SENATORS’ STATEMENTS — Tribute to Grandmothers

Honourable senators, this is a tribute to our grandmothers, or kokums.

Before residential schools, Indian agents and the Indian Act, our kokums were taken care of by our own people. They were treated with dignity and respect, and they had a place of honour in our community. Nohkômnanak, this is to you.

I remember the times my siblings and I spent with you and the sacred nohkôm-nôsisim relationship of unconditional love. How you took care of us. How you told us about the thunderbirds; that is why I love thunder and lightning today. How you showed us the bright blue eggs of the robins by parting the reeds as we walked up the road to the store and told us that we were not to interfere with the nest or the birds. How you fed us and let us make our own way in life, ensuring that you had our safety, education, personhood and knowledge gathering as priorities.

Then, I went to residential school. I realized too late in my life that I had come to believe that I knew better than you, that I was better than you. I now realize that distancing myself from you came from the idea to “kill the Indian in the child.” The most intimate and sacred link is between grandmothers and grandchildren, between great-grandmothers and great-grandchildren, or aniskotapan. We got our teachings from you.

I was being assimilated to think less of my people and to shut down emotionally on our relationship simply because you and I had brown skin and I was taught to do so by the Catholic Church. Nohkôm, I’m sorry. I am who I am today because of you and other kokums. You are the foundation of our lives, our kinship, our collective, our families and our communities.

I am now a kokum, and I want to make amends by reflecting and practising what you taught me. Kinanâskomitin. Thank you.