systems. In honour of those hearts that were trampled on, but whose spirits were never broken as a result of "The 60s Scoop", colonization, Residential School and conflicting worldviews between very differing nations, this site is for you. For those families whose children were used as helpless pawns in the efforts to stamp out the 'Indian' in the child, in hopes of assimilating a nation of people may your families reclaim their rightful place as a proud and free people living a balanced and fulfilling life.
As I was raised observing the adults in my life practice, I invite you to sit by my Kokom's stove and allow me to share a little part of my world as Anicinabekwe with you.
Please...
Stay awhile...
Visit...
Get your tea or coffee and have a biscuit...or two.
Let's get to know one another.
In my early years, I remember my parents raising me hunting on the land and referring to our land as Her. I remember hearing, "Kidjodjomnaan Aki" (Our Mother Earth). I was raised in Parc le Verendrye, Quebec (about 4-6 hours north of Ottawa, Ontario) hunting and fishing by parents who were an arranged marriage (it's important to note, mom chose dad).
Raised in the same territory, my dad fell in love with the girl next door. After 6 grown children, 20 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren later, they live a quiet, humble life in Kitigan Zibi, Quebec.
It's my honour to call them ni-nigigok, my parents. They raised me well.
My parents remain land people. In younger days, they were dog sled people. And while both experienced Missionary School for short periods, they both experienced the pain that Mission Schools and Residential Schools inflicted. With gratitude to my late grandparents, my parents were pulled out of Mission School after my grandparents learned of the abuses inflicted on the children. Back on the land, they experienced the majority of their lives living in log cabins in what is now known as Parc le Verendrye (a beautiful place of rivers, lakes, streams, rolling hills, maple trees, blackflies, chickadees and more).
While not educated in the traditional western academic sense, my parents are highly educated in Algonquin epistemology (Algonquin knowledge) and ontology (Algonquin ways of being and doing things). To hold such knowledge requires a lifetime of education and direct experience that no textbook could ever replace.
Through their 'life on the land', their lives and marriage remains shared in direct relationship with our land - our Mother. To my parents, I say "Kitci Migwetc ondjii niminopimatisiwin! Tedigo ki-zahgin!" (Thank you for my good life! I love you very much!)
Hello to all my relations! I'm happy you've come by for a visit!!
This site continues to be a work in progress and I'm excited to share that it remains the future home of the "Awwe-some Series". It will be home for "Awwe-some Family Stories", resources dedicated to reclaiming Indigenous ways of knowing for the purpose of reclaiming the heart and soul (spirit).
It will feature "Parenting with the Awwe-some Family" (inspiration born from a personal dream of mine I had over 4 years ago in which a Kokom [Grandmother] directed me toward this path - that it would be for all our children).
I hope this site will work in helping others reclaim Indigenous Parenting and Indigenous Family systems. In honour of those hearts that were trampled on, but whose spirits were never broken as a result of "The 60s Scoop", colonization, Residential School and conflicting worldviews between very differing nations, this site is for you. For those families whose children were used as helpless pawns in the efforts to stamp out the 'Indian' in the child, in hopes of assimilating a nation of people may your families reclaim their rightful place as a proud and free people living a balanced and fulfilling life.
As I was raised observing the adults in my life practice, I invite you to sit by my Kokom's stove and allow me to share a little part of my world as Anicinabekwe with you.
Please...
Stay awhile...
Visit...
Get your tea or coffee and have a biscuit...or two.
Let's get to know one another.
In my early years, I remember my parents raising me hunting on the land and referring to our land as Her. I remember hearing, "Kidjodjomnaan Aki" (Our Mother Earth). I was raised in Parc le Verendrye, Quebec (about 4-6 hours north of Ottawa, Ontario) hunting and fishing by parents who were an arranged marriage (it's important to note, mom chose dad).
Raised in the same territory, my dad fell in love with the girl next door. After 6 grown children, 20 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren later, they live a quiet, humble life in Kitigan Zibi, Quebec.
It's my honour to call them ni-nigigok, my parents. They raised me well.
My parents remain land people. In younger days, they were dog sled people. And while both experienced Missionary School for short periods, they both experienced the pain that Mission Schools and Residential Schools inflicted. With gratitude to my late grandparents, my parents were pulled out of Mission School after my grandparents learned of the abuses inflicted on the children. Back on the land, they experienced the majority of their lives living in log cabins in what is now known as Parc le Verendrye (a beautiful place of rivers, lakes, streams, rolling hills, maple trees, blackflies, chickadees and more).
While not educated in the traditional western academic sense, my parents are highly educated in Algonquin epistemology (Algonquin knowledge) and ontology (Algonquin ways of being and doing things). To hold such knowledge requires a lifetime of education and direct experience that no textbook could ever replace.
Through their 'life on the land', their lives and marriage remains shared in direct relationship with our land - our Mother. To my parents, I say "Kitci Migwetc ondjii niminopimatisiwin! Tedigo ki-zahgin!" (Thank you for my good life! I love you very much!)